I used to work for a church, and one of the things I did was collect new member forms every Sunday. One day I picked one up from the nursery that was from a child named Austin Bowers. Actually, that probably won't be too bad - by the time he reaches the age where kids would start to tease him about his name, all the fame (infamy?) surrounding the Austin Powers movies would be pretty much gone, if it isn't considered so already. Another story I thought of: Last year, there was a child named Notorious enrolled in the school where I was an assistant teacher. She was in one of the preschool classes and in case you were wondering, yes, she did live up to her first name. But then again, so did many of the kids with "normal" names
I dunno, on one hand I feel uncomfortable with any agency telling parents what they can or can't name their child. But on the other hand, I don't think a child should ever be named something because the parents think it's
funny. Unusual? Sure. Thought-provoking or meaningful? By all means. But funny? Just...a bad idea in my opinion, and should be avoided. Or at least, as it is in this case, given a LOT more scrutiny before actually getting on the birth certificate. Though that's not really the case here, as the name "4real" did mean something to the parents - but I personally wish that they had thought of a few alternative names that would express their feelings about the "reality" of the impending birth that didn't resort to a gimmick. I think they could have created a unique name without having a number. Numbers are usually designated to machines, products, math, and other
impersonal things - it just seems out of place to have one as part of a person's name.
Or, it's entirely possible I'm overthinking this and the kid might even grow up liking the fact that he/she has an unusual name, provided that the parents get their wish.