Remember the case of the parents who wanted to name their child “Metallica”? The Swedish National Tax Board originally turned them down. The ruling was overruled after a threatened court battle.
A similar case in Italy may not reach the same result. An Italian couple wants to name their child “Friday” after the character in Robinson Crusoe. However, a court has ruled that the name is not allowable because it will only bring “shame and ridicule.”
The child was born in 2006 and was registered with city hall. By law, city hall officials are obligated to report “odd names” – and hence, the name ended up in court.
In November of 2007, an appeals court upheld an earlier ruling that Friday falls into the category of the “ridiculous or shameful” names that are barred by law. The judges wrote that the name could result in “serene interpersonal relationships” and would turn the boy into the “laughing stock of his group.” Additionally, the court felt that, as a day of the week, Friday raises a sentiment of sadness, bad luck, and penitence.
And no, the child was not born on a Friday — it was Sunday.
Is this Friday in Italian or Friday in English? If it’s the English version surely it will just be treated as one of those odd foreign names. There’s also literary precedence in addition to Crusoe as Jasper Fforde has characters called Thursday, Friday and Tuesday
It was in Italian, Venerdi.
Hey, Thurday writes also http://www.onevotematters.com/ 🙂
But this is probably the same high court that ruled years ago that a woman wearing jeans couldn’t be raped. The rationale was that the jeans were worn so tight that they couldn’t be removed without the wearers’ help.