A baby named "Friday" had his name changed from that to "Gregory", re-named by an Italian court against his parents' wishes:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071218/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_italy_name


Apparently it is since many priests insist that first names be of Christian origin in the first place. Weird stuff, but I would respect the parents wishes.

Whats even more odd is that there are plenty of odd names like this for babies all around the world...I've met people named Raven and Starr, and there are famous babies named Apple and such...

I guess its good for the child, I wouldn't want to get teased every Friday because of my name!

Acutally this is a portion of the actual news in Italian:

"Non so cosa sia meglio tra Venerdì e Gregorio Magno. Tutto è successo a settembre a Genova. Qui i genitori di questo povero bambino si sono recati all’anagrafe per chiamare il loro piccolo Venerdì. Senza sapere però che esiste un reato che riguarda quei genitori che danno ai propri figli dei nomi "ridicoli o vergognosi". E il giudice ha stabilito che, effettivamente, Venerdì era un nome un po’ ridicolo....."

This is an excellent example on how sometimes the news real meaning gets "Lost in Translation" ( one of my preferred movies :-)

I don;t think the Judge was enforcing because all the name in Italy have to be of Christian descent ( That is probably just as the old law reads ) - The law prevents parents to name their child using ridiculous or shameful names...
Oh here is the explanation - Magno is roman slang for I eat -

Calling a baby Friday I eat ( and in Roman slang ) it is ridiculous ... It actually sounds very ridiculous in Italian ( Roman )

Paolo

Ah I see, so thier last name is slang for "I eat" in Roman, so his name comes out "Friday I eat"...

Yeah thats pretty rediculous!

what does friday mean in italian?
i don't think that's fair to usurp the wishes of the parents.
but if they're crackheads maybe it was a good idea.:cool:

I don't think they were crackheads! But to answer your question Friday = Venerdì.

So Venerdì Mango, the childs full name means "Friday I eat" in Roman slang.

What if his name had been Friday Magno Pesce... Friday I eat fish!

According to article 3 of the Italian Constitution...

"Tutti i cittadini hanno pari dignità sociale e sono eguali davanti alla legge, senza distinzione di sesso, di razza, di lingua, di religione, di opinioni politiche, di condizioni personali e sociali".

In other words, All citizens have equal social status and are equal before the law, without regard to their sex, race, language, religion, political opinions, and personal or social conditions...

Article 2 provides moreover, that "The republic recognizes and guarantees the inviolable human rights, be it as an individual or in social groups expressing their personality"...

So much for the rhetoric...

I would agree that to call a child Venerdi may be a little ridiculous, but this is just another example of the contradictory nature of the Italian Judicial system. What a complete and utter waste of time and money when there are far more important civil cases that need attention; cases that have to face negative consequences due to delays in the justice system .

It is no wonder that the system is considered to be one of the least reliable and least efficient in the world.

Well ... I live in the US and here the justice system seem to be no better than the Italian. - One of the extreme example - we all know the story I assume: If OJ had no money he would have got almost certainly a death sentence instead he is free. I am sure I could find lots of examples in the UK as well

Anyway in this case I still think the judge tried to act in the best interest of the baby since "Friday I eat" ( venerdi' magno ) sounds funny to me .

I'm 100% behind the parents on this. How dare anyone change a childs name against the wishes of the parents? The mother is quite right when she says;- "I really doubt this would have happened to the child of parents who are rich and famous," the boy's mother told Reuters, recalling that some famous Italians had given their children unorthodox names such as "Ocean" or "Chanel".

This is disgraceful abuse of power by the authorities involved and the person who first started this ball rolling should be ashamed.

Paolo I think you will find that the child was simply called Venerdi. The court actually told the parents to change the child's name otherwise it would rule that the name be changed to Gregorio Magno.

I agree with you that judicial systems all over the world are a law (excuse the pun) unto themselves, but the Italian systen is multifarious, contradictory and notoriously inefficient.

Now what I find amusing, given the current problems that Italy is experiencing, is a presidential decree passed in 2000 to regulate civil matters:

Decreto 396 Regolamento per la revisione e la semplificazione dell’ordinamento dello stato civile

This is what artcile 34 says:

"E' vietato imporre al bambino lo stesso nome del padre vivente, di un fratello o di una sorella viventi, un cognome come nome, nomi ridicoli o vergognosi"

I am not a human rights lawyer, but I feel that such an imposition is still contradictory to a persons inviolable human rights, and therefore, morally condradictory to the constitution (not forgetting the Treaty on European Union which states that the Union's aim is, among other things, to repsect its rich cultural and linguistic diverisity). According to article 34, you cannot even name your child Paolo, after yourself. Now who is being ridiculuous? The government should be focusing on matters that are more important and not wasting time and taxpayers money on trivia such as this.

Having said that, if there had been a compromise and if the parent's surname had been Pesce, then the child would unfortunately be called Venerdi Magno Pesce...

This is what artcile 34 says:

"E' vietato imporre al bambino lo stesso nome del padre vivente, di un fratello o di una sorella viventi, un cognome come nome, nomi ridicoli o vergognosi"


Maybe the Americans should have something like this then the world would only have one George Bush!!

Seriously though, I remember reading in one of the Italian newspapers a few years ago that a child was made a ward of court and given to a foster family because the parents were vegetarian and they fed their child a vegetarian diet. There was no suggestion of malnurishment, so who are these people to decide that they are better than the parents? Surely the emotional impact of being taken away from your family is much more damaging than not eating meat!

mi spiace.it's the lawmakers smoking crack.

I agree - And perhaps this sheds light on why Italy has such political troubles in general - Seems like the courts may be focused too much on things like this rather than more important decisions????
But that's just me....