Who Gets To Decide What Counts As A Name?

Fascinating example of both social construction and state control:

Sweden fines parents for naming their child Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116.

Described on boing boing by Cory Doctorow, originally here.

Crap, that wasn't an image at all. I'm not sorry.

Posted by Lisa Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 1:03 AM Labels: , ,  

1 comments:

  Anonymous

February 22, 2008 at 7:34 AM

Can you imagine the child learning to write it's name?

But apart from looking like random letters picked on the keyboard, it's really no worse than naming their child Clamidia or Anorexia (I remember reading about someone naming their girls these names).

Nevermind the names being pretty, the meaning attached to them is no doubt negative, so they might as well be called "Pee" or "Poop" or "Toilet". Children can be unbelievably cruel, so the "weird-named" child could easily become a target. And I imagine applying for a school or a job might become bothersome. "Please come in Mr. berfexss....?"

The Swedish parents said it was an artistic expression of some sort. Well, I don't think using your child to express your art is right. Sort of like living up to your dreams through your child, despite what the child itself may want or dream of.

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