# What happens if parents refuse to name their child? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 23, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-parents-refuse-to-name-their-child/635629 "2012-09-23T22:29:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-parents-refuse-to-name-their-child/635629/21 "2012-09-25T02:40:59Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > This reminds me of a teacher I had in high school that said she heard of or had students named Nosmo King (No Smoking) and j f mamjjasond; j and f weren’t initials, they were the full first and middle names and neither parent had a surname mamjjasond. Think first letter of every month. Urban legend. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-parents-refuse-to-name-their-child/635629/22 "2012-09-25T07:14:02Z")
There are people actually named Abcde though (pronounced Ab-suh-dee, as I’ve heard it). I knew at least one in college. ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-parents-refuse-to-name-their-child/635629/23 "2012-09-25T07:28:54Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > There are people actually named Abcde though (pronounced Ab-suh-dee, as I’ve heard it). I knew at least one in college. Did they show you their birth certificate? ---
**Author:** ![kbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kbear)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-parents-refuse-to-name-their-child/635629/24 "2012-09-25T09:33:23Z")
My girls were Twin One and Twin Two for the first week of their lives…the nurses begged us to come up with names. It took me longer to come p with middle names and I was fined $100 each by the Quebec government for failing to register them on time. Good thing I took my time with the middle names…one insists on going by her middle name now…although she didn’t tell anyone and it took her teachers a while to figure out who Alexandra’s assignments belonged to. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-parents-refuse-to-name-their-child/635629/25 "2012-09-25T11:27:47Z")
In Germany, this situation would be dealt with by the family court. At least that’s the case when the parents can’t agree upon a name for the child. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-parents-refuse-to-name-their-child/635629/26 "2012-09-25T12:16:48Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > So she just looks out of the window and calls it after the first thing she sees. > > Can’t see anything going wrong with that. Nope, not at all. Lots of good precedent. Broken Rubber? ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-parents-refuse-to-name-their-child/635629/27 "2012-09-25T12:22:02Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Broken Rubber? Sounds like an American Indian name. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-parents-refuse-to-name-their-child/635629/28 "2012-09-25T13:20:23Z")
> [@Fish\_Cheer](#): > > Did they show you their birth certificate? Yea, and ones from Hawaii don’t count. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-parents-refuse-to-name-their-child/635629/29 "2012-09-25T13:49:03Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > There are people actually named Abcde though (pronounced Ab-suh-dee, as I’ve heard it). I knew at least one in college. Actually, **Drewtwo** , I am coming in here to back you up. I took a look at the SS website, and with a little investigation they have a [page](http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/babynames/limits.html) that lists all the names that have at least five occurrences in each calendar year. I only looked in 2010, but there were 29 instances of “Female” and 25 instances of “Abcde.” Now, maybe the parents went back and named their children something else later, but I bet not all of them did. And I only looked in 2010. If I went back further, who knows what I would find. SUCK ON THAT URBAN LEGENDS! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-parents-refuse-to-name-their-child/635629/30 "2012-09-25T14:43:28Z")
I have a friend with two dogs. One is deaf, and follows the hearing dog around. So, my friend calls “Fluffy” (the hearing dog) and both dogs come running. He never named the deaf dog. Why would he? /hijack ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-parents-refuse-to-name-their-child/635629/31 "2012-09-25T15:01:08Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > This reminds me of a teacher I had in high school that said she heard of or had students named Nosmo King _\_ … and of course his little brother Nopar! ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-parents-refuse-to-name-their-child/635629/32 "2012-09-25T17:46:43Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Urban legend. It’s a possibility, but I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss it as such. People have been able to get away with weirder or more outlandish; it was **maggenpye** ’s link that reminded me. The girl in the link was named Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii for the first 9 years of her life and in it > [@](#): > > In his written ruling, he said names such as Stallion, Yeah Detroit, Fish and Chips, Twisty Poi, Keenan Got Lucy and Sex Fruit were prohibited by registration officials. \*\*Others that were permitted \*\*included twins called Benson and Hedges, other children called Midnight Chardonnay, Number 16 Bus Shelter and, the judge added, “tragically, Violence”. Another mother tried to use text language for her child’s name, he said. Bolding for emphasis mine. These are of course from NZ, but we grow them just as weird locally: **Hitler’s Parents Claim Judge Found No Abuse of Little Adolf, Aryan Nation** [Parents of “Adolf Hitler” and “Aryan Nation” claim a judge found no evidence of abuse, but the state still hasn’t given their kids back](http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/weird/Hitler-Parents-Claim-Judge-Found-No-Abuse-of-Adolf-Aryan-Nation.html) > [@](#): > > Heath and Deborah Campbell, who named two of their children Adolf Hitler and JoyceLynn Aryan Nation, are claiming that a court vindicated them of all abuse allegations last month. But after 33 months in foster care, the children are still not home. > > New Jersey Family Court officials had no comment Tuesday. > … > The Campbell’s three small children were removed from their Holland Township home by the state in January 2009 after they asked a grocery store in Greenwich, N.J., to write “Adolf Hitler” on their son’s birthday cake. > > Though a local Wal-Mart honored the birthday cake request, Adolf Hitler Campbell and siblings JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell were put into foster care. Then there is always of course Dweezil and Moon Unit. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-parents-refuse-to-name-their-child/635629/33 "2012-09-25T19:58:59Z")
> [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](#): > > I have no first name on my birth certificate. It hasn’t caused me any problems yet. Yet:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-parents-refuse-to-name-their-child/635629/34 "2012-09-25T20:34:21Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > This reminds me of a teacher I had in high school that said she heard of or had students named Nosmo King (No Smoking)… > [@samclem](#): > > Urban legend. > [@Dissonance](#): > > It’s a possibility, but I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss it as such… A search through the entire file downloaded from the SSA link (in a previous post), turns up not a single instance of “Nosmo” from 1880 to 2011. If there was ever a “Nosmo”, of whatever surname, in that time, there was never more than 4 in a given year. I’d dismiss it as such, absent an actual, verifiable example of a real-life “Nosmo King”. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-parents-refuse-to-name-their-child/635629/35 "2012-09-25T21:16:14Z")
Some ardent soccer fans in England in the 70s named their sons after all the members of their favourite team, which amounts to 22 forenames. Perhaps they still do. Nothing would surprise me. I imagine there’s a limit though. If you wanted to name your child -_every word in the Bible_- _surname_ I should imagine the registrar would object! ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-parents-refuse-to-name-their-child/635629/36 "2012-09-25T21:27:06Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > A search through the entire file downloaded from the SSA link (in a previous post), turns up not a single instance of “Nosmo” from 1880 to 2011. If there was ever a “Nosmo”, of whatever surname, in that time, there was never more than 4 in a given year. I’d dismiss it as such, absent an actual, verifiable example of a real-life “Nosmo King”. I’d agree, but doing the exact same search turns up not a single instance of “Dweezil” from 1880 to 2011. Nonetheless, [Dweezil Zappa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dweezil_Zappa) isn’t an urban legend. There very well may never have been a Nosmo, but if there was it isn’t the poor boy’s fault his father wasn’t a rock star and the name never caught on. I highly doubt that there are more than 5 children a year named Number 16 Bus Shelter or Violence in NZ, the US, or the entire world for that matter but they’re real too. ETA Oh, and I don’t see what’s so wrong with Yeah Detroit. The poor parents 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-parents-refuse-to-name-their-child/635629/37 "2012-09-25T21:55:55Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > I’d agree, but doing the exact same search turns up not a single instance of “Dweezil” from 1880 to 2011. Nonetheless, [Dweezil Zappa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dweezil_Zappa) isn’t an urban legend. As I said. There are no more than 4 in a given year. There was likely only 1 “Dweezil” in that birth year, and there was _demonstrably_ less than 5, so it would not be reported in the released SSA database. Show me a _documented_ “Nosmo”, and I might be more inclined to believe your story. I was pointing out an upper limit. There must have been less than this amount of “X”. X \< 5, by definition. If you want to assert that one exists, present evidence that one does. I merely put a (very low, i.e 4) upper limit on the ones that might actually exist. I await your evidence that one ever did… ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-parents-refuse-to-name-their-child/635629/38 "2012-09-25T22:05:43Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > I’d agree, but doing the exact same search turns up not a single instance of “Dweezil” from 1880 to 2011. Nonetheless, [Dweezil Zappa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dweezil_Zappa) isn’t an urban legend. There very well may never have been a Nosmo, but if there was it isn’t the poor boy’s fault his father wasn’t a rock star and the name never caught on. I highly doubt that there are more than 5 children a year named Number 16 Bus Shelter or Violence in NZ, the US, or the entire world for that matter but they’re real too. > > ETA Oh, and I don’t see what’s so wrong with Yeah Detroit. The poor parents 😛 Dweezil Zappa’s registered birth name was Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-parents-refuse-to-name-their-child/635629/39 "2012-09-25T22:06:16Z")
In the 60s, there was a kid’s TV show called **Adventure Time**. It was hosted by [Paul Shannon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Shannon). One of his characters was Nosmo King. As a 5 year old, I was a dummy who did not recognize the source of the name. ---
**Author:** ![listedmia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e0b2c6/32.png) [@listedmia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/listedmia)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-parents-refuse-to-name-their-child/635629/40 "2012-09-26T01:32:21Z")
In one of the Ramona books, Ramona (an elementary school kid) is trying to get her father to stop smoking. She writes “Nosmo King” on a piece of paper, and he asks her who that is. I seem to recall a character named that from a Kurt Vonnegut book too, but I can’t recall which one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-parents-refuse-to-name-their-child/635629.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-parents-refuse-to-name-their-child/635629.md?page=3)