From Pine View Farm

Good Grief, Stupid Parent Tricks Dept. 3

Oh, my.

A NZ couple are fighting the powers that be for the right to name their son “4Real”, the New Zealand Herald reports.

Pat and Sheena Wheaton claim the Department of Internal Affairs has deployed the Births, Deaths, and Marriages Registration Act 1995 in refusing to register the name. The law forbids “names that resemble an official title or rank, names that are unreasonably long, and names that may cause offence to a reasonable person”. It also advises that parents “avoid names which would cause their child to be teased or made fun of”.

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3 comments

  1. Karen

    June 23, 2007 at 7:31 pm

    I saw that article, & had to wonder. Then I thought about a customer that Chris had. He went to court & changed his name to IX. Nine. The Roman numeral for 9. Yes, I’m serious.

     
  2. Opie

    June 23, 2007 at 11:06 pm

    I knew this was going to happen! I knew it! I think I even may have blogged about it at some point.

     
  3. Frank

    June 24, 2007 at 6:35 pm

    I know that other countries beside New Zealand arrogate to themselves the right to regulate the names of children.

    I suspect that, in this country, such regulation would be unconstitutional (though that doesn’t stop the Current Federal Administration), but, given some of the names I’ve heard recently, it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.