Re: CHAT: cultural interpretation [was Re: THEORY: language and the brain]

Quoting "Mark J. Reed" <markjreed@...>:

> On Fri, Jul 04, 2003 at 08:04:10PM +0200, Andreas Johansson wrote:
> > As a matter of fact, I do approve of this infringement of parents'
> > freedom, in principle at least - protecting the child should
> > be higher priority. Then one can of course disagree with the
> > application of principle in individual cases.
>
> I don't know.  By the time they're old enough for it to matter,
> children tend to pick their own names anyway.  It seemed like very
> few children in my class went by their legal names, and the teachers
> went along with the children's wishes in this regard.  The actual
> name on the birth certificate is just not that big a deal.
This appears to touch on a genuine cultural difference. While many of my
classmates over the years have had nicknames more commonly heard than their
legal names, everybody's legal name have been known to all, and almost always
been the one used by teachers. And for most, of course, the legal name was the
one used in everyday conversations with friends.

I know of several children who had their given names changed because they were
used as "justification" for mobbing, and these were perfectly normal names,
albeit unusual ones. Having a really odd name would most certainly have been
likely to attract abuse.

                                                          Andreas

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