back to article Venezuela plans crackdown on bloody silly names

Venezuela's National Electoral Council last week proposed a Bill that would prevent parents giving their offspring "names that expose them to ridicule, are extravagant or difficult to pronounce", AP reports. The move came after a perusal of the electoral rolls revealed a litany of outrages, including Edigaith, Hersony, Nohemar …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Big_Boomer Silver badge

    Sheesh, Nanny State gone mad!

    I grew up learning some 40 odd variants of the "Georgie Porgy" rhyme and many others I know had similar experiences with other names. Having a different name at least forces the teasers to get inventive rather than just handing them the gun already loaded. If yer interested the best (IMHO) Georgie Porgy is;

    Georgie Porgy pudding and pie

    Kissed the girls and made them cry

    When the boys came out to play

    He kissed them too so they ran away

    By the age of 15 I was 6'4" and 17 Stone.

    Funnily enough the Georgie Porgy's stopped. <LOL>

  2. Simon Riley

    Yes Mileidy

    Nothing difficult about pronouncing Mileidy. Just take your cues from Thunderbirds' Parker.

  3. Joe

    Surely that should be...

    "Supermans"?

  4. Richard

    Mileidy

    Presumably someone is a Thunderbirds fan...

    Yes, Mileidy

  5. Daniel Ballado-Torres

    Might as well ban badly written names as well

    Damn, good thing that is, I wish we had some similar law. Even worse when the names are badly written: Wuendy, Jhonatan, Selina (with an i instead of e), or some other aberrations.

    Not to mention some based on ugly unknown saints: Telesforo, Crisoforo, Crisostomo; and well some parents that must hate their children, like one of my mom's former colleagues that was called "Don Juan". Yes, "Don" was part of his name. Ouch.

    Note to future parents: Do *not* use soap-opera names for your children, especially if the name's too corny; and more even if it is a foreign name prone to jokes. Example: "Dennis" is a standard male name in English, but not in Spanish, where the "Denisse" name is more common. Guess what happens when someone's called Dennis...

  6. Jack Prichard

    Soviet Model. Rights? What rights?

    An easier way would be to have a list of approved names that parents are allowed to choose from.

    Move to the "Soviet Model". Under the "Western Model" you can do anything unless the law says you can't, under the "Soviet Model" you can't do anything unless the laws says you can.

    Good old New Zealand is currently 'leading the world' in this direction.

    Go us!

  7. Alan Donaly

    we seem to be getting treated

    to quite a few of these name problem stories

    and today I met two people with funny names

    strange I guess I normally wouldn't notice.

    As for the Superman don't you suppose thats

    a gag you just have to fill out a form to vote

    trying to come up with a suitable ID at the

    polling place might be tough though. I have

    never met a Superman I know an Elvis but

    his real name is Scott.

  8. Dan

    Could be worse

    It could be as bad as Argentina during the 70's. New born children could only have a Spanish or Argentinian name. My wife's parents called her Natalia and were only able to get away with it because her father is Italian and ......lets just say that a few foldable notes were slipped across the the naming clerk ;)

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Venezuela ...?

    Hey you folks in charge down there. Stick to grading bananas, leave the names to the parents.

  10. A. Merkin

    It's Bird, It's A Plane, It's...

    Surely there must be many more than just 2 supermen, what with all the German Ex-Pats Post WW2?

    Hat, Coat, Broom closet (whoops)... Door.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What's in a name?

    The only thing sensible about "common" names is they're in common use. It's not like they have any particular meaning in our common language. Every now and then I'll see products such as mugs or greeting cards that will provide the "meaning" of a common name. But really, what's the difference between a name that meant "Superman" in ancient Hebrew and the English version of Superman other than everybody knows what the latter means? Or Ursala versus Little Bear?

    Having been blessed with an uncommon, meaningless name that was mispronounced by teachers for entire school years, I can empathize with the child's plight. But as an adult, I like my uncommon name, and correct mispronounciations. But I'd like it even better if it actually meant something that everybody understood, too.

    Signed, Elisa (that's eh-lee-sah)

    PS. As an adult, I've found lot's of other Elisa's too. Maybe Superman and Megane will discover the same.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Darwinism 2 generations deep

    It's quite simple. You name your kid something stupid, your kid kills you, then goes to wreak havoc on the classmates that make fun of him. You're removed from the genepool (after breeding), but your offspring is also removed from the genepool, thus making sure that we're all smarter.

  13. Brennan Young

    Science and IT angle?

    Venezuela is scarcely alone in having laws against 'silly' names (as the links to the other stories indicate).

    Here in Denmark there's an official list of 'acceptable' names (believe it or not). Children may only be named if the name is on the list. OK, it's a long list, which AFAIK is kept 'up to date' with worldwide trends in child naming (in particular 'foreign names' need to be added occasionally). I believe you can get special dispensation for a special name (for example if God revealed himself to you and commanded you to name your child something unusual) if you can be bothered with the red tape, and presumably if the name is not 'too silly'.

    Doubtless there are similar laws elsewhere in the 'developed' world, but given that this story is about Venezuela, I detect implicit and explicit 'washington consensus' propaganda entering the 'debate'.

    Apparently we should concern ourselves more about the oh-so-important freedom to call your child "Asswipe" or "Cuntface" rather than the fact that some folks are trying to introduce some social-democratic structure.

    Frankly, if I was a latin american leader embroiled in a 'bolivarian revolution', passing laws against silly names would not be top of my list of priorities.

    I'm reminded of Stephen Fry's (Saturday Night Fry) letters from listeners about unusual names:

    <transcription>

    "Dear Stephen, My aunt has a most unusual name. She was christened Jenny Split, which was odd enough, but for forty years, her married name has been 'Moist'. Pretty strange, eh? Yours sincerely,

    Crampwell Barhostage"

    ...or what about this one...

    "Dear Stephen, I once met a man called Dintley Titmeaning. His children were called Dengulphus and Pantygrace. You can imagine how I laughed. Yours etc.,

    Frillady Waistsplendour"

    A card here from a listener in Lincolnshire:

    "Dear Mr Fry,Some people really do have absurd names. At a coffee morning in Louth, I was introduced to a girl who told me her name was Cleftene Straightbladder. How we all howled! Faithfully,

    Milden Nipplecream"

    "Dear Stephen, For ten years, I have lived next door to couple called Stank and Mulina Stopfroth. I giggle every time I see them. Best wishes,

    Suckmaster Burstingfoam"

    </transcription>

    And, er... what's the science/technology angle here, exactly?

This topic is closed for new posts.