names and the law

Thump

defying grabbity
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 19, 2006
Messages
1,380
Reaction score
288
Location
Spending one short day in the Emerald City
I'm wondering here if there is any law or rule or something pesky like that that would prevent parents from naming two of their children the same thing.

For example: Mrs. Soda has a first son and calls him Fizzy and then she has another son/daughter and also calls him/her Fizzy while the oldest is still alive.

Would this be allowed?

Yeah, this is relevant to something I am writing.
 

job

In the end, it's just you and the manuscript
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 27, 2005
Messages
3,459
Reaction score
653
Website
www.joannabourne.com
I'm pretty sure there's no law that would prevent this in England or the US, always assuming it was not done with the intention of committing fraud.

This used to be common in England, if you go back three or four hundred years.
 

Zelenka

Going home!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 1, 2007
Messages
2,921
Reaction score
488
Age
44
Location
Prague now, Glasgow in November
I don't think it's illegal in Scotland anyway. It was actually common here even as recently as the 50s. In my gran's family there were four sisters, all called Elizabeth on their birth certificates. They just referred to each other as Liz, Lizzie, Betty etc. On granddad's side, it was Alexander - they just called each other Sandy, Alex, whatever.
 

maxmordon

Penúltimo
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 12, 2007
Messages
11,536
Reaction score
2,479
Location
Venezuela
Website
twitter.com
I doubt it that there is any in US, example number A:

foremangeorge.jpg


and his sons: George Jr., George III, George IV, George V, and George VI (I wonder what he would have done if he had a girl)
 

JoniBGoode

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 21, 2005
Messages
362
Reaction score
59
Location
Chicagoland
I doubt it that there is any in US, example number A:

foremangeorge.jpg


and his sons: George Jr., George III, George IV, George V, and George VI (I wonder what he would have done if he had a girl)

Great example! I feel certain that if one of them had been a girl, her name would have been Georgie, Georganne, Georgia or Georgette.
 

jst5150

Vorpal Comics. Weekly Podcast. Twitch Artist. Vet
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 19, 2005
Messages
4,740
Reaction score
1,799
Location
Europe
Website
jasontudor.com
Portugal has laws that govern what you can name newborn children. I'd bet there are other countries. First Amendment/Constitution protects what parents can name children names in the US.

And fortunately, for about 110 USD, a child can go to court to correct whatever heinous monickers get hung on them by parents whose common sense barometer falls somewhere below "what happens if I jam this sharpened pencil in my eye?" status.
 

WittyandorIronic

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 9, 2007
Messages
937
Reaction score
248
A little OT, but I dated a was engaged to a guy who's last name was Angel. His mother kept telling me to consider "cute" names like "Ima" and "Justin"
/gag
 

ello

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 13, 2007
Messages
64
Reaction score
26
Location
Just outside of Washington, DC
Website
elloecho.blogspot.com
No laws prohibiting this in the US. But certain areas of the world, like Argentina, you are not allowed to name your child a name that would lend to trauma. So they won't let you name a kid "Superman" which is apparently a popular one. So in Argentina, and certain other places that have this law to protect children, "fizzy" might be a problem. Apparently in New Zealand a man was stopped by the New Zealand registry for trying to name his son 4real - so instead he named him Superman.
 

Maryn

Sees All
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
55,447
Reaction score
25,469
Location
Snow Cave
In addition to Forman, baseball player Jose Cruz has multiple sons named Jose Cruz.

Maryn, font of useless knowledge
 

JoniBGoode

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 21, 2005
Messages
362
Reaction score
59
Location
Chicagoland
A little OT, but I dated a was engaged to a guy who's last name was Angel. His mother kept telling me to consider "cute" names like "Ima" and "Justin"
/gag


True story. One of the former governors of Texas had the last name of Hogg. His two daughters were named Ima Hogg and Eura Hogg. One of them (Ima, I believe) donated millions of dollars to the University of Texas upon her death.
 
Joined
Aug 7, 2005
Messages
47,985
Reaction score
13,245
A little OT, but I dated a was engaged to a guy who's last name was Angel. His mother kept telling me to consider "cute" names like "Ima" and "Justin"
/gag

BARF ALERT:

I knew a family, surnamed Angel, who named their firstborn daughter "Precious".
 

arodriguez

Renegade
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 25, 2005
Messages
229
Reaction score
64
Location
florida
i want to name my next kids :

boys: SteeL, Flint, Spark, Ignite, Grit

girls: Lotus, Veil, Tigra, Luminessa

i think 9 kids ---thats all i can afford.
 

Cath

The mean one
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 23, 2006
Messages
8,971
Reaction score
2,298
Age
50
Location
Here. Somewhere. Probably.
Website
blog.cathsmith.net
Interesting, but I'm not sure we're quite answering the original question any longer. If anyone else has anything to contribute to the legality of giving more than one child the same name, please do dive in.
 

Soccer Mom

Crypto-fascist
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 5, 2006
Messages
18,604
Reaction score
8,039
Location
Under your couch
True story. One of the former governors of Texas had the last name of Hogg. His two daughters were named Ima Hogg and Eura Hogg. One of them (Ima, I believe) donated millions of dollars to the University of Texas upon her death.

Ima Hogg was a real person and quite a philanthropist in the Houston area. There was no Eura. That one is an urban myth.


And FWIW: it is perfectly legal in the U.S. to name your children the same thing.
 

HeronW

Down Under Fan
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 17, 2007
Messages
6,398
Reaction score
1,854
Location
Rishon Lezion, Israel
Naming children the same was common up to a hundred or so years ago to insure passing the name along in the times of high infant mortality.

George Foreman the boxer currently has ten children; each of his five sons is named George (George Jr., George III, George IV, George V, and George VI).
 

Voyager

Ribbed for your pleasure.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 22, 2007
Messages
1,445
Reaction score
3,196
I have a brother named Jose and another named Jose de Jesus. No one cared. I did read an article once where a couple wasn't allowed to name their kid Cabbage Stump, though, and another clueless couple, the Peacocks, who actually named their kid Drew.
 

C.bronco

I have plans...
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 3, 2006
Messages
8,015
Reaction score
3,137
Location
Junior Nation
Website
cynthia-bronco.blogspot.com
Portugal has laws that govern what you can name newborn children. I'd bet there are other countries. First Amendment/Constitution protects what parents can name children names in the US.

And fortunately, for about 110 USD, a child can go to court to correct whatever heinous monickers get hung on them by parents whose common sense barometer falls somewhere below "what happens if I jam this sharpened pencil in my eye?" status.
If I'm not mistaken, France has a similar law. Where's Oswann?
 

Mike Martyn

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 14, 2005
Messages
432
Reaction score
56
Location
Canada
No law prevents it in Canada. I know of a Catholic family with twelve kids, six boys and six girls. All the boys have the first name of Joseph and all the girls have the first name of Mary. They answer to their middle names.
 
Joined
Aug 7, 2005
Messages
47,985
Reaction score
13,245
I have an interesting 'name' story but you may all poke fun at me for having a heart...
 
Joined
Aug 7, 2005
Messages
47,985
Reaction score
13,245
Fairy nuff. :)

Years ago I needed to go to the hospickle for some blood tests, and I received a letter saying they wanted me to go back up there immediately. Naturally, I panicked, thought it was bad news, called them up...they refused to tell me anything over the phone and made me wait until my next appointment. Well, by this time I had worked myself up into a right old state, could barely think or see or walk. I was utterly sick with fear. Convinced I had some deadly disease, would die soon, you name it...

Anyway, I went into a quiet corner to try to calm myself down. Pray, meditate, call it what you will. And I remember saying/thinking, "Dear God, if you help me get centred again, and if I ever have a daughter, I'll call her Grace to remind myself of how you got me through this."

So there. SP has a heart after all.

Turns out the blood tests were okley-dokley, and I feel obligated to keep that promise, should I ever have the chance to honour it.