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by fodkodrasz 972 days ago
In some places there is an officially acknowledged list of valid given names (for citizens born in the jurisdiction, eg. Hungary), and that format of the name might not be on it. Elon Musk would be in trouble here naming his children.

It is a debatable practice, yet I think this is somewhat protecting the children from silly decisions of parents (some example from Hungarian tabloid media where parents were outraged: Fradi / Fradika (from the slang name Fradi of the FTC football club, without and with diminutive appendix), Traktorka (tractor with diminutive appendix), various names from soap operas, WoW characters, Shrek, Satan.

So think of the children! :) But really, this is the other end of the spectrum. And this (giving especially weird names to children) is a fine recipe for making the child subject to bullying in my opinion.
1 comments
PrimeMcFly 972 days ago
Having a list of approved names is too draconian IMO.

Australia seems to have a good policy where any name is allowed, as long as it isn't offensive or too silly.

Musk's children's name would be fine, for example, while calling a kid Hitler would not be.

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fodkodrasz 972 days ago
I can accept this, but who decides what is too silly? Like here it is already clear from the allowed names list (reviewed, extended every year actually, and contains some quite silly entries already in my opinion.)

Also we have the idea of "nameday" which is minor occasion for celebration and giving small gifts every year, based on the person's given name, and the calendar contains the mapping between names and dates, one without an official name would be in trouble getting that free a bottle of wine :D

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PrimeMcFly 972 days ago
Well, it's not so much about 'silly', silly is fine, Musk's names would be silly, it's more about ensuring the kid won't have a guaranteed bad start to life with a crappy name like "hatesjews". On the other hand if you call a kid 'boggle', they might get teased, but might own it and be super cool and love it.

IMO only the names that would be damaging beyond a reasonable doubt should be prohibited.

Also, the nameday idea sounds cool :)

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