Italian baby named Friday

Posted on December 18, 2007

So what’s wrong with it? Yes, it sounds a bit odd and it is not a common name, but the name itself is ok and this is nothing compared to some of the odd names we have seen over the years.

A recent reuters report states that the Italian court has ruled that a couple could not name their son “Friday” and ordered that he instead be called Gregory after the saint whose feast day he was born on. This italian dude “Friday/Gregory Germano” was born in Genoa 15 months ago. The parents registered him as Friday in the city hall and a priest even baptised him as Friday, unusual in Italy since many priests insist that first names be of Christian origin. “We named him Friday because we like the sound of the name. Even if it would have been a girl, we would have named her Friday,” the boy’s mother, Mara Germano, told Reuters. When the boy was about five months old, a city hall clerk brought the odd name to the attention of a tribunal, which informed the couple of an administrative norm which bars parents from giving “ridiculous or shameful” first names to children. The tribunal said it was protecting the child from being the butt of jokes and added that it believed the name would hinder him from developing “serene interpersonal relationships”.

How stupid? We thought government is intervening too much in our lives here in America. And you would think Italy is part of EU and those so called liberal free european countries will leave people alone. Not in this case. Not in Italy. Its 2008 almost and Italy still has some stupid system like this. I guess we can’t complain too much because until 2003 here in Alabama we had a official ban on interracial marriages. How absurd?

The Germano family appealed but lost their case this month and the story was carried on the front page of a national newspaper on Tuesday. When ordered to change the name, the parents refused and the court ruled the boy would be legally registered as Gregory because he was born on that saint’s feast day.

Of course if you have money and you are rich you can get away with anything, including silly names and murders etc.

“My son was born Friday, baptised Friday, will call himself Friday, we will call him Friday but when he gets older he will have to sign his name Gregory,” the mother said.

Or when he grows up, he can immigrate to America and change the name back to Friday. (One thing though, he may have to wait until he becomes a US citizen, otherwise the italian embassy woud refuse to change the name on his passport.)