Italian Court Forces Parents To Change Child’s Name
A couple in Genoa, Italy named their son - who was born 15 months ago - Friday. “We named him Friday because we like the sound of the name. Even if it would have been a girl, we would have named her Friday,” the boy’s mother, Mara Germano stated. A city clerk saw the name and decided to bring the oddity of it to the court tribunal. The court forbids parents to give their children first names that are odd and unusual. Now they are opening a case and trying to force the parents to change the name from Friday to Gregory.
“I think it is ridiculous they even opened a case about it,” the family’s lawyer, Paola Rossi, told Reuters by telephone from the northern city of Genoa on Tuesday. Friday/Gregory Germano was born in Genoa 15 months ago. The parents registered him as Friday in the city hall and a priest even baptised him as Friday - unusual in Italy since many priests insist that first names be of Christian origin.
The tribunal said it was protecting the child from being the butt of jokes and added that it believed the name would hinder him from developing “serene interpersonal relationships”. The Germano family appealed but lost their case this month and the story was carried on the front page of a national newspaper on Tuesday.
When ordered to change the name, the parents refused and the court ruled the boy would be legally registered as Gregory because he was born on that saint’s feast day. “I really doubt this would have happened to the child of parents who are rich and famous,” the boy’s mother told Reuters, recalling that some famous Italians had given their children unorthodox names such as “Ocean” or “Chanel”.
The appeals court ruled against Friday because it recalled the servile savage in Daniel Defoe’s novel Robinson Crusoe and because superstitious Italians consider Friday an unlucky day. “I am livid about this,” the boy’s mother said. “A court should not waste its time with things like this when there is so much more to worry about. My son was born Friday, baptised Friday, will call himself Friday, we will call him Friday but when he gets older he will have to sign his name Gregory,” she said.