PSA: Chinese people can't name their kids "@"

Crush · 10-12-2004, 05:12 PM

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10...t_for_chinese/

Chinese man cannot name son '@'
By Lester Haines
Published Tuesday 12th October 2004 10:33 GMT

A man in central China has been refused permission to name his son "@" because it cannot be translated into Mandarin - as the law demands.

According to the Beijing Morning Post, the nomenclative dissident from Zhengzhou argued that the symbol is in common use on keyboards and therefore fair game. Mercifully for the infant in question, his dad does not live in the kind of fully-fledged democracy where parents can name their children after pretty well anything they want - including software upgrades.

Indeed, regular readers may recall the story of Jon Blake Cusack Version 2.0 - progeny of Jon Blake Cusack and wife Jamie, of Holland, Michigan. As we noted at the time: "Jon and his wife will certainly be spending many a sleepless night debugging little Jon Blake Cusack Version 2.0 and - in about 16 years' time - having a very hard time explaining to their unfortunate offspring whose bright idea this was in the first place."

Still, at least this madness demonstrates that the desire to ruin your child's life by giving it an amusing moniker is common to cultures world-wide. We Brits too like nothing more than a good chuckle, as the recent case of newborn Drew Peacock shows.

Who would call their kid "@"?

Taco John · 10-12-2004, 05:18 PM

It's a hell of a lot better than ESPN.

Crush · 10-12-2004, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taco John

It's a hell of a lot better than ESPN.

or ESPY

**Saulbadguy** · 10-12-2004, 05:39 PM

Lately i've been spearheading a project at my work called "Novell Identity Manager", which takes data from an IBM AS400 and converts it to a CSV file, which then creates, modifies, and deletes eDirectory user accounts. I've seen some weird weird names.

Some examples:
30% of our students in our district (approx 14,000 total students) have an apostrophe in their first name.
2 students had a / in their last name.
17 students had commas in their first and/or last name.
A few had a period in their name.

AND..here are some interesting names parents name their children:

Malik El-Shabbaz
Silver Bell
Rolinthunder (Rolling thunder I presume)
Marie Antoinette
etc etc..some of which i've forgotten.

**KcMizzou** · 10-12-2004, 05:42 PM

The weirdest names I've happened across...

Sharon Peters, Edda Wildbush, and Harry Dick

**Saulbadguy** · 10-12-2004, 05:40 PM

Also, its become a HUGE pain trying to strip illegal characters. Lots of XML/XSLT programming. An eDirectory account can not contain a PERIOD. And we have a hard time using slashes, apostrophes, etc etc...

If you really want to screw up a DirXML/NIM system, name your children !**@//.,<,Micheal or something like that.

**Iowanian** · 10-12-2004, 05:41 PM

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10-12-2004, 05:12 PM	Topic Starter
Crush Amateur Poster Join Date: Mar 2004 Casino cash: $5037091	PSA: Chinese people can't name their kids "@" http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10...t_for_chinese/ Chinese man cannot name son '@' By Lester Haines Published Tuesday 12th October 2004 10:33 GMT A man in central China has been refused permission to name his son "@" because it cannot be translated into Mandarin - as the law demands. According to the Beijing Morning Post, the nomenclative dissident from Zhengzhou argued that the symbol is in common use on keyboards and therefore fair game. Mercifully for the infant in question, his dad does not live in the kind of fully-fledged democracy where parents can name their children after pretty well anything they want - including software upgrades. Indeed, regular readers may recall the story of Jon Blake Cusack Version 2.0 - progeny of Jon Blake Cusack and wife Jamie, of Holland, Michigan. As we noted at the time: "Jon and his wife will certainly be spending many a sleepless night debugging little Jon Blake Cusack Version 2.0 and - in about 16 years' time - having a very hard time explaining to their unfortunate offspring whose bright idea this was in the first place." Still, at least this madness demonstrates that the desire to ruin your child's life by giving it an amusing moniker is common to cultures world-wide. We Brits too like nothing more than a good chuckle, as the recent case of newborn Drew Peacock shows. Who would call their kid "@"?
Posts: 15,298

10-12-2004, 05:18 PM	#2
Taco John Sapere Aude Join Date: Jun 2001 Casino cash: $3337937	It's a hell of a lot better than ESPN. __________________ Ehyeh asher ehyeh. Donger's Razor: "The most establishment-friendly explanation that gives leftist and neocon politicians the most amount of cover is the only possible explanation, even when gaping holes and leaps of logic are required to get there."
Posts: 78,052

10-12-2004, 05:39 PM	#4
Saulbadguy When a nightmare becomes real Join Date: Nov 2003 Casino cash: $2356966	Lately i've been spearheading a project at my work called "Novell Identity Manager", which takes data from an IBM AS400 and converts it to a CSV file, which then creates, modifies, and deletes eDirectory user accounts. I've seen some weird weird names. Some examples: 30% of our students in our district (approx 14,000 total students) have an apostrophe in their first name. 2 students had a / in their last name. 17 students had commas in their first and/or last name. A few had a period in their name. AND..here are some interesting names parents name their children: Malik El-Shabbaz Silver Bell Rolinthunder (Rolling thunder I presume) Marie Antoinette etc etc..some of which i've forgotten.
Posts: 46,969

10-12-2004, 05:42 PM	#5
KcMizzou Supporter Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Parkville MO Casino cash: $10005170	The weirdest names I've happened across... Sharon Peters, Edda Wildbush, and Harry Dick
Posts: 54,695

10-12-2004, 05:40 PM	#6
Saulbadguy When a nightmare becomes real Join Date: Nov 2003 Casino cash: $2356966	Also, its become a HUGE pain trying to strip illegal characters. Lots of XML/XSLT programming. An eDirectory account can not contain a PERIOD. And we have a hard time using slashes, apostrophes, etc etc... If you really want to screw up a DirXML/NIM system, name your children !**@//.,<,Micheal or something like that.
Posts: 46,969

10-12-2004, 05:41 PM	#7
Iowanian Supporter Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Utopia Casino cash: $4638454	I have much difficuwty wif chinee pho booh I aways wing, wong numba
Posts: 61,556