Brazilian Government Bans baby name

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A couple wanting to name their baby after an ancient king had the name rejected by a Brazilian court over fears their son would be bullied.

Catarina and Danillo Prímola, from Belo Horizonte, over 400km from Rio de Janeiro, wanted to name their newborn son Piyé after the first black Egyptian pharaoh, who laid the foundations for the 25th dynasty.

However the Court of Justice in the state of Minas Gerais initially sided with a registry office and rejected the name, stating it cannot “register first names that could expose their bearers to ridicule”.

In the ruling, the court noted the name was too similar to the word ‘plié’ – a type of ballet step.

Piyé is spelled differently in Portuguese, reading ‘Piié’ on paper.

“That is why the sound and spelling of the name were preponderant for the rejection,” the Minas Gerais Court of Justice said.

“They would be capable of causing future embarrassment to the child.”
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/paren ... 19a0d313a6

You really need to be careful when naming a kid, if you give them a name that's too weird or has unfortunate implications, the kids are the ones who are going to be stuck with it for life.

Of course, a name that might be okay now might not be later, that's always a risk. Just look at names like Katrina and Karen. When I was a kid there was a boy in my class named Donald and the other boys all called him "Ducker". Of course, Donald Duck had already been around for decades. But these days it's a totally different two-dimensional cartoon character that squawks incoherently you have to worry about.

I went to school with a guy whose parent's called him Sean and his surname was Dick.

Some countries have strict laws and actual lists of approved names you can give your kid. Like Denmark, and Iceland. Iceland gives you a list of 2000 approved names.

On the other hand there is something hypocritical about having your choice of a baby's name being cancelled by a state in your country when the state is named "Minas Gerarais" ...which means "General Mines".

Imagine if Maryland, or the province of Ontario, were called "General Mines".

I guess the question is should governments dictate what you call your children? I recall back in the 60s/70s people legally changed their names to letters or numbers for various reasons. Not sure where these people are now?

In highschool I knew a young lady who had gone to a Jr. High with a principal named "Mr. Dickoff".

Sometimes its unintentional. Callum is a popular boys name in Australia. Murray is a common surname.
I'm sure there's a few named Callum Murray which sounds like calamari or deep fried battered squid.

Nothin wrong with having a name that sounds like "Calamari".

A lot more glamourous than my last name...which is the German word for "mutton".

Before I understood Arnie's surname mean's blacksmith I thought it translated to something else in English.

Dominican republic ban this kid from getting a visa because they are scared to be sued by Disney. Kids name is Skywalker.

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-u ... b37c447976

I didnt know what Schwartnegger's surname meant, but I knew it couldnt mean what it sounded like it meant.

Most folks descended from blacksmiths in the German speaking world are named "Schmidt" (just like those from England are named "Smith". Though apparently some black smiths were given fancier names ...like "Eisenhower" (iron hewer).

Oh! that reminds me of tolkien's mythical Eisengard which I suspect means Iron wall in Old English and German.