What's in a name?

The life of every average child is filled with good times and bad. Sometimes as a youth I felt like everybody was picking on me. I'm sure most young people have times when they feel that way. Maybe one is too fat or has large ears or has clothes that are less than the latest and greatest but almost everybody is made fun of as a child by other children. Children are especially good at making fun of names when there is not necessarily anything else to make fun of. You might think that with a name like mine I would be exempt. Not much rhymes with Todd except maybe "odd" or "pod", neither of which take up much space in a child's vocabulary. It was "Toddy Waddy Potty" that was the vicious slander for me. It's just not fair! How could my parents be so cruel as to stick me with such a horrible name as Todd?

As cruel as kids can be, though, do you think if a child has a really distasteful name that a judge should be able to legally change the name against the will of the parents? How bad of a name would it have to be before one could justify such intrusion by the government? I think this name qualifies with ease: Talula Does The Hula in Hawaii. That's the poor 9 year old girls name in New Zealand. Too bad her name was changed she could have hung out with her friends, "Violence" and the twins, "Benson and Hedges" or the blond "Sex Fruit" over at the house of "Number 16 Bus Shelter". They would have heck of a time coming up with a name for their band.