| Judge orders girl to be renamed
Posted: 7/24/2008 10:35:14 AM | A couple in New Zeland named their daughter Talula Does The Hula. She was so embarrassed by the name that she never even told her closest friends. The 9 year old girl is now involved in a custody battle and the judge, saying he was sick of people giving their children bizzare names, made her a ward of the court so that she could be given another name.
Apparently registration officials have blocked certain names such as Sex Fruit, Fish and Chips, Yeah Detroit, and Keenan Got Lucy. Why the heck do people want to give their kids names like this???????????? | |
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| Judge orders girl to be renamed
Posted: 7/24/2008 11:42:21 AM | Look at it a different way: Why do you need lots of lessons, a difficult test, and lots and lots of regulations to drive a hunk of metal around, but you can pretty do much as you like when it comes to parenting. If kids were cars, they'd need servicing every month. When was the last time anyone's kids got a service?
We just don't treat our kids as well as our possessions. | |
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| Judge orders girl to be renamed
Posted: 7/24/2008 2:35:59 PM | In Canada, the province of Quebec has the right to reject a baby name that "contains an odd compound surname or odd given names which invite ridicule or which may discredit the child". The office of the registrar of civil status rejects about 20 of the 85,000 names of newborns submitted annually, including Goldorak, Lion, Cowboy, Gazouille, and Boum-Boum. A case in 1998 received national attention when the the courts upheld rejection of the name Spatule, meaning either spoonbill (a type of bird) or cooking spatula.
Source: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a980828.html
<div class="quote">Why the heck do people want to give their kids names like this?
Cruelty is my guess. However, maybe it's to teach the child an important lesson about withstanding adversity and abuse, something that a kid named "Talula Does The Hula" would become well acquainted with. Remember the Johnny Cash song, Boy Named Sue? Look what it did to the fictional narrator of that song: toughened him up, but good. | |
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| Judge orders girl to be renamed
Posted: 7/24/2008 4:53:26 PM |
The court should allow these kids -regardless of age- to rename their parents.
 Love it!
"Hi, I'm Mrs. Monkey Butt and this is my husband Mr. Poopy Pants." | |
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| Judge orders girl to be renamed
Posted: 7/24/2008 5:19:21 PM | Well if parents insist on giving their kids names that will lead to certain schoolyard beatings, their kids should be enrolled in mandatory early childhood karate lessons.
I am reminded of a young couple from the USA who named their child Zip A Dee Dooh Dah. The song from that 1940s Disney movie, "Song of the South."
I think this couple were featured on "Real People" or "That's Incredible" around 1981. I can't remember if the newborn was a boy or girl. I hope that child survived to change his/her name. | |
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| Judge orders girl to be renamed
Posted: 7/24/2008 5:32:28 PM | Good for that judge! In most European countries they have lists of names and if parents happen to choose a name that's not on that list then the child cannot legally be named that. Although it can be a pain in the neck sometimes, it's meant to prtect kids from exactly what the OP wrote about - stupid names that will cause them to get teased. Growing up is hard enough, why make it harder? 
N. | |
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| Judge orders girl to be renamed
Posted: 7/24/2008 5:58:06 PM | Where was the judge when I was being named after a popular restroom fixture?  To make matters worse, I share a last name with a popular 70's musical act, whose reputation has sunk to the lowest level in recent years.
Needless to say, I've heard ALL the jokes, ad nauseum. | |
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| Judge orders girl to be renamed
Posted: 7/24/2008 6:19:52 PM | | Good for the judge! that is definately abuse, giving a kid a ridiculous name like that. I though naming a kid Apple was bad enough! | |
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| Judge orders girl to be renamed
Posted: 7/24/2008 6:47:23 PM | So, now we have judges deciding what we can name our kids? Seriously? Do we need more government intervention in our lives?
If the kid doesn't like the name, well, when the kid turns 18, the kid can change it to anything her heart damn well pleases. But it their kid, why does the government get to say what they are naming their kid.
Hmmm, maybe I should be renamed. It's cruel to name a kid Ezra.
Maybe I shouldn't be allowed to name my kid what I want. I'm going to name my son William James and we are going to call him BJ. That's sexual Harrassment.
I knew a girl named Jenna Jameson. That has got to be traumatizing.
Seriously, let's get the government out of our lives. It has no place in it.
BTW, I love the name of the kid in New Zealand named Violence. | |
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| Judge orders girl to be renamed
Posted: 7/24/2008 7:09:29 PM |
If the kid doesn't like the name, well, when the kid turns 18, the kid can change it to anything her heart damn well pleases. But it their kid, why does the government get to say what they are naming their kid.
Would you seriously want a child to grow up, go through elementary and high school with the name Talula Does The Hula? That's just absurd. Having the name Apple or Matilda is one thing, but Talula Does The Hula is a name on a whole new level of idiocy.
Seriously, let's get the government out of our lives. It has no place in it.
Your right, why not allow parents to start naming thier kids names like Loser, Stupidhead or Nananabooboo. Sheesh. Kids have a rough enough time growing up and going through puberty without having a really odd name to deal with. If your the child of a famous person, fine, you'll still be teased... but your rich and famous, who cares what your name is. But for the rest of us, the ridicule and taunts these kids will recieve isn't worth it.
BTW, I love the name of the kid in New Zealand named Violence.
What's so good about it? It's not different, it's a just word that signifies "an act of aggression (as one against a person who resists); "he may accomplish by craft in the long run what he cannot do by force and violence in ...ferocity: the property of being wild or turbulent; "the storm's violence" a turbulent state resulting in injuries and destruction etc."
Wow, ya... that's cool, a name that signifies injury to another person... goody. | |
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| Judge orders girl to be renamed
Posted: 7/24/2008 7:59:49 PM |
Kids have a rough enough time growing up and going through puberty without having a really odd name to deal with. If your the child of a famous person, fine, you'll still be teased... but your rich and famous, who cares what your name is. But for the rest of us, the ridicule and taunts these kids will recieve isn't worth it.
So who gets to decide what is a "really odd name?" The government? Serioulsy?
Do you consider any of these "really odd names"?
Austin Powers
Ben Dover
Seymour Butts
Amanda Huggankiss
Shockmain Davis
Obefemi Ayenbendejo
David David
Tavaris Jackson
Englebert Humperdink
Peekaboo Streak
Henry Ford Carr
If-Jesus-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned Barebones
Rosey and Dewey Butt
Solomon Gemorah
These are all real people with real names. Should we force them to change them to? Maybe we can charge their parents with child abuse. Our courts don't have enough to do.
Our government has taken over the job of parenting today. I'm wondering when we decided to think that the government did a better job of parenting then we as parents can.
Fact of the matter is that kids are mean. They are going to find a way to tease you. It's life. It doesn't have to be a name. It can be the fact that you are overweight. It can be the fact that you wear glasses. It can be the fact that you have braces. It could be the fact that you are a boy or a girl. It could be the fact that you enjoy a food that others don't.
Here is a simple solution. We will genetically engineer everyone to look, feel, act, and think the same way. We will name them all the same thing, lets say, John Doe. No changes if you are male or female. Everyone is the exact same, just like out of an assembly line. There is your solution. | |
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| Judge orders girl to be renamed
Posted: 7/25/2008 12:30:54 AM | "Why the heck do people want to give their kids names like this???????????? "
On the other hand why would we want the sate to determine how we name our children?
Sure goofy names might be problematic , many kids with goofy names adjust themselves by using a nick name or a middle name wich is't that uncommon. | |
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| Judge orders girl to be renamed
Posted: 7/25/2008 5:22:50 AM |
We will name them all the same thing, lets say, John Doe. No changes if you are male or female. Everyone is the exact same, just like out of an assembly line. There is your solution.
So to you it's either one extreme or the other? I don't have anything against unique names, just don't go overboard. By the time a kid turns 18, if s/he has a ridiculous name, the damage is already done. Sure, they can always choose a more acceptable nickname, they just have to be careful that nobody ever sees their birth certificate.
N. | |
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| Judge orders girl to be renamed
Posted: 7/25/2008 5:39:48 AM | | Good for the judge! If people had common sense and actually used it, there would be no need for the government to interfere in such things! | |
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| Judge orders girl to be renamed
Posted: 7/25/2008 8:47:01 AM | Talula doesn't seem a bad name...just the rest of it.
Yes, in Quebec you cannot have oddball names for a baby, by law.
I thnk the judge used some common sense here, whereas the parents did not.
Tough enough being a kid and growing up without having an albatross of a name stuck on you too!
A lot of people don't like their names...many often wonder 'WTF was going through my parents heads when they dreamed that one up?' A lot of "unusual names" form the past have become socially acceptable. Like "Rainbow" or " "Dreamer" or "Summersky"...your basic "hippy" names.
Heard of one guy wanting his name changed to THX-1138...a homage to his favourite movie, think it was "1984" or some such thing.
You see a lot of kids running around with a "street name". Ashamed of their own names so much that they refuse to use them in public or what?
Media icons and characters often have babies named after them. A few years ago "Kunta Kinte" was a huge hit name, especially in the States.
Perhaps parents DO need guidlelines and restrictions on naming kids...perhaps we should just go to numbers until the kid hits legal age and decides on their own! | |
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| Judge orders girl to be renamed
Posted: 7/25/2008 9:04:50 AM | I have mixed feeling on this...
One yes I think its terrible that some parents might choose to name their child an odd name that could be a problem for the child.
On the otherhand I don't approve of any government interefering in the personal lives of people...
People who believe that government should have that sort of control over the masses scare me greatly. What's next the confiscation of all new borns because parents can't be trusted to raise their children. They might do something dangerous like teach them a religion... Maybe name their child Obadiah, and we can't have that now can we? | |
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| Judge orders girl to be renamed
Posted: 7/25/2008 11:54:02 AM | I completely agree with Eezee on this one. Allowing our government more control is a much bigger problem than any goofy names we give our kids. Passing laws to make us all more vanilla and generic is more of a crime in my opinion. And who gets to decide what is unusual? Maybe the name means something beautiful in another language or culture and the government won't allow you to use it? My name is very unusual and quite pretty in Italian but trying to anglicize it sounded a bit like a female body part kids just loooove to giggle at and make fun of. Hated my name as a kid (when names weren't nearly as unusual as they are now) but as an adult I love how pretty and different it sounds. Trust me kids are more resilient than you think. She'll learn very quickly to use a nickname.
Yes, I think the name is silly however she can just shorten the name to Talula which is a beautiful name and ignore the rest which she can change at 18 anyway. Worrying about her getting teased is futile since kids can come up with all kinds of mean shortforms for the simplest of names. I would think nowadays with the amount of unusual names out there a girl named Jane would probably get the oddest looks. And that's what Talula will probably do one day, make fun of Jane for being so "ordinary". | |
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| Judge orders girl to be renamed
Posted: 7/25/2008 12:29:48 PM |
And who gets to decide what is unusual?
As I recall it was the other kids in school who made that call. Just before they decided to pound on you. | |
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| Judge orders girl to be renamed
Posted: 7/25/2008 12:48:16 PM | Malaysian authorities enacted a law in 2006 to prevent this problem, names such as Hitler, Smelly Dog and 007 have been banned.
They also had a short lived fad where automotive related names were common, Carburetor, Chevy and Ford were very popular. | |
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| Judge orders girl to be renamed
Posted: 7/25/2008 1:13:50 PM | >>>>>>>>>As I recall it was the other kids in school who made that call. Just before they decided to pound on you.<<<<<<<<<<
By all means then, let's allow the government to intervene and ban names based on what children consider "unusual". Good luck with that...... | |
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| Judge orders girl to be renamed
Posted: 7/25/2008 2:06:38 PM |
These are all real people with real names. Should we force them to change them to?
Absolutly not, I'm not suggesting we form a division of the government that goes around forcing people to be renamed... I'm saying that if the parent chooses these ridiculous names and thier kids don't like them, to the point where they are being harrassed and embarrassed by it, that they should be allowed to have a judge say fine, get a new name.
There is your solution.
Do I sense a tinge of sarcasm? Hmm...
Do you consider any of these "really odd names"[?quote]
If-Jesus-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned Barebones... uhh, yeah, that IS a really odd name. As are most of the others you mentioned... however, if they can live with them and like what they are named then all the more power to them, if they don't, then they should be allowed to change it, at whatever age. Now... I beleive there is your solution. | |
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| Judge orders girl to be renamed
Posted: 7/25/2008 2:10:10 PM |
By all means then, let's allow the government to intervene and ban names based on what children consider "unusual".
Who said anything about banning names? The child (Talula does the hula) hated her name, and I don't blame her, and she went to a judge and they sided with her... that's it. No one is telling you not to name your kids stupid names... this is just giving the kids the oppertunity to speak up and let the parents know that they didn't want the name that idiot name in th efirst place. They are the ones afterall, who have to live with it for at least the next 18 years... they might as well like it. | |
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| Judge orders girl to be renamed
Posted: 7/25/2008 2:22:28 PM | >>>>>Who said anything about banning names? The child (Talula does the hula) hated her name, and I don't blame her, and she went to a judge and they sided with her... that's it. No one is telling you not to name your kids stupid names... this is just giving the kids the oppertunity to speak up and let the parents know that they didn't want the name that idiot name in th efirst place. They are the ones afterall, who have to live with it for at least the next 18 years... they might as well like it.<<<<<<<<<<<
Actually the post mentioned that some names have been banned already. So yes, they are telling you what you can't name your kids. Those that are included on the post are pretty obviously stupid, I agree, however it is a slippery slope you're on when you allow the government to have that kind of power.
Second, the post said the judge made her a ward of the court so he could change her name. Hopefully there is more to this story and he did not just revoke parental rights based on a poor choice of a name. | |
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