Re: OT: Anthroponymics

Hi!

Tim May <butsuri@...> writes:
> Carsten Becker wrote at 2005-10-19 11:55:53 (+0200)
>  > On Mon, 17 Oct 2005, 20:01 CEST, Tom H. Chappell wrote
>  >
>  > > it is not Harry S. Truman, it is just Harry S Truman,
>  > > because the S does not stand for anything.
>  >
>  > There's an episode of The Simpsons where Homer finds out
>  > that the "J" in his name stands for nothing.
>  >
>
> No, he finds out it stands for _Jay_.
Hahaha! :-)  Might be a serious translation mistake.

> Possibly, though it can difficult to tell how unusual a name is from a
> distance.  But certainly some European countries have greater official
> restrictions on what names are allowed.  Iceland is particularly
> strict, as I recall.
I think here in Germany you must not use anything you come up with
either.  Calling someone ,Henrik S' will probably not be allowed,
although i find such restrictions ridiculous.  In the best case,
there's an official list with allowed given names.  In the worst case,
some officer will decide this by personal taste.  I don't know.
German official stuff is weird at times.  I do know a weirdo who
called her child 'Sunshine' (yes, in English), which I found very,
very, errrm, strange.  I don't know her given name, but
'Sunshine Schulze' or 'Sunshine Schmidt' would be very strange.
Much stranger even than the American name 'Mädchen', which is
basically funny for Germans.  But then, I know a Taiwanese girl
who went to America and now calls herself ,Girly'.

**Henrik