The Volokh Conspiracy - New Zealand Judge Orders Name Change for Girl:

The New Zealand Herald reports,

A Family Court judge said a New Plymouth couple burdened their child with a "social disability and handicap" when they named her "Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii".

Judge Rob Murfitt ordered temporary court custody for the 9-year-old to ensure that a proper name was found for her.

The girl said she was so embarrassed that she had not revealed her name to any of her friends.

"She fears being mocked and teased, and in that she has a greater level of insight than either of her parents," said Judge Murfitt.

I assume that "temporary court custody" means temporary legal authority over the child, and not temporary physical custody (since such a change in physical custody would be unnecessary and pointlessly harmful and expensive).

New Zealand's Child Youth and Family service reports that, in its view, "the name a parent chooses for a child does not constitute a care and protection issue in itself," though "if a child suffers serious bullying as a result of his or her name, this may lead on to possible notifications through the youth justice system." On the other hand, it turns out that while "Number 16 Bus Shelter, Violence[,] and Benson and Hedges (twins)" have been accepted, "other names, including Fish and Chips, Yeah Detroit, Stallion, Twisty Poi, Keenan Got Lucy and Sex Fruit, have been blocked by registration officials."

Legislation on the Internal Affairs website says names must adhere to the following criteria;

* Must not cause offence to a reasonable person

* Must not be unreasonably long (less than 100 characters long including spaces)

* Must not be without adequate justification, be, include or resemble and official title or rank

* Does not use punctuation marks, brackets or numbers

	[Eugene Volokh, July 25, 2008 at 2:45pm] Trackbacks New Zealand Judge Orders Name Change for Girl: The New Zealand Herald reports, A Family Court judge said a New Plymouth couple burdened their child with a "social disability and handicap" when they named her "Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii". Judge Rob Murfitt ordered temporary court custody for the 9-year-old to ensure that a proper name was found for her. The girl said she was so embarrassed that she had not revealed her name to any of her friends. "She fears being mocked and teased, and in that she has a greater level of insight than either of her parents," said Judge Murfitt. I assume that "temporary court custody" means temporary legal authority over the child, and not temporary physical custody (since such a change in physical custody would be unnecessary and pointlessly harmful and expensive). New Zealand's Child Youth and Family service reports that, in its view, "the name a parent chooses for a child does not constitute a care and protection issue in itself," though "if a child suffers serious bullying as a result of his or her name, this may lead on to possible notifications through the youth justice system." On the other hand, it turns out that while "Number 16 Bus Shelter, Violence[,] and Benson and Hedges (twins)" have been accepted, "other names, including Fish and Chips, Yeah Detroit, Stallion, Twisty Poi, Keenan Got Lucy and Sex Fruit, have been blocked by registration officials." Legislation on the Internal Affairs website says names must adhere to the following criteria; * Must not cause offence to a reasonable person * Must not be unreasonably long (less than 100 characters long including spaces) * Must not be without adequate justification, be, include or resemble and official title or rank * Does not use punctuation marks, brackets or numbers