Yes Sir, Th@t's My Baby

by Lauren Nemec

A couple in China has irritated government officials with their request to name their baby "@". The couple claims that this name (pronounced like English "at") symbolizes their deep love for the child, as the Chinese pronunciation of the symbol sounds like the phrase, "love him".

It's not clear if Chinese officials- who are already bogged down with couples trying to name their children non-traditional and modern names- will approve of "@". In a country where as few as 20 surnames cover the majority of the population, young parents are proposing more and more unorthodox names for their children in effort to individualize them.

There are links to many articles about this story here at Google News.