Chinese couple tried to name baby "@"

[Marilyn. 340]

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese couple tried to name their baby "@", claiming the character used in e-mail addresses echoed their love for the child, an official trying to whip the national language into line said on Thursday.

The unusual name stands out especially in Chinese, which has no alphabet and instead uses tens of thousands of multi-stroke characters to represent words.

"The whole world uses it to write e-mail, and translated into Chinese it means 'love him'," the father explained, according to the deputy chief of the State Language Commission Li Yuming.

While the "@" simple is familiar to Chinese e-mail users, they often use the English word "at" to sound it out -- which with a drawn out "T" sounds something like "ai ta", or "love him", to Mandarin speakers.

Li told a news conference on the state of the language that the name was an extreme example of people's increasingly adventurous approach to Chinese, as commercialisation and the Internet break down conventions.

Another couple tried to give their child a name that rendered into English sounds like "King Osrina."

Li did not say if officials accepted the "@" name. But earlier this year the government announced a ban on names using Arabic numerals, foreign languages and symbols that do not belong to Chinese minority languages.

Sixty million Chinese faced the problem that their names use ancient characters so obscure that computers cannot recognise them and even fluent speakers were left scratching their heads, said Li, according to a transcript of the briefing on the government Web site (www.gov.cn).

One of them was the former Premier Zhu Rongji, whose name had a rare "rong" character that gave newspaper editors headaches.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/oukoe_uk_china_language

:blink:

[Mononoke28 135]

Oh brother. This is worse than the couple who named their son ESPN a few years ago.

We're definitely surrounded by idiots.

[almaty 19]

great name..i wish i name my son that..instead of ####### dogg

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I believe its illegal (in the US at least) to have a first (birth) name containing numerical characters. They won't put it on a birth certificate.

[Nessa 23]

I was just reading that. I guess it's better than that couple trying to name the baby ''4real'', getting denied and deciding to name it ''Superman''.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I remember when the movie Gladiator came out. There was a whole spate of new parents wanting to call their kids "Maximus". One story made it into the papers, where the priest put his foot down and refused to christen the child with that name.

Still - at least "Max" is better than the "Frodos" and "Anakins" who'll be running around in 15 years.

Also reminded me of this kid years ago who appeared on a kids BBC news show. He was a big fan of Doctor Who, and for whatever reason his parents allowed him to change his name by deed poll to "The Doctor".

Edited August 16, 2007 by Number 6

[aminah 6]

The dumbest names I've ever heard were 2 brothers both named with initials only, BUT the initials were spelled out. Arjai (RJ) and Jayar (JR). Poor kids LOL

[Nagishkaw 510]

Wasn't it Grace Slick who attempted to name her daughter god, using a small ' g ' years ago ? This situation reminds me of that.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

The dumbest names I've ever heard were 2 brothers both named with initials only, BUT the initials were spelled out. Arjai (RJ) and Jayar (JR). Poor kids LOL

Back in the UK - Jordan and Levi were popular (common) names.

[Mephys 2]

Few years ago in Quebec there was something about a couple that used a dictionnary to find a name, and would call their child whatever word would be pointed first. They ended on Spatula. I know there was a controversy around it, and I don't know if it got approved or not. But come on.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

At least noone tried to call their kid "Plum". Or "Pillock".

[Nessa 23]

If I have a girl she'll be called Padme and if it's a boy Yoda.

[Lona.C. 16]

eh yeah i feel sorry for the kids when they have to go to school and be calld names cose theyr parents didnt think of the kids future , are they dont drugs when they name the kid ?? I mean what normal person would name the child @ , or ####### ( no offence to the ####### out there ) or like one famous persons kid, Moon unit , but to each there own

[Jasman0717 9]

[Mephys 2]

If I have a girl she'll be called Padme and if it's a boy Yoda.

What a convenient name, it is. May the force be with you.