'Hospital refused my baby name – I know it's different but that's the point'
A new mum has slammed a hospital team for refusing her chosen baby name – but others say the nurses did her a favour. Complaining about the situation on social media, the woman shared how she welcomed her baby girl into the world last week at a hospital in Alabama.
She wanted her daughter to 'stand out' in life – so picked a name they'll 'give her an edge' over others no matter the situation she finds herself in. She said: "I've run into something weird and I'm honestly not sure what to do. My baby girl was born last week here in Alabama, and we picked out a unique name that means a lot to us: Xfrgolszzzxy (we say it like Zurf-golz-ee).
"I know it's different and that was the whole point. I didn't grow up with much and always felt like people looked down on me because of where I'm from and the kind of name I had.
"I wanted something special for my daughter. Also, my dad is a surfer so I wanted to include that in her name."
But when completing her daughter's birth certificate paperwork, she says the woman behind the desk gave her a funny look before saying: 'I'm sorry but names can't start with an X followed by a consonant. That's not allowed in Alabama.'
She added: "I asked her if she could show me where it said that and she just pointed at this big binder and mumbled something about naming standards.
"She couldn't give me a straight answer. I tried calling the county office later that week and basically got the same thing. They said our name didn't 'meet system requirements' but couldn't say why exactly. At least they promised me to look into it.
"The way I see this - the name only uses English letters. No numbers, no emojis, no weird accents or anything. I've looked up the Alabama rules and all it says is names have to be made with English alphabet letters, hyphens or apostrophes. That's it.
"So now they're telling is we either need to choose a different name or leave it blank and go to court to 'petition' for it. I don't have the money or time to fight the state just to name my own kid."
Gobsmacked by the woman's story, social media users quickly shared their thoughts on the situation, with some refusing to believe someone would actually want to name their child Xfrgolszzzxy.
One user said: "Finally an Alabaman law I can get behind." Another user added: "If I was that baby, once I aged to an adult, my first stop would be to legally change my name to something my parents wouldn't know and start a new life. What is wrong with people?"
A third user said: "I would genuinely hate my parents for naming me something as absolutely insane as that." Another user added: "Supposed to give a baby a name, not a password."
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