Friday's Child

Today, Yahoo ran a story from Reuter's about a child in Italy who had been renamed by an Italian court. Orginally given, and baptised with, the name of Friday, the child has been renamed Gregory because of an Italian law that forbids "shameful" names for children. The report indicated that in Italy, Friday is considered to be unlucky by the superstitious.

Naturally, the parents are livid about this. And I don't blame them. While I'm against "shameful" names for children as much as anyone, I can't see what's particularly shameful about this name. It may be a tad outlandish and not something I would use for my own child, but, when I encounter children every day--in Taiwan, no less--named Eudora or Fish, I fail to see what the fuss is about.

Maybe this is the same Italian court that, a few years back, decreed a woman couldn't be declared to have been raped if she was wearing jeans at the time.

Many cultures in Africa, I understand, have days-of-the-week name. I remember reading in a baby-naming book once that slaves in the Old South often had names like Tuesday or Friday, because of a lively tradition of similar names in Africa.

Within Jewish communities, there are numerous men named Shabbat (the Sabbath), Pesach (Passover), and even Shavuot or Sukkot, because they were born on those holidays.

So this ruling strikes me as incredibly culturally insensitive.

I also agree with the mother's assertion that there's a class issue involved here. Italian courts have not forced wealthy celebrities who give their children unusual names to change them. So I don't see why a run-of-the-mill middle-class Italian family should have to do this.