I wouldn't give gov'ts a blank check on this but conceptually it isn't that bad - Edit 1
Before modification by Isaac at 01/02/2013 05:03:51 PM
This particular case seems pretty absurd, to me, but on the other hand I don't think there should be no restraints on naming.
If a parent decides to name their kid "Fuck", "Broken Condom Smith", "Abortion Should Be Free McCloud" or even something very incompatible but non-abusive like πr² or "31January 2013 Smith" because they were born yesterday I don't think it is unreasonable for the state to approach the judiciary about whether that child is being subject to abuse, let alone if the name should simply be required to be changed. Your name is a big deal, and its sort of the nature of the beast that by the time you could self-name, as is certainly your right trumping your parents, it's pretty throughly attached to you. It's also not some random sequence, names have impact the way height and appearance do, so one can't make a case it is meaningless.
Now, that said, I would consider the government's power on this very limited. Laws permitting only cultural names, that is just wrong at several levels, but a law requiring the legal spelling be in the de facto or de jure language(s) of a nation using that alphabet and only that alphabet don't strike me as over-reaching, and I'm not going to throw out the Tyranny Card if some place bans obscene words or non-names. If an adult wants to change their name to "Transmission" it is one thing, if your Mom is a car junkie and decided to name you that it is another, and frankly I don't care if there is an amusing anecdote justifying it like "Well the transmission in the car broke and they couldn't get a tow truck out for over an hour and it was cold... so... well, that was the night you were conceived."
Anyway this doesn't seem to unreasonable and I think the 'slippery slope' potential is pretty far removed, I don't see a big problem. This particular case though is a bit of a stretch, 'Breeze' doesn't seem a weird girl's name to me, alternatively it isn't my language and I would think it abusive of me to name my son 'Princess' or my daughter 'John'. I don't know how awkward it is, and that's as a perspective of a freshly given name by a parent, not a person seeking to have confirmed the name they're used to which isn't offensive or hard to spell.
If a parent decides to name their kid "Fuck", "Broken Condom Smith", "Abortion Should Be Free McCloud" or even something very incompatible but non-abusive like πr² or "31January 2013 Smith" because they were born yesterday I don't think it is unreasonable for the state to approach the judiciary about whether that child is being subject to abuse, let alone if the name should simply be required to be changed. Your name is a big deal, and its sort of the nature of the beast that by the time you could self-name, as is certainly your right trumping your parents, it's pretty throughly attached to you. It's also not some random sequence, names have impact the way height and appearance do, so one can't make a case it is meaningless.
Now, that said, I would consider the government's power on this very limited. Laws permitting only cultural names, that is just wrong at several levels, but a law requiring the legal spelling be in the de facto or de jure language(s) of a nation using that alphabet and only that alphabet don't strike me as over-reaching, and I'm not going to throw out the Tyranny Card if some place bans obscene words or non-names. If an adult wants to change their name to "Transmission" it is one thing, if your Mom is a car junkie and decided to name you that it is another, and frankly I don't care if there is an amusing anecdote justifying it like "Well the transmission in the car broke and they couldn't get a tow truck out for over an hour and it was cold... so... well, that was the night you were conceived."
Anyway this doesn't seem to unreasonable and I think the 'slippery slope' potential is pretty far removed, I don't see a big problem. This particular case though is a bit of a stretch, 'Breeze' doesn't seem a weird girl's name to me, alternatively it isn't my language and I would think it abusive of me to name my son 'Princess' or my daughter 'John'. I don't know how awkward it is, and that's as a perspective of a freshly given name by a parent, not a person seeking to have confirmed the name they're used to which isn't offensive or hard to spell.