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Talula Does the Hula From HawaiiAnd other names so weird that judges forbade them.

By Eugene VolokhPosted Wednesday, July 30, 2008, at 7:13 AM ET

(Continued from page 1)

But the Utah Supreme Court in 2001 let David Lynn Porter become just plain Santa Claus, and never mind the children: "Porter's proposed name may be thought by some to be unwise, and it may very well be more difficult for him to conduct his business and his normal everyday affairs as a result." (D'ya think?) "However, Porter has the right to select the name by which he is known, within very broad limits." [In re Handley, 736 N.E.2d 125 (Ohio Prob. Ct. 2000); In re Porter, 31 P.3d 519 (Utah 2001).]

6. Koriander, with no last name, apparently chosen because of Rosa Linda Ferner's "attraction to a name that sounds appropriate for her work as an artisan." Just fine, a New Jersey judge ruled in 1996. [In re Application of Rosa Linda Ferner to Assume the Name Koriander, 685 A.2d 78 (N.J. Super. L. 1996).]

7. They, again with no last name. OK, said a Missouri judge to a petition by the inventor formerly known as Andrew Wilson. They (not they, They) explained the rationale: "'They do this,' or 'They're to blame for that.' Who is this 'they' everyone talks about? 'They' accomplish such great things. Somebody had to take responsibility."

8. Darren QX [pronounced 'Lloyd'] Bean!. No problem!, holds our friend the California Court of Appeal in 2006. [Darren Lloyd Bean v. Superior Court, 2006 WL [pronounced 'Westlaw'] 3425000 (Cal. App.).] Bean!, who recently sat for the Oregon State Bar, reported that, "Many of his close friends greet him as 'Bean!' When saying his name, friends raise the pitch and the volume of their voices above their usual spoken tone." The court didn't opine further on this, because "this information is not contained in the appellate record." Still, the court reasoned, if O'Rourke is fine, so is Bean!. What's more, the court reported,

At least three people have changed their names to the names of websites with a ".com" in the name. Virginia animal rights activist Karin Robertson legally changed her name to GoVeg.com in 2003 to bring attention to a website of her employer, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Other activists also changed their personal names to websites with ".com" in the names, including "Kentucky fried cruelty.com" and "Ringling beats animals.com." We do not find a legal distinction between a period inside a word, a hyphen between words, an apostrophe in a word, and an exclamation point at the end of a word.

Speakers of !Xóõ and similar click languages must be happy about that.

9. Boys changing their names from, or to, Sue. No known cases.

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Eugene Volokh is a professor of law at UCLA School of Law and the cofounder of the Volokh Conspiracy blog. For more frivolousness from him, see www.law.ucla.edu/volokh/#HUMOR, including "Lawsuit, Shmawsuit" and "The Trojan Doctrine."
Photograph of hula girl dashboard ornament by Ryan McVay © copyright 1999-2008 Getty Images Inc.
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