Name and shame

This wee gem has been in the news today...

6:44PM Thursday July 24, 2008

New Zealand children have been given names such as Number 16 Bus Shelter, Violence and Benson and Hedges(twins).

But other names, including Fish and Chips, Yeah Detroit, Stallion, Twisty Poi, Keenan Got Lucy and Sex Fruit, have been blocked by registration officials..

more...

A judge called it child abuse but CYFS, in their version of infinite wisdom don't agree...

A 'strange name' doesn't constitute abuse: CYF
4:25PM Thursday July 24, 2008

Child Youth and Family does not consider giving a child an out-of-the-ordinary name a form of abuse.

A New Plymouth Judge has forced a nine-year-old' parents to change her name from 'Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii'

The girl's lawyer told the judge she was so embarrassed of her name she refused to reveal it to friends.

A CYF spokeswoman says the name a parent chooses for a child does not constitute a care and protection issue in itself.

She says, however, if a child suffers serious bullying as a result of his or her name, this may lead on to possible notifications through the youth justice system.

Personally, knowing someone who went out of their way to give their kids the stupidest names I've ever run across in the name of some romantically perceived ancient family lineage (a.k.a searching for roots and only finding babies) my thoughts on the bestowal of weird and wacky monikers already lean towards the negative, but some of these are just beyond a joke. And if nothing else, the name Number 16 Bus Shelter just proves that prohibiting sex in public places is a very good thing. Oh yeah, I think Hawaii is probably over rated, too. Maybe someone should send these cretinous wannabe parents there with a one way ticket. They can take the CYFs workers with them!