20 votes

French baby boy banned from having name containing tilde

15 comments

  1. [5]
    cfabbro
    Link
    Wait, I thought France did away with that idiotic Napoleonic law about only being able to pick first name from an approved list? A quick google search shows they got rid of it in 1993 and the new...

    Wait, I thought France did away with that idiotic Napoleonic law about only being able to pick first name from an approved list? A quick google search shows they got rid of it in 1993 and the new law states that a court can only ban names if they decide it is against the child's best interests. How exactly they can possibly claim that Fañch, a traditional Breton name, is "against the child's best interest" is beyond me.

    p.s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naming_law is strange but interesting read.

    8 votes
    1. [2]
      39hp
      Link Parent
      tbf, what and how the French government typically decides is best for a person’s identity has always been weird and draconian.

      How exactly they can possibly claim that Fañch, a traditional Breton name, is "against the child's best interest" is beyond me.

      tbf, what and how the French government typically decides is best for a person’s identity has always been weird and draconian.

      5 votes
      1. [2]
        Comment deleted by author
        Link Parent
        1. 39hp
          Link Parent
          They also have a history of prohibiting overt signs of religious identity in primary and secondary education -- it just so happens that these prohibitions don't impact the Christian majority. It's...

          They also have a history of prohibiting overt signs of religious identity in primary and secondary education -- it just so happens that these prohibitions don't impact the Christian majority.

          It's reminiscent of the "the law prohibits both nobles and paupers from sleeping under bridges." Kind of thing. In principle it is a blanket ban -- that happens to only effect specific groups of people.

          8 votes
    2. [3]
      Comment deleted by author
      Link Parent
      1. cfabbro
        Link Parent
        Ah, that makes sense... I still don’t know if that is enough justification for preventing the parents from choosing that name since it’s a traditional one from the region, and a restriction such...

        Ah, that makes sense... I still don’t know if that is enough justification for preventing the parents from choosing that name since it’s a traditional one from the region, and a restriction such as that is incredibly discriminatory and tantamount to cultural genocide, but thanks for the insight.

        2 votes
      2. alexandria
        Link Parent
        I understand the reason, but I ultimately cannot agree: It's been over 20 years since the creation of the backwards-compatible standard UTF-8. If modern computer systems cannot cope with 'strange...

        I understand the reason, but I ultimately cannot agree: It's been over 20 years since the creation of the backwards-compatible standard UTF-8. If modern computer systems cannot cope with 'strange characters', then that's their fault.

        Also, modern systems and users should have and be taught the compose key, which allows for blindingly easy composition of such characters on-the-fly, but since they aren't, I don't think googling 'n with tilde' is too difficult, or even just asking someone else in the office how to produce the character.

        At the end of the day, if your system cannot cope with an extra strange character here and there, maybe it deserves to crash and burn, so it can be fixed.

  2. [7]
    lol
    Link
    @Deimos what have you done

    @Deimos what have you done

    2 votes
    1. [5]
      clone1
      Link Parent
      Is it really necessary to ping him for a joke?

      Is it really necessary to ping him for a joke?

      1. [2]
        lol
        Link Parent
        Idk I thought he would appreciate it, sometimes I feel like all humor is just looked down upon on this site

        Idk I thought he would appreciate it, sometimes I feel like all humor is just looked down upon on this site

        4 votes
        1. Shahriar
          Link Parent
          Welcome to the NO-FUN-ZONE, mister!

          Welcome to the NO-FUN-ZONE, mister!

          1 vote
      2. tvfj
        Link Parent
        Is pinging even implemented yet? Last I saw it wasn't.

        Is pinging even implemented yet? Last I saw it wasn't.

        4 votes
    2. BunnicusRex
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      Well this article is from almost a year ago now, so................ (I know it's a joke, just... if this were a news sub I'd report it for old news, but I can't [*edit: and I guess since it's...

      Well this article is from almost a year ago now, so................
      (I know it's a joke, just... if this were a news sub I'd report it for old news, but I can't [*edit: and I guess since it's ~humanities not ~news, the date's not as important anyway, except for clarity]. So I'll content myself with pointing out that this article is at least considerably older than the tildes announcement post. Perhaps Deimos is simply trolling the French?)

  3. Ash
    Link
    This is possibly the most semantically relevant article that will ever be posted to Tildes. I can't help but feel that we've peaked far too soon.

    This is possibly the most semantically relevant article that will ever be posted to Tildes.

    I can't help but feel that we've peaked far too soon.