I'm not for limiting choices...

[Liar]

..but dammit, @ is not a name.

 

[Guest]

Shakespeare asked "what is in a name?"
but really how would you pronounce that.. AT?... i suppose that would be easy enough to do and he could sign his name with the symbol...
ah well, it could be worse. could be moon unit... or dweezle.. ugh.. LOL

 

[cheerful_deviant]

Actually, even in the USA, you can't name your kid anything you want.

I recall a few years ago someone tried to have his name changed to a number and the judge refused it. The statement given was something along the lines of: Naming a human being a with a number will only hasten the decline of society to the point when we are all just faceless numbers.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

When I worked for a furniture store in Mississippi one of our drivers was named Exit. He said his dad named him that because he wanted him to see his name in lights wherever he went.

-Colly

 

[steve w]

If he had to change it back again, would he be known as

The Artist Formerly Known As @ ???

 

[cantdog]

Actually, even in the USA, you can't name your kid anything you want.

I recall a few years ago someone tried to have his name changed to a number and the judge refused it. The statement given was something along the lines of: Naming a human being a with a number will only hasten the decline of society to the point when we are all just faceless numbers.

Which is stupid. It has no such effect. There are a lot of certified jackasses on the bench.

It is more to the point, if a person changes her name, to be sure the change is published and a search made of her records to be sure it isn't being done to duck creditors. A good many records need to be altered as well. The process is time-consuming and usually costs around 90 U.S. dollars to get done, most of which is ad space in the paper.

I knew a man named Anders Eng who had asked a government name generating program to pick one for him. The 'phone books were full of the same names in Sweden, since most names are patronymics. Having people volunteer to scramble a name is better than having every Sven Andersson append a number. The program used elements of Swedish names so that the names would be random but still relatively Swedish-sounding.

People come up with regrettable names and apply for them all the time; my sister used to deal with the paperwork. But so long as it's not for a venal reason, what's the difference?