Tampabay.com
JULY 25, 2008

Crazy kid names not just for celebrity spawn

Can I have a shout-out for Judge Rob Murfitt?

The New Zealand family court judge has had it with parents giving their kids weird names. He finally did something about it when he got the custody case of 9-year-old Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii. Yes, you read that right. 63563328

According to this story, he made her a ward of the court so her name could be changed. The new name wasn't released to protect the girl's privacy, but you can bet hula isn't a part of it.

The judge said the girl's name "makes a fool of the child and sets her up with a social disability and handicap, unnecessarily." The girl was so embarrassed she never revealed it to her closest friends and told them to call her K, the story said.

In his ruling, Murfitt cited a list of unfortunate names that weren't allowed, including Fish and Chips, Yeah Detroit, Keenan Got Lucy and Sex Fruit. Some that were allowed included Number 16 Bus Shelter and Violence.

Those make Sunday Rose and Knox Leon sound pretty tame, huh?

I don't know what these parents are trying to prove. Don't they know that on the freaky name front, the celebs own the patent? Better to stick with something off the most popular baby names list and leave the crazy to the people with the know how.

-- Lisa Buie, Times mom

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Sharon Kennedy Wynne has sunscreen in her blood. She may have been born in Buffalo but she got here as fast as she could, in time for kindergarten. She grew up in St. Petersburg, graduated from the University of Florida journalism school, and even got married at Sunken Gardens. She's one of the few adults we know who actually loves taking her kids to the beach. She has two sons and with 10 years of parenting under her belt, she's starting to feel a little less out of her league. She comes from a large family and loves to debate, so brace yourself when the hot topics come up.

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SP_255665_CROS_KATE.jpgAfter six long years of trying to have a baby, Kate Brassfield was finally able to have one. And then, two minutes later, another one. Suddenly the lady who had never been around babies before was juggling two! Just as Kate felt she was getting pretty good with babies, the girls became toddlers, and now Kate is back to Square One, learning about the care and feeding of these strange, wonderful creatures. She spends her days working part-time from home and trying to keep up with the Twinosaurus Wrecks.

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Freelance writer Courtney Cairns Pastor wasn’t so sure about having kids and how she would balance child-rearing with her journalism career. It turned out that her journalism training went to good use. As the mom to a funny, active toddler, she learned to handle him like she did her sources. Never ask yes or no questions (the answer will always be no), get him to be specific (are you crying because you’re wet or your tooth hurts?) and be prepared for anything because no two days are the same. When she’s not playing trucks, Courtney crams for her book club, trains for races and occasionally bursts into showtunes. E-mail her at courtneyblogs@gmail.com.

Suzannah DiMarzio has it bad for the Mouse. Although she grew up outside of Boston, she took her degree in tourism management down to Orlando just to work at Disney and the travel industry. Of course, when she married her high school sweetheart, the reception was at Disney. She’s now a seasoned stay-at-home mom to two tweens and a toddler – and yes, that is as crazy as it sounds. Suzannah has her own blog, ZannaLand.com , and she's a member of the Walt Disney World Moms Panel in addition to being addicted to Twitter, iced coffee, and watching way too much Yo, Gabba Gabba.

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