Weird/unusual names for (your) children

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

Waylon

For the win . Jennings is God

 

[kochman]

I named my dog "Dinah" after Alice's cat in Alice in Wonderland...
So, I named my dog after a cat...

No kids yet.

 

[HannibalBarka]

Some years ago, a french guy wanted to call his daughter Mégane. his last name was Renault. the municipal guy did not accept it

 

[Leoreth]

It is also a common nick/diminutive for Slavic "Ivan".
Most would probably associate that with Chekhov, rather than quenya
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Vanya

Yeah, I saw that when googling the name to verify it's in the bible, but I guess you can't avoid that. Especially because Slavic has a completely different tradition for common gender endings than Romance/Germanic languages have.

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

Some years ago, a french guy wanted to call his daughter Mégane. his last name was Renault. the municipal guy did not accept it

And rightly so . Not on account of the automotive theme , but rather the crappiness of the vehicle in question .

 

[kochman]

Some years ago, a french guy wanted to call his daughter Mégane. his last name was Renault. the municipal guy did not accept it

It is much more common practice to name cars after females, not vice versa!

 

[Takhisis]

Three questions:

1) (To those of you who don't have any children [that you know of]): Have you ever considered giving your children some very unusual name, for example something from your favourite book, film, or TV series? Or perhaps an ancient name which isn't really used today? If the answer is yes, what names have you considered and why?

Not really except at the same fantstic level where I dreamed of being an Astronaut.

2) What do you think about parents who give their children such names? Do you think it is within their rights to name their children in any way they like, or should the government regulate this? And to what extent? Do you think it is a good parental choice to give your child a name that nobody else shares, one that could make his/her life difficult when growing up?

You don't have a right to cll your dchildren just anything you like. I wouldn't call my children 'Takhisis', it'd be stupid, it's just a screen name. What'd happen if you had a son called 'Winner'? Can you even calculate how many stupid jokes people can make about him?

3) What does the law in your country say about this?

I've looked it up in the Argentine Civil Code and its annex, found Law 18.248, on the Names of Natural Persons.
Some important points:
Every person born in Argentina has the right and the duty to have a name and a surname. (art. 1)

The first name (art. 2) is chosen by the parents or tutor when the child is issued a birth certificate.

Any name can be chosen as a first name as long as they are

• judged to be 'extravagant, ridiculous, contrary to our (Argentine) customs, expressing or signifying political or ideological tendencies, or causing misunderstandings about the person's gender',
• not foreign names unless there's no translation (you can't be called Charles because the Spanish version, Carlos, is still in use, and so on). People born to diplomatic staff are not subjected to this restriction for their children but ordinary foreigners do have to comply.
• not surnames (here's looking at you, 'Merica)
• not the same first names as those of living siblings
• no more than three first names

Names from aboriginal languages are not considered to be 'foreign' and are always allowed as long as you can prove you're not making it up. 'Nahuel' and 'Nehuén' are quite popular these days.

You get your father's first surname unless your parents want to give you all of your father's surnames and/or add your mother's to it, or the father disowns you/the mother kicks him out (yeah, it sucks) and you get your mother's name.
When you're of age you can request the same changes to be made.
If you're foreign and want to apply for Argentine citizenship you can ask that your name be rendered phonetically into Spanish if it's hard to pronounce.

There's other provisions for names for adopted children, how old they are when you can still change them, name changes by adults, etc. but that's about it.

 

[Leoreth]

Interesting. Aren't there "first name surnames" in (Argentinian) Spanish, though? Also, the "no translation of Spanish first names" rule is harsh.

 

[emzie]

You don't have a right to cll your dchildren just anything you like. I wouldn't call my children 'Takhisis', it'd be stupid, it's just a screen name. What'd happen if you had a son called 'Winner'? Can you even calculate how many stupid jokes people can make about him?

My first reaction to this was to roll my eyes and scoff and mumble something about freedom of expression / speech. But then I realized that a separate person is not an extension of your right to say things.

I wish to give my children the most English sounding name ever. Like the actor playing Sherlock Holmes on the BBC: Benedict Cumberbatch.

 

[Winner]

You don't have a right to cll your dchildren just anything you like. I wouldn't call my children 'Takhisis', it'd be stupid, it's just a screen name. What'd happen if you had a son called 'Winner'? Can you even calculate how many stupid jokes people can make about him?

1) I am not advocating silliness here.
2) I am talking more about names which exist in fiction, but are not in use in the real world (though it has happened that fictional names entered general usage, "Vanessa" for example), say Arwen or Neytiri or something like that. Giving your child a "net" name would a wholly different level of insanity.
3) My net name is just a literal English translation of my real name (it's slightly provocative and sometimes ironic, that's why I use it).

I've looked it up in the Argentine Civil Code and its annex, found Law 18.248, on the Names of Natural Persons.

Any name can be chosen as a first name as long as they are

• not foreign names unless there's no translation (you can't be called Charles because the Spanish version, Carlos, is still in use, and so on). People born to diplomatic staff are not subjected to this restriction for their children but ordinary foreigners do have to comply.

Thanks. But this seems totally restrictive. So if an American couple has kids in Argentina, they must name their son "Juan" instead of "John"? That's really unfair.

Yeah, I saw that when googling the name to verify it's in the bible, but I guess you can't avoid that. Especially because Slavic has a completely different tradition for common gender endings than Romance/Germanic languages have.

Completely different? Most female names in Czech end with /-a/ or /-e/.

 

[Takhisis]

Interesting. Aren't there "first name surnames" in (Argentinian) Spanish, though?

There are several first names that are also surnames because of long established custom in places where there were no surnames, when surnames were made mandatory many people took an ancestor's name as a surname so Ricardo, David, Carlos, Sancho, etc. are sometimes surnames.
But there's a lot of surnames derived from first names, for example, Rodrigo->Rodríguez, Sancho -> Sánchez, Hernán/Hernando -> Hernández, etc.

My first reaction to this was to roll my eyes and scoff and mumble something about freedom of expression / speech. But then I realized that a separate person is not an extension of your right to say things.

Imagine someone calling their son A.H. Johnson a.k.a. 'Ass Hole Johnson'.

I wish to give my children the most English sounding name ever. Like the actor playing Sherlock Holmes on the BBC: Benedict Cumberbatch.

I wish I could find someone in Germany called 'Autobahnold' with a birth certificate to prove it, but it's not gonna happen.

1) I am not advocating silliness here-

I didn't say you were. But, since we're at it, why do you post in threes?

2) I am talking more about names which exist in fiction, but are not in use in the real world (though it has happened that fictional names entered general usage, "Vanessa" for example), say Arwen or Neytiri or something like that. Giving your child a "net" name would a wholly different level of insanity.

I've seen someone with a birth ceritficate proving their real name was 'Anakin'. Eugh.

3) My net name is just a literal English translation of my real name (it's slightly provocative and sometimes ironic, that's why I use it).

Ah, in Spanish it'd be 'Víctor' inherited from Roman times. But you can't call your son 'Ganador' which would be the present, 'translation'. But I meant literally calling your son 'Winner' in English. You can call your son 'Victor' still and the word is sometimes used instead of 'winner'.

Also, the "no translation of Spanish first names" rule is harsh.

Thanks. But this seems totally restrictive. So if an American couple has kids in Argentina, they must name their son "Juan" instead of "John"? That's really unfair.

*ruffles through Civil Code* You can name them after anyone in your family. This only applies if you're a permanent resident, if you're only a temporary resident, for example, working for your company or a tourist, then you don't have to since it's assumed you'll be raising the child at your country of origin and will make him a citizen there. Argentina acknowledges both ius soli and ius sanguinis.

 

[aelf]

Obligatory Batman post:

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

Obligatory but massively awesome . His mild mannered expression is the perfect counterpoint .

 

[aelf]

Apparently the Jawi script matches the English name exactly, which (if true) increases the likelihood of the pic being genuine.

 

[Josu]

Just out of curiosity, what names do people in the Basque country give to their kids? Are Spanish names common? Is there any trend there - are more people getting Spanish names these days or vice versa?

We can say there are 4 tendencies among people leaving in basque country:
1) Spanish names, in most cases people that do not speak basque
2) Catholic tradicional names traduced to Basque: They are neologisms, they where "created"in the late XiX century, mine is one of them, Josu is Jesus in Basque, there are several names like this: Joseba, Jon, Andoni, Ane, Iker etc.
3) Geographical names: Izaro, Irati, Garazi, Begoña are places names in basque, and are common as well
4) Ancient basque names: Aritza, Eneko, Otxanda, Hodei, Ibai most of them are nature elements. Aparently this kind of names were usual until the church decided that there only was going to be batizing for catholic names

 

[Rashiminos]

I think some countries could use laws like these. I'm looking at you USA.

There are way too many idiotic spellings of the name Ashley... and Kaley.. and..

Nah. We need more names than those restrictions would allow.

You don't have a right to call your dchildren just anything you like.

Maybe not the right, but the privilege by proxy is certainly possible.

2) I am talking more about names which exist in fiction, but are not in use in the real world (though it has happened that fictional names entered general usage, "Vanessa" for example), say Arwen or Neytiri or something like that. Giving your child a "net" name would a wholly different level of insanity.

Not a different level. A fictional name and a "net" name are basically equivalent.

 

[Lillefix]

There needs to be a theme. I just read about a group of siblings called Ask, Brage, Njård, Odin, Idun, Embla and Frøya, who are all Gods or other figures in Norse mythology.

 

[Winner]

Not a different level. A fictional name and a "net" name are basically equivalent.

Yes, because naming your daughter "Itoldyouso128" would be entirely equivalent to naming her, say, "Galadriel".

 

[Huayna Capac357]

Wow. I didn't know Vanessa was a fictional name until now...

 

[Dumanios]

I would name my child either Theodore or Miranda, assuming I have a child and my wife allows.