<font color=skyblue>This taught me alot about how strict some nations are...where Germany requires you to name your child appropriately so that his / her gender is clearly identified, and is not offensive in any way. One family tried to name their kid Osama bin Laden, according to this article.

It seemed to be worth mentioning here to talk about...as I am interested in whether only Germany and Turkey have the govt. regulated names. Of course...this is the secondary topic in this article, as the first is..."Should the couple be allowed to use that name? This article points out that Hitler is a taboo name in German, and not allowed to be used. Will Bin Laden or Hussein become part of that taboo?</font>

Here is the article

[ 09-05-2002, 02:08 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

well to be honest, calling a child a name like that will give them severe problems in later life anyway

as for the government issue, it's pointless. You can't destroy someone by trying to refuse to accept their name exists LOL!! or find them by making sure nobody else shares that name

i don't see what they hope to achieve other than being seen publicly to be against Osama

Forget the government...why in the name of all that's holy would someone want to name their kid "Osama Bin Laden"? [img]graemlins/wow.gif[/img] They must HATE their child!

-Saz

No, i think that's wrong. They must have the possibility to name their child whatever they want, even when it's a name like that. But it shows a lot about the parents in question here. What's the guy's name anyway ? Piece of crap ?

Well, there were a couple of parents that wanted to give 'strange' names to their children in Slovenia. They were rejected too. One of the names was Jezus Kristus (Jesus Christ) and the other one, believe it or not, Banka Slovenije, which means Bank of Slovenia. [img]tongue.gif[/img] These are the ones I can remember. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Oh, and wasn't there a French woman that named her kid after the car Megan Renault? Or I might be wrong, hehe. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Oh well, some parents are just weird... [img]tongue.gif[/img] :D

yeah well i say let them name their kid that. i will gaurantee that the child is going to grow up and hate his family. i guess it would be ok if i named my child adolph hitler?! bah, the ignorance of the morons in this world makes me want to become a hermit, and shoot anyone who steps onto my land. from the looks of the world today, that isnt too far off!!!

I agree with the government, mainly to protect the child itself. I wouldn't want a child named Osama Bin Laden, I would be extremely paranoid of it's safety all the time.

It's for the good of the child, it doesn't matter if it's important to the parents to name it Osama, it's just a name (I know it shouldn't matter than but there are some very short sighted people in this world who see things differantly).

Well here in Iceland the government also controls what names can be given... it]s from that time that the hippies started concieving and were naming their poor kids "Yrsa Þ(Th)öll"(Makes no sense) or Hreinn Sveinn (A boy virgin) and "Eilíf Nótt"(Eternal night I almost like it though). The worst one was Rútur Skæringur... I worked with that guy and the poor fella was broken

Some people here think they are smart by giving their kids "intelligent" names that have some meaning and have no idea what they are doing to the poor kids.

Well my American Grandmother gave me the name Monique Renault and I happen to like it very much! Its a hard name to be teased for in this country though, not to many people can even pronounce it correctly, and many less know that it is a French automobile and, if I am not mistaken, a French surname.

I think parent's should be allowed to name their children anything they want. Even the worst of them (Moon Unit, Dwiesel, and Ahmet Zappa come to mind) can overcome their stranger titles to become (fairly) normal people. (who likes totally normal anyway lol)
I can see why some countries would want Osama Bin Laden or Adolph Hilter banned but it doesn't take away what the parent's will teach their children based on the names they wanted to give them to begin with ya know?

My mother named me Kyra :D
I have a friend...Joanna King-Jo King, and her older brother is Wayne King. Go figure.

yeh but what about ppl who call their kids oldfashioned names *cough*romeo*cough* i mean its like calling your son Dieter or Hamlet i mean thats just as evil innit? what about that guy in mexico tried to change his name for a joke got stuck with the name 'Jesus christ king of the jews' for a month before he could change it, fool, he he he he ;)

<s>Felix</s>

So Minno, if your American grandmother named you Monique Renault, would your Apache name perhaps be: French car which lets you down a lot ? :D :D

<font color=skyblue>My real name is Storm. I was named that by my mother who honors her Cherokee heritage, as I was born during a Winter's Storm.

Many African-Americans name their kids weird names like Shashandra and stuff like that to be different. Many people are taking older names and mixing it up a bit like instead of Karen...it's Karyn or Karan. I am unaware of any laws that prohibit names in the U.S.

My mom's boyfriend's name was Pearly. He was a very large, strong man. You didn't call him that. Instead, you called him "Pete".</font>

A couple here tried to name their child Spatula... it's been rejected by the gov and in court trial.
As a side note, there was one Hittler in the montreal phone register. Useless to say he got prick phone calls on a daily basis.

Heh, the cruel names that are coming up...but...KYRA? Bah, it's alright, I guess...I just always call myself kaltia and rip my name off timetables and stuff :D

out of interest I found a few sites for changing your name by deed poll?

Change Name

it seems easy but you have to remember to inform your banks, employers, credit card companies, insurance companies, subscriptions, licences, etc.... :D

LMAO No, it would be LastTruePrincess ;) [img]tongue.gif[/img]

While we're on the topic of our own odd names mine is (odd in the US, not France):
Marcotte (paternal grandmothers maiden name)
Sharp (mother's maiden name)
Anderson (father's maiden name ;) )

So I've got three last names for a name. Needless to say, I got teased a hell of a lot in middle school, but I always insist that people call me Marcotte. I only introduce myself as Marc if I don't want to go through something like....

"Hi, I'm Marcotte."
"Marc Ott? Are you related to the baseball player?"
"No, Marcotte, it's all one word."
"That's you're first name?"
"Yes"
"Marc- what?"
"Marcotte"
"Can I just call you Mark?"
"No. My name is Marcotte."
etc.

And of course all my junk mail is addressed to Ms. Marcotte and my freshman year of college, the dorm was confused because they thought they had an extra female to find a roommate for.

LOL! My 7th grade homeroom teacher assigned me to a Boys P.E. class thinking I was a boy (by the looks of my name only) Monique. Yeah, Monique.
[img]graemlins/biglaugh.gif[/img]

nothing wrong with being called Marc ...but that is my name I have no otte on the end [img]tongue.gif[/img] ...most people still write it Mark which really p!sses me off but still ..what can you do. Incidently ..talking of strage names I know a couple who have named there new born son Xavier ...guess what they are fans off lol

I feel your pain ;)

Many people mis-spell my surname (Shepherd). However, mis-spelling that makes the difference between a large and proud Scottish Clan (proper spelling) and being of Welsh or English origins (the other spellings)

Why would anyone want to name their child after Osama bin Laden? Thats my question!

It's disgusting! Why would anyone want to do that? I think it's ok that parents who showed that they definitely don't understand what happened almost one year ago, should not be allowed to name their kid like that. Believe me, there are morons in gemany who are not able to realize that!

Were these people muslims by any chance? ...it's probably not such an strange thing in their culture, still if they want to use that name then perhaps they should reconsider their geographical location.

In some cultures people are actually often named after the gods and heroes of their religious traditions. Thus you have 'Rama', 'Krishna', 'Siva', 'Ganesh' etc in the Indian cultural circle. Nice to be named after a god or hero. ;)

I understand the name 'Thor' is very popular in Scandinavian countries?

As for the name 'Osama bin Laden', it could be that in Islamic circles it has a positive meaning quite irrespective of the fact that someone who had that name was a terrorist.

[ 09-05-2002, 08:30 PM: Message edited by: K T Ong ]

<font color = lightgreen>Take note of your thoughts/emotions as you read the following two lists of names:

Jesus Christ, Mohammed, Bodidharma, Siddhartha (Gautama Buddha), Lao-Tzu, K'ung-fu-tse (Confucious), Black Elk, Ramakrishna

Pol Pot, Adolf Hitler, Idi Amin, Josef Stalin, Osama bin Laden, Torquemada, Vlad Tepes, "Jack the Ripper", Ted Bundy, Timothy James McVeigh

Don't you see? Names have power. Even before the invention of writing, names had power; the name of an object was an intrinsic value of that object. This continued after the invention of writing, of course. Speaking or writing a name invoked the object (or its power, for abstract objects) thus named.

In more modern times, we know (being silly rational beings [img]tongue.gif[/img] ) that names are just labels. You would all refer to me as "Azred", knowing that it is not my real name; I, of course, would answer, knowing that "Azred" is not my name. There is nothing wrong with the name Osama bin Laden, it just happens to be the name that a terrorist leader has (or had). In fact, <font color = red>Belle</font> (not her real name [img]graemlins/beigesmilewinkgrin.gif[/img] ) named <font color = white>TJ</font> (which stands for Timothy James) back in June 1995. I bet you thought of Oklahoma City just now, didn't you?

Anyway, names themselves are irrelevant. I understand that people might want to forbid some names, but if you do that then you simply give more power to that name. The whole concept of names and their psychological or religious power could fill a couple of scholarly works.

[img]graemlins/saywhat.gif[/img] Did I really say all that? [img]graemlins/petard.gif[/img] </font>

[ 09-05-2002, 10:06 PM: Message edited by: Azred ]

The issue becomes even more complex when one brings into consideration the fact that the same name can sometimes mean very different things to different people. Take Genghis Khan (or Genghis ■■■■, rather). The Mongolians today still venerate him as a hero but I think he's one of the greatest bastards who ever lived -- after all, he killed millions of people. And what about the name Mohammed? Muslims venerate this name as the name of the world's greatest prophet, but what about the West?

And BTW, Azred, it's <font color='aqua'>Confucius</font>. With only one 'o'. :D

[ 09-05-2002, 11:27 PM: Message edited by: K T Ong ]

Yes, but if one does name a child like that terrorist leader on purpose, i.e. because there is a terrorist leader who has that name, it is not right.

<font color = lightgreen>K T Ong: I'm from the West. What do I know? [img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/laugh3.gif[/img]

But you're right, I didn't take perception of the power behind a name into account. Even a relatively harmless-sounding name like "dubya" seems to really polarize people. Weird. [img]graemlins/beigesmilewinkgrin.gif[/img]

debiler: Why? If you make a name taboo then it becomes special; whether positive or negative, names that are set apart are more special than other names. Recall that in the early Hebrew religion, the name of God was so special that only a very select few priests even knew the name and only the high priest was allowed to write or pronounce it.
I'm not saying we should forget what his organization has done over the years, but don't attach value to his name by making it forbidden.</font>

If those stupid couple would consider changing the name to a more "German"ish nature, the government *might* consider their application. Say, Bin Ladin Von Hitler sounds kinda catchy, isn't it?

No? How about Bin Ladin Von Al-Qaeda?

[img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[ 09-06-2002, 02:15 AM: Message edited by: Paladin2000 ]

In 1980, an English couple from the county of Kent named their child "Depressed Cupboard Cheesecake".

Really?

Well if I had a name like that... I will end up being depressed and hide in a cupboard away from humanity surviving on a secret stash of cheesecake... ...

The thing about names is that people will attach a stigma to them if they belong to certain individuals. If the parents did not know and used it unintentionally, then there is nothing wrong; but if they knew that there would be a negative tone to the name and still used it, then I wonder if they really love their child.

Forgive the thought, but....has it ever occured to anyone that Osama Bin laden is not considered an evil man. I guess it depends on which side of the fence you are.

I live on the side that feels he is dangerous and criminal. Evil is a word that seems to be used a lot lately. Evil is in the eye of the beholder. There are many leaders in this world that are thought to be evil.

Mark

I do not support or like Osama.

What i think is simple ..... its wrong rather EXTREMELY WRONG AND UNFAIR to think of an individual as "evil" just because his name matches with some terrorist just like it is unfair to pass a biased judgement about a community just because it produced "a few" criminals ....... but its been happening in the past and unfortunately keep happenin in the future ........ perhaps its just because the masses constitute of "ordinary narrow minded" individuals. But then i might be wrong :(

Fully agree -- though it would still be interesting to know why the person's parents would want to give him/her the name of a terrorist in the first place.

That's the sad story with our world, isn't it?... :(

<font color=orange>While I think it's a disgrace to name ones child that, I don't fell that any Government has the right to tell parents what they can name their children. Smacks of Big Brother to me.</font>

Ah, there, I beg to differ. I do not consider "evil" to be a subject that can be viewed differently from diferent political perspectives. Evil is that which brings sorrow, distress, and calamity. Just behause I view Bill Clinton with disgust does not make him evil, though I am sure that many of my political compatriots would take issue with me. Osama murdered thousands of innocent people. That makes him evil in my book, and if a substantial majority of Arabs don't regard it as such, I would say that they are at best misguided. Timothy McVeigh was evil, and so was the bastard that dragged his five-year old stepson to death behind his pickup truck, because he wouldn't stop crying. Waxahachie, Texas, 1982.

On the contrary Attalus, I believe that your perception of evil is very much based on your perspective. Put yourself in the place of an Iraqi living in Baghdad. George Bush is about to bring 'sorrow, distress and calamity' into your life any time now. That makes him evil by your definition.

surely they will have a field day at the European court of human rights? :D