New Zealand takes custody of girl to change her name

arbilad · Head Chef

New Zealand takes custody of girl to change her name

historian · Senior Member

Strong "yeah, but!!" feelings about this one.

Yes, I oppose governmental interference in family life. Yes, parents' rights should be respected.

In the article you linked to, they state that the girl was so embarrassed by her name "Talula Does the Hula" that she wouldn't tell people what her name was. And some of the name choices mentioned in the article are daft -- what right-thinking person would name a child Violence?

I'm old enough to remember some societal pressure about things like this. A classmate said that the hospital clerk who filled out the birth certificates wouldn't let her mother misspell the baby's (my classmate's) given name to a cutesy spelling. Well, we all know that's gone out the window. I don't know whether that's good or bad. Life is easier if there's only one way to spell Alice, but is that good? dunno

Gving a baby an outlandish name so that the parents and their friends can have a few laughs about it is cruel. Long after the parents have finished chuckling over it, the kid is still stuck with the name or has to go to court to fix it.

So maybe in the article arbi cited, the judge talked to the girl and used his power to help her. I don't know.

arbilad · Head Chef

You make some good points, Historian. The problem is, though, where do you draw the line? What names are acceptable and what aren't?
With the names listed in the article, the parents were extremely stupid and doing damage to the kid. No argument there. I guess in a previous day and age social pressure and religious pressure would have stopped such abuses. Other parents would have bombarded the parents who gave the stupid name with suggestions that perhaps they made the wrong choice. Their religion would have refused to record such a name on the church records.
But I don't like the direction we're going (and have been for a long while) where the government is the arbiter of societal morals. For instance, they're trying to pass the Education begins at Home Act right now, which would give the government the power, in many situations, to invade someone's home monthly or more to verify that they are raising their kid properly.
Is it good that the kid named in the article has a new name now? Definitely. But I'm afraid that the government (in this case, not our government, but the principle holds) anesthetizes us with reasonable sounding interventions so that they can take even more power.