Today’s strange news comes to us from our neighbors to the south. A couple in the Mexican state of Sonora have just named their newborn child ‘Facebook.’¹ OK, that is a strange name, but so what? Gwyneth Paltrow  has a daughter named Apple, that guitar player from US has a child named Blue Angel, Frank Zappa’s children are named Dweezil, Ahmet, Moon Unit, and Diva Thin Muffin.² While yes, Facebook is an odd name for a child, the story gets much stranger.

In what could only be deemed a reactionary move, the Mexican state of Sonora has passed legislation that bans naming children ‘Facebook,’ among other strange names. According to the AP, “Parents in the Mexican state of Sonora will no longer be allowed to name their children “Facebook,” ”Rambo” or 59 other now banned given names.”³ The AP article cites Sonora state Civil Registry director Cristina Ramirez as arguing that the law is meant to protect children from bullying. It is hard to say what is stranger, the fact that people in Mexico are naming their children ‘Facebook’ and ‘Rambo’ or the fact that the Sonoran government took it upon themselves to ban such naming practices. The AP article goes on to list some other dumb, now illegal, names parents have given their children:

Ramirez said that in the town of Navojoa a boy was recently named “Juan Calzon,” or “Juan Panties,” and a girl was named “Lady Di.”⁴