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names to avoid

This is a list of some of the names given to children where the courts have eventually deemed them to be illegal, offensive or indecent. Often these will have ignored religious feeling or caused undue harm or suffering to the child. Of course we are not simply talking about parents following the latest celebrity or fashion (naming the child after where it was conceived for example) but truely life affecting names.

Akuma - Devil (Japan)
In 1993 a Japanese parent called his son Akuma (which literally means Devil). The authorities decided this was an abuse of the parent's rights to decide a child's name and a lengthy court battle ensued. The case was eventually settled when the father conceeded and his son got a new, less demonic name.

Other regulations in Japan include one given name and one surname are chosen for babies, except for the imperial family, who only receive given names.

Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii (New Zealand)
New Zealand law bans names which could cause offence to a 'reasonable' person but strangely allows some real "crackers". Names such as Benson and Hedges (for a set of twins), and Number 16 Bus Shelter (conception point perhaps!!) are allowed and yet others such as the name in the headline was found to "makes a fool of the child," by the judge

Venerdi (Italy)
This will probably seem strange to many, as the English translation for this is Friday 9as in the day fo the week) which seems quite innocuous. However in 2008 a court banned an Italian couple from calling their child Venerdi (translation: Friday). The judges reckoned the name - taken from 'Robinson Crusoe' - would expose the boy to 'mockery' and was associated with 'subservience and insecurity'.

Robocop (seriously!) (Mexico)
Some parents in Mexico tried to name their child this. Oddly others went further and tried to call their child (now banned) 'Facebook' and 'Circumcision'. Others banned in mexico include (in Spanish) Burger King, Rambo, Facebook, Twitter, Robocop, James Bond, Harry Potter, Christmas Day, Rolling Stone, Virgin, Cesarean, Circumcision, Yahoo, Pocahontas, Spinach, Rocky, Mistress, US Navy and many others.



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