Are there laws governing what parents can name their children?

[SPIKE the free thinker]

Can they get away with naming them Loser, Dummy, or worse?
I've seen enough of the Jerry Springer Show to know those
people are out there.

[Ari]

Absolutely. Typically you're not allowed to name your kid anything demeaning or offensive. And in other countries name laws are even stricter where the list of names you're not allowed to use is huge and in even more extreme cases some countries have a list of allowed names.

[leftcoastliz]

Mostly there are no such laws in the USA, but somebody might interfere with some pressure. I've hear that in the UK, people must conform to the accepted spelling for conventional names, but I don't know if it's true. We could sure use a law like that in the USA. I believe in allowing a lot of freedom & leeway, but the ones you mention are dreadful. The spelling is a bizarre notion of phonetics with each person making it up as he or she goes along. Like Dummy would be spelled Dummee or something.

You have a lot of nerve complaining about this, for someone who has named a kid "Spike."

[John Ashtone]

No such Laws in either USA or UK, unfortunately.

I was peased to see Zowie Bowie goes by the name of Duncan, a much more befitting and pleasant name.


So you watch Jerry Springer, you can get counselling you know lol.

Spelling in UK can be anything you like, the surname ~Featherstonehaugh~ is pronounced Fanshaw and ~Cholmondely~ is said Chumly?

[handyman]

There are terrible names out there. Some famous ones were Ima Hogg and her sister, Ura. The funniest one I came across in DMV files was Oscar Meyer Braunschweiger. Johnny Cash knew A Boy Named Sue.

Once in awhile during the day, I catch the last five minutes of Jerry Springer (or Steve Wilkos, or Maury, or Jeremy Kyle) while I'm waiting for something else, and every time I ask myself why people would watch such crap and why his guests are so stupid as to allow themselves to be ridiculed like that, or at least made to look even more ridiculous than they are. It just boggles my mind.

[Vicky Parker]

In Australia there is. You would not be able to name your child anything as above or offensive like fuck face. which is funny but inappropriate.

[223D]

Some of the names I hear are horrible. Some parents have no respect for their kids, or themselves for that matter.

Jerry Springer, not him! Try to find a new hobby for late afternoon, don't lower yourself.

[J]

I read an article on the Yahoo! homepage that in certain countries there IS a ban on certain names.

I haven't heard of any banned names in the U.S.

[jonds]

No, no there isn't. Boy Named Sue is a Shel Silverstein song, he also wrote The Unicorn, and Sylvia's Mother.

[574]

I don't think so, but their should be.

My daughter student taught in Flint, Michigan. In case you don't know, Flint is an economically depressed area with a large African American population. She had students named after rappers and worse. One student had a brother named Notorious B.I.G. after the late rapper. They called him No-No.

Some parents don't seem to understand that what they name their children is a direct reflection on them. What does naming a child Dummy say about the parents?