Would I run into any restrictions giving my kid an obscene name? (US)

[cochrane]

@spingears

[QUOTE=BrotherCadfael]
If I recall correctly, Bill Lear named his daughter “Crystal Shanda”.

:smack:
That is a clever play on phonics/words!

Hardly obscene per OP. Too many parents think it cute or something to saddle a child with a name they will forever hate or feel disgraced over.
[/QUOTE]
Also not obscene, but it does make you wonder:

Nicolas Cage named his son Kal-El, which is Superman’s Kryptonian birth name. And Kevin Smith named his daughter Harley Quinn, after the Joker’s girlfriend.

[Mississippienne]

I’ve worked at preschools, summer camps, and tutored children at elementary schools. I think the weirdest name I’ve ever come across was YaMajesty. Many, many children had horribly mispelled or kre8tively spelled regular names, though.

My best friend’s great-aunts all have masculine names (apparently their father REALLY wanted boys). One was supposed to be named ‘William Ofer’, but the doctor felt sorry for her and wrote ‘William Opal’ on the birth certificate instead so she’d have a girl’s name to go by.

[mangeorge]

Has anyone mentioned Ima Pigg of, I think, Texas royalty?
I shall google.
Wikied instead. Wrong swine.

[Revtim]

[ZOMBIE THREAD RESURRECTION]
This case is a little like what I was asking, although the name is less obscene and more sacrilegious, I guess.

Messiah baby name: Make it Martin instead, judge says

Messiah baby name: Make it Martin instead, judge says
Messiah baby name creates controversy in Tennessee. Despite Messiah being among the fastest-rising baby names last year, a judge ruled that Messiah cannot be a baby name in Cocke County.

So a judge in the USA has the power to force a name change?

[Mighty_Girl]

The BBC article that I ready says that there are other 700 Messiahs (they are just naughty boys) in the US. This kid seemed to have been singled out. I shall wait for the legal beagles to tune in with their opinion on the merits of the case.

[Bricker]

@Mighty_Girl

The BBC article that I ready says that there are other 700 Messiahs (they are just naughty boys) in the US. This kid seemed to have been singled out. I shall wait for the legal beagles to tune in with their opinion on the merits of the case.

Not my area of law, but in my opinion, this is a slam-dunk for reversal. The judge basically put, on the record, her reasoning, and that reasoning is solidly grounded in acceptance of Christian theology.

That’s impermissible entanglement, the third prong of the Lemon test. The government is not permitted to take the position that “…the religious name [Messiah] was earned by one person and that one person is Jesus Christ.”

Wonder how this judge feels about the large numbers of people named Jesus in Latin households?

[Mighty_Girl]

@Bricker

That’s impermissible entanglement, the third prong of the Lemon test. The government is not permitted to take the position that “…the religious name [Messiah] was earned by one person and that one person is Jesus Christ.”

Why do you think a judge will make a finding that so obviously relies on her interpretation of a religious text? Is she just stupid?

[Revtim]

She shouldn’t make a finding based on any interpretation of a religious text.

[handsomeharry]

@Chronos

So, they wanted folks to address him as “Sir Sir Vincent”?

And odd though it may sound, I find the story of Bagina reassuring. The parents may have been loony, but at least they gave a damn about something. As the son of an public school teacher, I know just how rare that is.

I find it frightening-when you have idiots having children, that is not rare enough.

[handsomeharry]

@Khampelf

Well, Seven hasn’t come back, but I can just imagine that exchange:

“Is your sister named Eight?”

“No, Nine.”

“???”

“We’re an Odd family.”

Try this:
“Is your sister named Eight?”
“Nein!”

[tullsterx]

@Cartooniverse

Fact. Not rumor, nor urban legend.

My wife is a teacher. In a public school. She had a child enter her room many years ago. She was informed by this child that her name was Bagina. The child pronounced it clearly as to rhyme with vagina. My wife said ( somewhat shocked ), you mean it’s “Ba-Gee-Nah, right”. The girl insisted that she was saying her name properly. ( This is the 3rd grade. )

By the end of day, the child’s parents were in the Principal’s office. They were infuriated that anyone would dare disrespect their daughter by mis-pronouncing their child’s given name. The Principal informed them that they could either alter the accepted pronounciation, or get an attorney and possibly withdraw their daughter but she would not permit the entire school to go yelling down the halls, " here comes vagina !!! "

They folded. Bah-Gee-Nah had a perfectly nice year that year.

Cartooniverse

You wife sound like a real cunt. . . uhhh. . . I mean a real coooont.

[jtur88]

You mean like Randy Johnson?

[clairobscur]

@Mighty_Girl

Why do you think a judge will make a finding that so obviously relies on her interpretation of a religious text? Is she just stupid?

To make a point? Because she doesn’t want to support what she considers a blasphem, and thinks that it’s more important than ruling according to law? Washing her hands, like Pontius Pilatus : “This might be reversed, but I won’t have any part in this blasphemy”?

[Nava]

@cochrane

Also not obscene, but it does make you wonder:

Nicolas Cage named his son Kal-El, which is Superman’s Kryptonian birth name. And Kevin Smith named his daughter Harley Quinn, after the Joker’s girlfriend.

The Simonsons had the good taste to name their son Benjamin Kal-El: the Ben is for the Thing, and it’s common enough both in the US and in Spain (where they have or had a house).

[chacoguy]

Wait, you’re from Spain?

[Nava]

Wait, you think only comic book fans who are from Spain know the Simonsons used to have a house in the Costa Brava?

[April_R]

My mom has a co-worker named Clamydia

[JBDivmstr]

Since it’s been brought back to life, I’ll add to it.

It’s not obscene in any way (or all that odd, either), but I have a friend with the last name of Fogg. He named his daughter Misty Raine Fogg.

[jtur88]

@Revtim

So a judge in the USA has the power to force a name change?

In Cocke County, of all places? (rhymes with “cock”.)

[lawbuff]

@Bricker

Not my area of law, but in my opinion, this is a slam-dunk for reversal. The judge basically put, on the record, her reasoning, and that reasoning is solidly grounded in acceptance of Christian theology.

Check this case out I remember. The syllabus says it all.

http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/docs/pdf/0/2001/2001-ohio-1326.pdf