Try not to give your child a name in vain

A COLLEGE STUDENT in Chongqing has become “famous” because of her name Huangpu Junxiao, or Whampoa Military Academy, the first modern military school in China that was established in the early 20th century and produced a number of well-known military officers. People’s Daily comments:

Such weird names are not unusual these days. A man in Northwest China’s Shaanxi province named his son Wangzhe Rongyao, or King of Glory, a popular online game. And a high school graduate in East China’s Jiangsu province is named Shi Zhen, or This is the Emperor.

Although easy to remember, such names do not reflect the wishes of those who carry them. The naming of children has been evolving since ancient times and names signify the characteristics of the times. Still, some rules or conventions should not be neglected. For instance, the public security and civil affairs authorities have put up a list of rarely used Chinese characters that parents should try to avoid while choosing a name for their newborns. They should also avoid using words from other languages.

As such, the public security departments have enough reason to ask parents who don’t follow the rules to rename their children before issuing household registration certificates or identity cards.

But that has not prevented some parents from giving their children “fashionable” names, which do not break the rules. Such parents should realize that if their children have weird names, they could become the butt of jokes and even be bullied by their peers.

Although parents have the freedom to choose any name for their children, they should not use it to impose their wishes on their children by giving them outlandish names.