Of course you can name your child “Yolo.” You only get one chance to bestow the “perfect” name on a child, and to some, perfect means bizarre and unique.
Sure, the name you choose for your child will be a defining piece of his or her identity for a lifetime. So no pressure, right?
Recently, a French court rejected the decision for parents to name their baby daughter “Nutella” after the delicious hazelnut spread, and likewise rejected the name “Fraise,” meaning strawberry, for another child. What’s wrong with these delicious names when others can name their children Aimée Daizome (beloved by men) and Aude Vaissalle (dishwasher)? Bizarre names say more about the parents than about the kids anyway.
As Americans, we’re lucky to have fewer naming laws than most countries. Thanks to the free speech clause of the First Amendment, we don’t have to flip through a name book set by the government to find the appropriate names for our children or pay fees to introduce new names to the book that will most likely be rejected. However, there are a few restrictions that we have to deal with if we want to go out of the ball park and name kids Rollo-Koster and Alma-Knack.
These restrictions vary by state, but most are for the sake of practicality. For example, several states limit the number of characters you may use due to the limitations of the software used for official record keeping. For similar reasons, some states ban the use of numerals or pictograms. A few states ban the use of obscenity. There are also a few states, Kentucky for instance, that have no naming laws whatsoever.
In China, children’s names are limited to characters which are machine-readable, which is reasonable since we’re becoming increasingly dependent on technology by the second. But when it comes to some European countries whose laws require gender specific names, it’s a little too much. What happens to all the unisex names like Dominique and Claire?
Since parents enjoy the extraordinary names that go along with raising their children, there’s no reason people shouldn’t be able to name their child Adolf Hitler or Benito Mussolini. Such laws mean nothing more than the fact that we haven’t surpassed historic obstacles that doubtlessly helped shape our world today. If this is the case, why aren’t serial killer names such as David, Larry and Kenneth banned from the “book of names”?
The worldwide “name rule” should only require that each person have a name so that he/she can be clearly identified from another person.
However, just because there is no law restricting the name you choose to call your child that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take into account social obstacles that your child might face because of their name.
Certain names may cause issues with things as simple as trying to get an email address or social security card, etc. What may seem funny, ironic or representative of a certain belief at the time a child was named might not be greatly appreciated by the so-named child as he or she grows through childhood and on to puberty and adulthood.
But, while there’s a lot to be said about a person’s name, the funny thing is that once you have named your child, it becomes a part of your child, and you and everyone around you just accept it as it is. It doesn’t really matter whether the child’s name is Shrek or William; you simply love your child and the name you call your child. What once seemed like such a momentous task of naming a baby seems insignificant as the child grows older.
When you hear of a kid with a bizarre name, I bet the first thing you think is, “Why would a parent do that to their child?” The parent makes the call, but the kid lives with it. Your unusual name choice and alternate spelling are burdens your child might have to bear. Ultimately, people should keep that in mind when deciding which exotic fruit or odd color you want to name their kid after.
