Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh, and
Speaker 1: there's Chuck, and Jerry's here too. Set in the tempo,
Speaker 1: and this is stuff you should know, short stuff.
Speaker 2: That's right. I guess you could have said there's and
Speaker 2: and there's.
Speaker 1: I wish I had now, maybe we should retake the
Speaker 1: whole thing.
Speaker 2: Nah, a dumb joke, because what we're talking about is naming,
Speaker 2: and specifically sort of like the rules and laws about
Speaker 2: naming somebody and having a name and if you need
Speaker 2: a name legally.
Speaker 1: This is so in our wheelhouse. Man, we've been talking
Speaker 1: about this stuff since basically day one of stuff you
Speaker 1: should know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this seemed familiar enough to where I thought we
Speaker 2: might have done it.
Speaker 1: No, we haven't done this particularly, but we've talked about
Speaker 1: I think in some of like our videos, maybe about
Speaker 1: people who gave their kids weird names, like I will
Speaker 1: never forget, Yeah Detroit, you remember.
Speaker 2: I forgot about that?
Speaker 1: Yeah, But we're talking about today is which by the way, Yes,
Speaker 1: somebody tried to name their kid yeah Detroit, right, one
Speaker 1: word and there might have been an exclamation point. I
Speaker 1: don't remember. You gotta have one the best name, or
Speaker 1: at least a tempted name I've ever.
Speaker 2: Heard, or maybe an in terror bang.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, So we're talking about something a little more
Speaker 1: specific today, though. We're talking about can you live without
Speaker 1: a name? Is it? Is it something you could possibly do?
Speaker 1: And the short answer is no. The bigger answer is
Speaker 1: even more interesting than just being cold.
Speaker 2: Now. Yeah, I mean, it's not illegal to not have
Speaker 2: a name, but try getting through life without a name.
Speaker 2: It's going to be a big pain. So like, get
Speaker 2: here you yeah, get it, getting a job, getting a
Speaker 2: driver's license, just almost anything that you do these days
Speaker 2: might require some form of identification, and if you don't
Speaker 2: have a name, it's going to make it challenging.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, like you just could not make it
Speaker 1: through life, at least in the United States and most
Speaker 1: other countries, probably just about any country because you just
Speaker 1: like no one can say you're you. That's how we you,
Speaker 1: that's how we do it. That's the first way we
Speaker 1: do it is with a name. I think when you're named,
Speaker 1: even before you're named, even before you get your Social
Speaker 1: Security number, you have your name. That's how you're identified.
Speaker 1: That's how they keep up with you. Who's who at
Speaker 1: the hospital?
Speaker 2: Even Yeah, you can change your name, and you know,
Speaker 2: depending on your state, there's different ways you can go
Speaker 2: about that. You can you can just start using a
Speaker 2: different name, and even without making it like the official
Speaker 2: legal way like on formal documents. Even Emily changed her
Speaker 2: spelling of her name and it was just unofficial for
Speaker 2: many many years until she finally had it officially changed,
Speaker 2: which is interesting.
Speaker 1: Nice.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she went from whye to ie.
Speaker 1: I always loved the i e on the end of
Speaker 1: her name. I thought that was nice touch. I didn't
Speaker 1: realize it was her own choosing.
Speaker 2: So like a teenager thing.
Speaker 1: She keeps getting better and better, you know.
Speaker 2: I think so too. Well, she's in her fifties.
Speaker 1: So there are some rules. I should say not everybody
Speaker 1: has rules. Usually in the United States, at least, the
Speaker 1: laws about what you can or can't name your kid are.
Speaker 1: It's by the states, and there's at least a dozen
Speaker 1: states that don't have any laws. They're basically like, you
Speaker 1: can name your kid whatever you want, okay, but plenty
Speaker 1: of other states do have laws. One of the big
Speaker 1: ones that you'll find not just among the states that
Speaker 1: have laws about what you can name your kid, but
Speaker 1: also internationally, is that you can't name your kid in number,
Speaker 1: although there is a workaround. You could spell out that,
Speaker 1: yeahber So you can't do the number three, but you
Speaker 1: could name your kid phr ee.
Speaker 2: Right, Or you could name your kid plan nine, but
Speaker 2: you'd have to spell out nine.
Speaker 1: Yes, would you do it all? One word or two words?
Speaker 2: Plan nine? Bryant, I think that'd be pretty fun. Is
Speaker 2: one word?
Speaker 1: That's a great name, man? Yeah? What else you can't use?
Speaker 1: Vulgar words?
Speaker 2: Yeah, extent? It can't be Jesus Christ or what Adolf
Speaker 2: Hitler's on the list too, right.
Speaker 1: Yep, same with Santa Claus in some places. Nutella is
Speaker 1: another one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's it?
Speaker 1: Is it nutella? I always say nutella.
Speaker 2: I've always sad nutella, but it probably is nutella.
Speaker 1: I don't know who used to say who's right? In
Speaker 1: this topsy turvy world.
Speaker 2: Any kind of racial slur you can't use? Or if
Speaker 2: it's a name like intentionally used to like commit fraud,
Speaker 2: like to get out of a debt or something like that,
Speaker 2: you can't change your name for that reason.
Speaker 1: But I mean, would you be dumb enough to go
Speaker 1: and change your name and tell like the probably not
Speaker 1: the people at the vital records, Like yeah, I'm doing
Speaker 1: this because I owe a law of money. Yeah, emojis
Speaker 1: are out pretty much across the board. Oh good, And
Speaker 1: that's the United States. And you're like, well, it's kind
Speaker 1: of strict if you do think that, that's kind of strict,
Speaker 1: But around the world it can be even stricter. Like
Speaker 1: they're like, Portugal is very strict. Not only do they
Speaker 1: have some serious naming laws, there's a list of approved
Speaker 1: names that you have to select from. I think Iceland
Speaker 1: and Denmark also have similar lists. And in Portugal it
Speaker 1: has to be what they consider gender appropriate and still
Speaker 1: and they will kick your door down if you try
Speaker 1: anything different.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Portugal is hardcore about naming.
Speaker 2: Maybe we should take a break and we'll talk a
Speaker 2: little bit more about naming that baby right for this,
Speaker 2: all right, So in the United States, when a birth happens,
Speaker 2: the parents are legally obligated at some point in time
Speaker 2: to register that birth with a government entity Vital Records
Speaker 2: Department or Department of Health and Human Services, something like that.
Speaker 2: And every country has a version of something like that,
Speaker 2: and on that form you got to fill out the name,
Speaker 2: but it depends on what state you're in as far
Speaker 2: as like how long you have to decide that it does.
Speaker 2: You don't have to name your baby before you leave
Speaker 2: the hospital.
Speaker 1: No, that's a pretty a pretty common misconception, at least
Speaker 1: according to Kristen Conger, who hats off wrote this one
Speaker 1: originally from.
Speaker 2: Here, Yeah it works, former colleague Kristen Conger and host
Speaker 2: and founder of Unlady Like a great podcast.
Speaker 1: That's right. So Conquer points something out that I thought
Speaker 1: was pretty smart that if you do leave the hospital
Speaker 1: when you're baby unnamed, because it's going to be a
Speaker 1: lot of pressure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you don't have it done beforehand, you don't
Speaker 2: want to just be thinking of it like right after
Speaker 2: you give birth.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, exactly, especially if you weren't aware you're pregnant
Speaker 1: and this was a surprise birth. You need a little time, right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the hospital is still going to be like, we need
Speaker 1: to be able to keep up with that baby so
Speaker 1: that baby goes home with you, Right, So they might
Speaker 1: name it something like baby Girl Smith if your name
Speaker 1: is Jane Smith. But there was a study that was conducted,
Speaker 1: probably the most obvious study I've ever heard, that was
Speaker 1: like if you actually use something a little more specific,
Speaker 1: like say this is Jane Smith's daughter. Uh, you would
Speaker 1: name it Jane's girl Smith. Yeah, you're probably going to
Speaker 1: have fewer mix ups at the hospital, which is just
Speaker 1: alarming that anybody even needs to study that because that
Speaker 1: even happens.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, if you do wait and you haven't
Speaker 2: decided in the hospital and then you decide, like let's
Speaker 2: say the state you live in, let's you like, wait
Speaker 2: a few months or whatever. It depends on that state
Speaker 2: again on the procedure for adding that in, Like in California,
Speaker 2: as the one Kristen mentions, you have to fill out
Speaker 2: a supplemental name report with the health department and fill
Speaker 2: that in and say all right, now we have our
Speaker 2: baby's name, and they're like, great, now you can get
Speaker 2: your birth certificate.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what do you think. Do you think it's a
Speaker 1: good name. It's a pretty good name.
Speaker 2: Pretty good name. And I think you have a year
Speaker 2: in California, So again it varies.
Speaker 1: Yes, I did not realize this, but the United Nations
Speaker 1: has a pretty stern stance on kids' names. In particular,
Speaker 1: in the Convention on the Rights of a Child, they
Speaker 1: said that all children have a right from birth to
Speaker 1: a name. There's an asterisk next to that they said,
Speaker 1: if you ever find yourself in a highly stressful bird
Speaker 1: box type situation, you can just name your kid boy
Speaker 1: or girl. But other than that, that kid deserves a name.
Speaker 2: I didn't see that. That was the Sandra Bullock thing
Speaker 2: that it's excellent, I call the world during COVID.
Speaker 1: Right, Yes, it's really good.
Speaker 2: Okay, I haven't seen it.
Speaker 1: You should check it out, all right, I'll dust that
Speaker 1: one off. Yes, so, Chuck, let's move on to a
Speaker 1: little extra what we call a lane yap if we
Speaker 1: wanted to sound really obnoxious on middle.
Speaker 2: Names, Yeah, middle names haven't always been a thing. I
Speaker 2: think the modern idea of a middle name started in
Speaker 2: the Middle Ages, it seems like, but it was pretty
Speaker 2: specific back then. They would just give the first name
Speaker 2: on you know, whatever they wanted to personalize it. But
Speaker 2: then the middle name would be a saints name and
Speaker 2: then a surname. But then that eventually fell out of
Speaker 2: favor over time to where non religious middle names became
Speaker 2: a thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot of times it was the mother's maiden name,
Speaker 1: the family name. It could just be like the parents
Speaker 1: were like I really like McGillicutty, so that your middle name. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it just kind of picked up by I think
Speaker 1: World War One was the first time where the US
Speaker 1: government at least officially recognized the existence of middle names,
Speaker 1: when the enlistment forms for the military asked for a
Speaker 1: middle name. Yeah, and within I don't know a couple
Speaker 1: of decades, a handful of decades has computers started to
Speaker 1: be used for documentation of individuals, like tracking people, big
Speaker 1: brother type stuff. They were programmed for three names, first, middle, last,
Speaker 1: and what would happen Chuck if you did not have
Speaker 1: a middle name.
Speaker 2: If you don't enter that, they would insert n M
Speaker 2: I no middle initial because not everyone has a middle name,
Speaker 2: and some people have many. I know that. My friend
Speaker 2: Justin from England, he is one. He has three two
Speaker 2: middle names, so something three names than a surname. No,
Speaker 2: it's just I think it's more common in the UK
Speaker 2: to do something like that. So he's Justin Neil Alexander Stewart,
Speaker 2: so two middle names, one first name and his surname
Speaker 2: very nice and his social Security number.
Speaker 1: Is you got anything else?
Speaker 2: I got nothing else?
Speaker 1: I don't either, I guess I'm mean short. Stuff is out.
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