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Alexstarfire ,

I don’t understand why the Passport Office would have even looked.

RedWeasel ,

So, they passport office is concerned that WB won’t approve? ffs.

MrJameGumb OP ,
@MrJameGumb@lemmy.world avatar

Right? Like did she have to ask WB for permission to name her kid Khaleesi? Of course not! It’s a kid’s name not a spin off series lol

ArbitraryValue ,

But does that mean I can name my kid Walt Disney Company?

SpaceNoodle ,

… try it out and let us know

adespoton ,

Sure… Walter is a regular first name, and there’s lots of people with the last name Disney. It’s from “de Ysini”, and lots of people lived and live in the Ysini region. Company is from the French compagnie, from Latin companio, where we also get companion.

So “Walter of Ysini, Friend” AKA “Walt Disney Company” is a perfectly legitimate name.

As is Michael Mouse.

Caligvla ,
@Caligvla@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Absolutely… Will Disney likely sue you into oblivion? Most likely.

Stovetop ,

Excluding laws in certain places meant to protect children from a life of ridicule, you can name your child whatever you want.

The issue of trademark, which is what this article highlights, only concerns applications where there is a business conflict. For example, it is normal for an actor/musician/artist to trademark their name as their “brand,” which means I can’t just form a thrash metal band called “Taylor Swift” to profit off of some confused music listeners. And even if my legal name was Taylor Swift, I could still be required to change my “stage name” to something else when promoting myself as an artist to avoid any confusion/conflict with Tay-Tay.

Last I checked, Warner Bros is not in the passport industry, so this is a dumb argument that should never have occurred. If I had to guess, it was probably just some random disgruntled government employee who felt the need to play armchair activist and “punish” a parent because they didn’t like the name they chose for their child.

Apytele ,

I thought your comment was satire at first but what the fuck. There’s really no denying they own us at this point.

ArbitraryValue ,

The kid doesn’t deserve this, but she doesn’t deserve that name either.

MrJameGumb OP ,
@MrJameGumb@lemmy.world avatar

I’m pretty sure we’re going to keep hearing about people with Game of Thrones names a lot over the next few decades lol I know I’ve read a few articles saying that Arya and Khaleesi were the most popular girls names for a few years before the series ended

AmidFuror ,

Within the US, "Arya" peaked for baby girls at rank 92 in 2019. 3050 girls or 0.166% of female births were given the name.

"Khaleesi" peaked in 2018 at rank 550 and 0.030% of female births.

I'm assuming other spellings were less common.

Revan343 ,

At least Arya is a name; Khaleesi is a title

DragonTypeWyvern ,

So is Christ, and therefore Christine and Christopher. Or Rex. Or Duke… Or Earl… Or Lady… Or Baron.

Bishop.

Pope.

Smith.

I’m sure there are more.

herrvogel ,

Don’t care. Gonna name my firstborn Right Honourable

Jerkface ,

“Major Major had been born too late and too mediocre. Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. With Major Major it had been all three. Even among men lacking all distinction he inevitably stood out as a man lacking more distinction than all the rest, and people who met him were always impressed by how unimpressive he was.”

FiskFisk33 ,

most of those aren’t first names

Zorque ,

The last three, maybe (though I’m sure you could find someone with at least one of those as a first name), but everything before that are used at least irregularly.

elxeno ,

earl

DragonTypeWyvern ,

Lemmy needs a confidentlyincorrect

Revan343 ,

Smith is a profession more than a title, and is also generally a surname. I’ll give you Christopher and Rex though

wjrii ,

At least Arya doesn’t go full speedrun genocidal maniac because the showrunners are bored and think they have Star Wars money coming.

Never name your kid or your dog after a character until the who is over, folks! Cats? It’s fine.

Revan343 ,

I disagree, as cats are longer lived than dogs; wanna give your dog a stupid name, go for it

This may or may not have anything to do with the fact that I have three cats and zero dogs

wjrii ,

LOL, it’s more that I’m less concerned finding out a cat is named after a woman who just wanted to watch the world burn, and I presume the cat would be too.

TheLowestStone ,
@TheLowestStone@lemmy.world avatar

Thank you for pointing this out. It drives me crazy.

DarkThoughts ,

Arya is a normal name though. Khaleesi was specifically made up title for GoT.

RedWeasel ,

At least Khaleesi sounds pretty normal still. I’ve heard about people naming their kids with names they basically made up so their kid’s is unique or really weird names otherwise. Unfortunately here in the states you’ll hear about some that have named their kid after Adolf and other worse choices.

MrJameGumb OP ,
@MrJameGumb@lemmy.world avatar

Hopefully no one named their kid Dickon

RedWeasel ,

Here is a list. Moon Unit is first. Child of Frank Zappa.

List of weird name

MrJameGumb OP ,
@MrJameGumb@lemmy.world avatar

I used to work with a guy named Pelvis. I couldn’t bring myself to ask him where the name came from lol

Revan343 ,

Well with a dad with a name like Frank Zappa, you get what you get and hope for the best.

Could be worse, kid could be named Khaleesi

scytale ,

Zappa’s kids are fine since they’re children of a famous person (not to mention talented in their own right) and have the privilege of not having to live like a normal person with a weird name.

wesker ,
@wesker@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Second of Her Name, Rightful Queen of the Bratz Dolls, The Breaker of Bedtimes…

Badeendje ,
@Badeendje@lemmy.world avatar

Nice!

moistclump , (edited )

In case anyone else wanted to save a click, daughters name is Khaleesi and it was denied because “Warner brothers trademark”

SomethingBurger ,

Khaleesi, 6, a passport was denied — with officials telling her she needed Warner Brothers’ approval because it owns the name’s trademark.

Typical capitalist brain rot.

Shouldn’t they also use the same bullshit excuse when issuing an ID card? At least make the dumb rules consistent.

leftzero ,

Aren’t they aware that the TV series is based on a book series…? If anyone owns the name it’d be George R.R. Martin…

candybrie , (edited )

Did he trademark it? Did he sign that away when HBO did the TV series?

Not that it matters for a passport. But it’s entirely likely a media company owns the trademark for a book character rather than the author.

Cort ,

I think it would be more likely that grrm licensed the trademark and IP to HBO/Discovery rather than sell it. But I don’t actually know

empireOfLove2 ,
@empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

By this logic, everyone named Mickey should be paying Disney a royalty…

Wait shit retract delete delete DISNEY I DID JOT SAY ANYTHING DONT GET ANY FUCKING IDEAS NOW.

SomethingBurger ,

Mickey is a real name, though. It wasn’t invented by Disney.

Not that their lawyers would care lmao

bradorsomething ,

I still believe her actual name was Hodor.

Badeendje ,
@Badeendje@lemmy.world avatar

Why the f is a passport office concerned with a trademark. It is a name of a child… it does not infringe.

ArghlBarghlFooFera ,

Khaleesi

I fully expected her to be named “Reek”.

Gullible ,

Hodor was my bet

njm1314 ,

Weren’t a lot of kids name that when that show came out?

expatriado ,

is there a court precedent for this? definitely not first child to be named after trademarked word

alcoholicorn ,

The Passport Office reportedly later called Lucy to apologize for the error. While officials said they’d now be able to process little Khaleesi’s passport, Lucy said she believes the problem was only solved because she complained on social media.

Sounds like the passport office didn’t understand how trademark works.

JCreazy ,

It’s almost like people should know how their job works

GlenRambo ,

Doubt the “whole office” was even involved. More likely it was one incompetent employee. We’ve all been there. It depends on who answers your call as to what answer you get.

wjrii ,

Yup. This is the boring but likely true response. You get the one Gareth/Dwight who remembers that memo about not using trademarks in marketing materials and decides they know how this all works and that the rights of Warner Brothers have to be respected before putting their intellectual property on a published document. “Just get the appropriate permission on corporate letterhead and notarized, and this will all be fine.”

Social media is one way to fix it, but I tend to think a couple of layers of escalation would have worked as well, if a bit more slowly.

cornshark ,

This doesn’t make any sense. UPS has trademarked the colour brown, yet I’ve known people with the last name Brown who have been able to get passports.

woelkchen ,
@woelkchen@lemmy.world avatar

“I never thought you could trademark a name,” she added.

I hope my son Marvel’s The Amazing Spider-Man is not going to get in trouble.

MelodiousFunk ,

If not, he can hang in trademark prison with Chalupa Batman.

Wasabi ,

Reminds me of this.

BoxOfFeet ,

There should be a list of approved names for children.

Flax_vert ,

No.

MrJameGumb OP ,
@MrJameGumb@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah I hear that’s worked out really well in North Korea 🤣

sunzu ,

Who decides what goes on that list?

BoxOfFeet ,

In a perfect world, me. But it would probably be better if there was a body of 100 or so individuals of diverse backgrounds to make sure we aren’t excluding names for cultural reasons. Names could be submitted for approval. To weed out the Everleighs, the Sexiannas, the Khaleesis. And any names Jamie Oliver would pick.

I don’t know why people think it is acceptable to treat names like an opportunity for creativity, or fun. Names are serious business. And they aren’t a medium for self expression. If I name my dog after a type of pasta, who cares? But imagine having to give someone a business card with “Fusilli Feet” on it. I love Waterworld, but my kid will never have to put down “Mariner Feet” on a resume. My kid is not an extension of me, or my interests.

rikudou ,

We have that in my country, kinda. Any common name in the calendar can be chosen automatically. Any other name must be approved and you must prove that it’s a real name somewhere (used significantly, one person with a weird name wouldn’t count).

weariedfae ,

As the article states this is bullshit and who knows what the person who denied her passport was thinking.

I’ve met someone whose legal name was Pepsi and she was able to get regular government documents without contacting PepsiCo.

It’s unfortunate this mom had to go to a lawyer for this crap.

Belgdore ,

I assume it’s some weird UK IP law thing.

paraphrand ,

That’s a cool name

Flax_vert ,

Worth mentioning that the UK and Ireland is the easiest country to change your name in. All you need is two friends and a printer. Although it may be more complicated for children, especially if the parents aren’t together (I still think it’s pretty straightforward if they are together, just both parents need to approve it as well)

CheeseNoodle ,

Realistically you also need 35 quid to have your drivers license re-issued which you can then use as an initial form of ID to get everything else changed.

Flax_vert ,

This is about a passport application, you don’t need to use a driving licence for that

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