Short Stuff: Can You Not Have A Name? | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. Hey and welcome to the short stuff. I'm. Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's here. too setting the tempo. And this is stuff. you should know. Short stuff. That's. right. I I guess you could have said. there's and I'm and there's I wish I had. now. Maybe we should retake the whole. thing. Nah, right now a dumb joke because what we're. talking about is naming and specifically. sort of like the the rules and laws.

about naming somebody and having a name. and if you need a name legally. This is. so in our wheelhouse, man. We've been. talking about this stuff since basically. day one of stuff you should know. Yeah, this seemed familiar enough to where I. thought we might have done it. No, we. haven't done this particularly, but. we've talked about I think in some of. like our videos maybe about people who. gave their kids weird names like I will. never forget Yeah. Detroit. You. remember? I forgot about that. Yeah. Um. but what we're talking about today is.

which was a name by the way. Yeah. Somebody tried to name their kid Yeah. Detroit, right? One word. And there. might have been an exclamation point. I. don't remember. You got to have one. The. best name or at least attempted name. I've ever heard. Or maybe an interang. Yeah. Um, yeah. So, we're talking about. something a little more specific today, though. We're talking about can you live. without a name? Is it is it something. you could possibly do? And the short. answer is no. The bigger answer is even. more interesting than just being told. no. Yeah. I mean, it's not illegal to.

not have a name, but try getting through. life without a name. Uh, it's going to. be a big pain. So, like getting How dare. you? Yeah. get getting a job, getting a. driver's license, uh just almost. anything that you do these days might. require some form of identification. And. if you don't have a name, uh it's going. to make it challenging. Yeah. I mean, like you just could not make it through. life, at least in the United States and. most other countries, probably just. about any country. Um because you just.

you like no one can say you're you. That's how we you that's how we do it. That's the first way we do it is with a. name, I think. um when you're named, even before you're named, um even before. you get your social security number, you're you have your name. That's how. you're identified. That's how they keep. up with you who's who at the hospital. even. Yeah. Uh you can change your name. and you know, depending on your state, there's different ways you can go about. that. Uh you can you can just start. using a different name and and uh even. without making it like the official.

legal way. uh like on formal documents e. even uh Emily changed her spelling of. her name uh and was it was just. unofficial for many many years until she. finally had it officially changed which. is interesting. Nice. Yeah, she went. from Y to IE. I I always loved the IE on. the end of her name. I thought that was. nice touch. I didn't realize it was her. own choosing. So like a teenager thing. She keeps getting better and better, you. know. I think so too. Well, she's in her. 50s. Um so there are some rules. I. should say not everybody has rules.

Usually in the United States at least, the laws about what you can or can't. name your kid are. um it's by the states. And there's at. least a dozen states that don't have any. laws. They're basically like you can. name your kid whatever you want. Okay? But plenty of other states do have laws. One of the big ones that you'll find not. just among the states that have laws. about what you can name your kid um but. also internationally is that you can't. name your kid a number. Although you.

there is a workaround. You could spell. out that number. So you can't do the. number three but you could name your kid. t h re e. Right. Or you could name your. kid plan nine but you'd have to spell. out nine. Yes. Would you do it all one. word or two words? Plan nine. Bryant. I. think that'd be pretty fun as one word. It's a That's a great name, man. Yeah. Uh what else? You can't use vulgar. words. Yeah, makes sense. Can't be Can't.

be Jesus Christ or uh what? Adolf. Hitler's on the list, too, right? Yep. Same with Santa Claus in some places. Nutella is another one. Nutella. Yeah, that's right. Is it Nutella? I always. say Nutella. I've always said Nutella, but it probably is Nutella. I don't. know. Who's to say who's right in this. topsyturvy world? Uh, any kind of racial. slur you can't use. Um, or if it's a. name like intentionally used to like. commit fraud, like to get out of a debt.

or something like that. Uh, you can't. change your name for that reason. But I. mean, would you be dumb enough to go and. change your name and tell like the the. people at the vital records like, "Yeah, I'm doing this because I owe a lot of. money." Yeah. Uh, emojis are out pretty. much across the board. Oh, good. Um, and. that's the United States. And you're. like, well, that's kind of strict. If. you do think that that's kind of strict, but around the world it can be even. stricter. Like there, like Portugal is. very strict. Not only do they have some.

serious naming laws, there's a list of. approved names that you have to select. from. Uh, I think Iceland and Denmark. also have similar lists. And in. Portugal, it has to be what they. consider gender appropriate. Oh, interesting. And still. Yes. And they. will kick your door down if you try. anything different. Wow. Yeah. Portugal's hardcore about naming. Uh. maybe we should take a break and we'll. talk a little bit more about naming that. baby right after this.

[Music]. You should know. [Music]. All right. So, in the United States, uh, when a birth happens, um, the parents.

are legally obligated at some point in. time to register that birth with a. government entity, um, vital records. department or department of health and. human services, something like that. And. every country has a version of something. like that. Mhm. And on that form, you. got to fill out the name, but uh it. depends on what state you're in as far. as like how long you have to decide that. it does. You don't have to name your. baby before you leave the hospital. No, that's a pretty a pretty common. misconception, at least according to. Kristen Conger, who hats off wrote this.

one originally from it works. Former. colleague uh Kristen Conger and uh host. and founder of Unlad Like a great. podcast. That's right. Uh, so Conquer. points something out that I thought was. pretty smart that if you do leave the. hospital when your baby unnamed, because. that's got to be a lot of pressure. Yeah. If you don't have it done. beforehand, you don't want to just be. thinking of it like right after you give. birth. Yeah. Oh, yes. Exactly. Especially if you weren't aware you're. pregnant and this was a surprise birth.

You need a little time, right? Yeah. the. hospital's still going to be like, "We. need to be able to to keep up with that. baby so that baby goes home with you.". Right? So, they might name it something. like baby girl Smith if your name is. Jane Smith. But there was a study that. was conducted, probably the the most. obvious study I've ever heard that was. like if you actually use something a. little more specific, like say this is. Jane Smith's daughter, you would name it. Jane's girl Smith. Yeah. you're probably. going to have fewer mixups at the.

hospital, which is just alarming that. anybody even needs to study that because. that even happens. Yeah, for sure. Uh if. you do wait and you haven't decided in. the hospital, uh and you decide like. let's say the state you live in lets you. like wait a few months or whatever. Uh. it depends on that state again on the. procedure for adding that in. Um, like. in California is the one uh Kristen. mentions, you have to fill out a. supplemental name report with the health. department and fill that in and say, "All right, now we have our baby's. name." And they're like, "Great. Uh, now.

you can get your birth certificate.". Yeah. You're like, "What do you think? Do you think it's a good name?" It's a. pretty good name, huh? Pretty good name. And I think you have a year in. California, so again, it varies. Yes. Um, I did not realize this, but the. United Nations has a pretty stern stance. on kids' names. In particular, in the. Convention on the Rights of a Child, they said that all children have a right. from birth to a name. There's an. asterisk next to that. They said if you. ever find yourself in a highly stressful.

bird box type situation, you can just. name your kid boy or girl. But other. than that, that kid deserves a name. I. didn't see that. What? That was the. Sandra Bulock thing that it's excellent. I've seen it. The world by storm and uh. during CO, right? Yes. It's really good. Okay. I haven't seen it. You should. check it out. All right. I'll dust that. one off. Yes. Um so, Chuck, let's move. on to a little extra what we call a. lanyap if we wanted to sound really.

obnoxious on middle names. Yeah, middle names haven't always been a. thing. I think the the modern um idea of. a middle name started in the middle ages. it seems like but it was pretty specific. back then. They would just give the. first name on you know whatever they. they wanted to personalize it but then. the middle name would be a saint's name. and then a surname but then that. eventually fell out of favor over time. to where uh non-religious middle names. became a thing. Yeah. A lot of times it. was the mother's maiden name, her family.

name. Uh, it could just be like the. parents were like, I really like. McGillicuy, so that's your middle name. Yeah. And it just kind of picked up um. by I think World War I was the first. time where the US government at least. officially recognized the existence of. middle names when the enlistment forms. for the military asked for a middle. name. Yeah. And within I don't know a. couple of decades, a handful of decades, as computers started to be used for.

documentation of of individuals, like. tracking people, big brother type stuff. Um, they were programmed for three. names, first, middle, last. And what. would happen, Chuck, if you did not have. a middle name? Uh if you don't enter. that um they would insert NMI, no middle. initial uh because not everyone has a. middle name and some people have um. many. I know that uh my friend Justin. from England uh he is uh.

one he has. three two two middle names. So is he a. or something? Three names than a. surname. No, it's just I think it's more. common in the UK to do something like. that. So, he's Justin Neil Alexander. Stewart. So, two middle names, one first. name, and his surname. Very nice. And. his social security number. is uh you got anything else? Uh I got. nothing else. I don't either. Uh I guess.

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