June 4, 2025 • 11 mins
Is it legal to live without a name? Is it even possible? Find out today in this episode.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh, and
there's Chuck, and Jerry's here too. Set in the tempo,
and this is stuff you should know, short stuff.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
That's right. I guess you could have said there's and
and there's.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
I wish I had now, maybe we should retake the
whole thing.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Nah, a dumb joke, because what we're talking about is naming,
and specifically sort of like the rules and laws about
naming somebody and having a name and if you need
a name legally.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
This is so in our wheelhouse. Man, we've been talking
about this stuff since basically day one of stuff you
should know.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, this seemed familiar enough to where I thought we
might have done it.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
No, we haven't done this particularly, but we've talked about
I think in some of like our videos, maybe about
people who gave their kids weird names, like I will
never forget, Yeah Detroit, you remember.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I forgot about that?
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Yeah, But we're talking about today is which by the way, Yes,
somebody tried to name their kid yeah Detroit, right, one
word and there might have been an exclamation point. I
don't remember. You gotta have one the best name, or
at least a tempted name I've ever.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Heard, or maybe an in terror bang.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yeah. Yeah, So we're talking about something a little more
specific today, though. We're talking about can you live without
a name? Is it? Is it something you could possibly do?
And the short answer is no. The bigger answer is
even more interesting than just being cold.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Now. Yeah, I mean, it's not illegal to not have
a name, but try getting through life without a name.
It's going to be a big pain. So like, get
here you yeah, get it, getting a job, getting a
driver's license, just almost anything that you do these days
might require some form of identification, and if you don't
have a name, it's going to make it challenging.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Yeah, I mean, like you just could not make it
through life, at least in the United States and most
other countries, probably just about any country because you just
like no one can say you're you. That's how we you,
that's how we do it. That's the first way we
do it is with a name. I think when you're named,
even before you're named, even before you get your Social
(02:11):
Security number, you have your name. That's how you're identified.
That's how they keep up with you. Who's who at
the hospital?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Even Yeah, you can change your name, and you know,
depending on your state, there's different ways you can go
about that. You can you can just start using a
different name, and even without making it like the official
legal way like on formal documents. Even Emily changed her
spelling of her name and it was just unofficial for
(02:38):
many many years until she finally had it officially changed,
which is interesting.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Yeah, she went from whye to ie.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
I always loved the i e on the end of
her name. I thought that was nice touch. I didn't
realize it was her own choosing.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
So like a teenager thing.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
She keeps getting better and better, you know.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I think so too. Well, she's in her fifties.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
So there are some rules. I should say not everybody
has rules. Usually in the United States, at least, the
laws about what you can or can't name your kid are.
It's by the states, and there's at least a dozen
states that don't have any laws. They're basically like, you
can name your kid whatever you want, okay, but plenty
(03:19):
of other states do have laws. One of the big
ones that you'll find not just among the states that
have laws about what you can name your kid, but
also internationally, is that you can't name your kid in number,
although there is a workaround. You could spell out that,
yeahber So you can't do the number three, but you
could name your kid phr ee.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Right, Or you could name your kid plan nine, but
you'd have to spell out nine.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yes, would you do it all? One word or two words?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Plan nine? Bryant, I think that'd be pretty fun. Is
one word?
Speaker 1 (03:52):
That's a great name, man? Yeah? What else you can't use?
Vulgar words?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, extent? It can't be Jesus Christ or what Adolf
Hitler's on the list too, right.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yep, same with Santa Claus in some places. Nutella is
another one.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Yeah, that's it?
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Is it nutella? I always say nutella.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
I've always sad nutella, but it probably is nutella.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
I don't know who used to say who's right? In
this topsy turvy world.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Any kind of racial slur you can't use? Or if
it's a name like intentionally used to like commit fraud,
like to get out of a debt or something like that,
you can't change your name for that reason.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
But I mean, would you be dumb enough to go
and change your name and tell like the probably not
the people at the vital records, Like yeah, I'm doing
this because I owe a law of money. Yeah, emojis
are out pretty much across the board. Oh good, And
that's the United States. And you're like, well, it's kind
of strict if you do think that, that's kind of strict,
(04:54):
But around the world it can be even stricter. Like
they're like, Portugal is very strict. Not only do they
have some serious naming laws, there's a list of approved
names that you have to select from. I think Iceland
and Denmark also have similar lists. And in Portugal it
has to be what they consider gender appropriate and still
(05:16):
and they will kick your door down if you try
anything different.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Yeah, Portugal is hardcore about naming.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Maybe we should take a break and we'll talk a
little bit more about naming that baby right for this,
(05:47):
all right, So in the United States, when a birth happens,
the parents are legally obligated at some point in time
to register that birth with a government entity Vital Records
(06:10):
Department or Department of Health and Human Services, something like that.
And every country has a version of something like that,
and on that form you got to fill out the name,
but it depends on what state you're in as far
as like how long you have to decide that it does.
You don't have to name your baby before you leave
the hospital.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
No, that's a pretty a pretty common misconception, at least
according to Kristen Conger, who hats off wrote this one
originally from.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Here, Yeah it works, former colleague Kristen Conger and host
and founder of Unlady Like a great podcast.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
That's right. So Conquer points something out that I thought
was pretty smart that if you do leave the hospital
when you're baby unnamed, because it's going to be a
lot of pressure.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Yeah, if you don't have it done beforehand, you don't
want to just be thinking of it like right after
you give birth.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Yeah, yes, exactly, especially if you weren't aware you're pregnant
and this was a surprise birth. You need a little time, right. Yeah,
the hospital is still going to be like, we need
to be able to keep up with that baby so
that baby goes home with you, Right, So they might
name it something like baby Girl Smith if your name
is Jane Smith. But there was a study that was conducted,
(07:16):
probably the most obvious study I've ever heard, that was
like if you actually use something a little more specific,
like say this is Jane Smith's daughter. Uh, you would
name it Jane's girl Smith. Yeah, you're probably going to
have fewer mix ups at the hospital, which is just
alarming that anybody even needs to study that because that
even happens.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Yeah, for sure, if you do wait and you haven't
decided in the hospital and then you decide, like let's
say the state you live in, let's you like, wait
a few months or whatever. It depends on that state
again on the procedure for adding that in, Like in California,
as the one Kristen mentions, you have to fill out
a supplemental name report with the health department and fill
that in and say all right, now we have our
(07:57):
baby's name, and they're like, great, now you can get
your birth certificate.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Yeah, what do you think. Do you think it's a
good name. It's a pretty good name.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Pretty good name. And I think you have a year
in California, So again it varies.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Yes, I did not realize this, but the United Nations
has a pretty stern stance on kids' names. In particular,
in the Convention on the Rights of a Child, they
said that all children have a right from birth to
a name. There's an asterisk next to that they said,
if you ever find yourself in a highly stressful bird
(08:31):
box type situation, you can just name your kid boy
or girl. But other than that, that kid deserves a name.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
I didn't see that. That was the Sandra Bullock thing
that it's excellent, I call the world during COVID.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Right, Yes, it's really good.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Okay, I haven't seen it.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
You should check it out, all right, I'll dust that
one off. Yes, so, Chuck, let's move on to a
little extra what we call a lane yap if we
wanted to sound really obnoxious on middle.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Names, Yeah, middle names haven't always been a thing. I
think the modern idea of a middle name started in
the Middle Ages, it seems like, but it was pretty
specific back then. They would just give the first name
on you know, whatever they wanted to personalize it. But
then the middle name would be a saints name and
then a surname. But then that eventually fell out of
(09:24):
favor over time to where non religious middle names became
a thing.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Yeah, a lot of times it was the mother's maiden name,
the family name. It could just be like the parents
were like I really like McGillicutty, so that your middle name. Yeah,
and it just kind of picked up by I think
World War One was the first time where the US
government at least officially recognized the existence of middle names,
(09:48):
when the enlistment forms for the military asked for a
middle name. Yeah, and within I don't know a couple
of decades, a handful of decades has computers started to
be used for documentation of individuals, like tracking people, big
brother type stuff. They were programmed for three names, first, middle, last,
(10:11):
and what would happen Chuck if you did not have
a middle name.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
If you don't enter that, they would insert n M
I no middle initial because not everyone has a middle name,
and some people have many. I know that. My friend
Justin from England, he is one. He has three two
(10:37):
middle names, so something three names than a surname. No,
it's just I think it's more common in the UK
to do something like that. So he's Justin Neil Alexander Stewart,
so two middle names, one first name and his surname
very nice and his social Security number.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Is you got anything else?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
I got nothing else?
Speaker 1 (10:58):
I don't either, I guess I'm mean short. Stuff is out.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Stuff you Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For
more podcasts, My heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh, and
there's Chuck, and Jerry's here too. Set in the tempo,
and this is stuff you should know, short stuff.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
That's right. I guess you could have said there's and
and there's.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
I wish I had now, maybe we should retake the
whole thing.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Nah, a dumb joke, because what we're talking about is naming,
and specifically sort of like the rules and laws about
naming somebody and having a name and if you need
a name legally.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
This is so in our wheelhouse. Man, we've been talking
about this stuff since basically day one of stuff you
should know.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, this seemed familiar enough to where I thought we
might have done it.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
No, we haven't done this particularly, but we've talked about
I think in some of like our videos, maybe about
people who gave their kids weird names, like I will
never forget, Yeah Detroit, you remember.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I forgot about that?
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Yeah, But we're talking about today is which by the way, Yes,
somebody tried to name their kid yeah Detroit, right, one
word and there might have been an exclamation point. I
don't remember. You gotta have one the best name, or
at least a tempted name I've ever.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Heard, or maybe an in terror bang.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yeah. Yeah, So we're talking about something a little more
specific today, though. We're talking about can you live without
a name? Is it? Is it something you could possibly do?
And the short answer is no. The bigger answer is
even more interesting than just being cold.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Now. Yeah, I mean, it's not illegal to not have
a name, but try getting through life without a name.
It's going to be a big pain. So like, get
here you yeah, get it, getting a job, getting a
driver's license, just almost anything that you do these days
might require some form of identification, and if you don't
have a name, it's going to make it challenging.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Yeah, I mean, like you just could not make it
through life, at least in the United States and most
other countries, probably just about any country because you just
like no one can say you're you. That's how we you,
that's how we do it. That's the first way we
do it is with a name. I think when you're named,
even before you're named, even before you get your Social
(02:11):
Security number, you have your name. That's how you're identified.
That's how they keep up with you. Who's who at
the hospital?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Even Yeah, you can change your name, and you know,
depending on your state, there's different ways you can go
about that. You can you can just start using a
different name, and even without making it like the official
legal way like on formal documents. Even Emily changed her
spelling of her name and it was just unofficial for
(02:38):
many many years until she finally had it officially changed,
which is interesting.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Yeah, she went from whye to ie.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
I always loved the i e on the end of
her name. I thought that was nice touch. I didn't
realize it was her own choosing.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
So like a teenager thing.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
She keeps getting better and better, you know.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I think so too. Well, she's in her fifties.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
So there are some rules. I should say not everybody
has rules. Usually in the United States, at least, the
laws about what you can or can't name your kid are.
It's by the states, and there's at least a dozen
states that don't have any laws. They're basically like, you
can name your kid whatever you want, okay, but plenty
(03:19):
of other states do have laws. One of the big
ones that you'll find not just among the states that
have laws about what you can name your kid, but
also internationally, is that you can't name your kid in number,
although there is a workaround. You could spell out that,
yeahber So you can't do the number three, but you
could name your kid phr ee.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Right, Or you could name your kid plan nine, but
you'd have to spell out nine.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yes, would you do it all? One word or two words?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Plan nine? Bryant, I think that'd be pretty fun. Is
one word?
Speaker 1 (03:52):
That's a great name, man? Yeah? What else you can't use?
Vulgar words?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, extent? It can't be Jesus Christ or what Adolf
Hitler's on the list too, right.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yep, same with Santa Claus in some places. Nutella is
another one.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Yeah, that's it?
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Is it nutella? I always say nutella.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
I've always sad nutella, but it probably is nutella.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
I don't know who used to say who's right? In
this topsy turvy world.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Any kind of racial slur you can't use? Or if
it's a name like intentionally used to like commit fraud,
like to get out of a debt or something like that,
you can't change your name for that reason.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
But I mean, would you be dumb enough to go
and change your name and tell like the probably not
the people at the vital records, Like yeah, I'm doing
this because I owe a law of money. Yeah, emojis
are out pretty much across the board. Oh good, And
that's the United States. And you're like, well, it's kind
of strict if you do think that, that's kind of strict,
(04:54):
But around the world it can be even stricter. Like
they're like, Portugal is very strict. Not only do they
have some serious naming laws, there's a list of approved
names that you have to select from. I think Iceland
and Denmark also have similar lists. And in Portugal it
has to be what they consider gender appropriate and still
(05:16):
and they will kick your door down if you try
anything different.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Yeah, Portugal is hardcore about naming.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Maybe we should take a break and we'll talk a
little bit more about naming that baby right for this,
(05:47):
all right, So in the United States, when a birth happens,
the parents are legally obligated at some point in time
to register that birth with a government entity Vital Records
(06:10):
Department or Department of Health and Human Services, something like that.
And every country has a version of something like that,
and on that form you got to fill out the name,
but it depends on what state you're in as far
as like how long you have to decide that it does.
You don't have to name your baby before you leave
the hospital.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
No, that's a pretty a pretty common misconception, at least
according to Kristen Conger, who hats off wrote this one
originally from.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Here, Yeah it works, former colleague Kristen Conger and host
and founder of Unlady Like a great podcast.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
That's right. So Conquer points something out that I thought
was pretty smart that if you do leave the hospital
when you're baby unnamed, because it's going to be a
lot of pressure.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Yeah, if you don't have it done beforehand, you don't
want to just be thinking of it like right after
you give birth.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Yeah, yes, exactly, especially if you weren't aware you're pregnant
and this was a surprise birth. You need a little time, right. Yeah,
the hospital is still going to be like, we need
to be able to keep up with that baby so
that baby goes home with you, Right, So they might
name it something like baby Girl Smith if your name
is Jane Smith. But there was a study that was conducted,
(07:16):
probably the most obvious study I've ever heard, that was
like if you actually use something a little more specific,
like say this is Jane Smith's daughter. Uh, you would
name it Jane's girl Smith. Yeah, you're probably going to
have fewer mix ups at the hospital, which is just
alarming that anybody even needs to study that because that
even happens.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Yeah, for sure, if you do wait and you haven't
decided in the hospital and then you decide, like let's
say the state you live in, let's you like, wait
a few months or whatever. It depends on that state
again on the procedure for adding that in, Like in California,
as the one Kristen mentions, you have to fill out
a supplemental name report with the health department and fill
that in and say all right, now we have our
(07:57):
baby's name, and they're like, great, now you can get
your birth certificate.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Yeah, what do you think. Do you think it's a
good name. It's a pretty good name.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Pretty good name. And I think you have a year
in California, So again it varies.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Yes, I did not realize this, but the United Nations
has a pretty stern stance on kids' names. In particular,
in the Convention on the Rights of a Child, they
said that all children have a right from birth to
a name. There's an asterisk next to that they said,
if you ever find yourself in a highly stressful bird
(08:31):
box type situation, you can just name your kid boy
or girl. But other than that, that kid deserves a name.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
I didn't see that. That was the Sandra Bullock thing
that it's excellent, I call the world during COVID.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Right, Yes, it's really good.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Okay, I haven't seen it.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
You should check it out, all right, I'll dust that
one off. Yes, so, Chuck, let's move on to a
little extra what we call a lane yap if we
wanted to sound really obnoxious on middle.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Names, Yeah, middle names haven't always been a thing. I
think the modern idea of a middle name started in
the Middle Ages, it seems like, but it was pretty
specific back then. They would just give the first name
on you know, whatever they wanted to personalize it. But
then the middle name would be a saints name and
then a surname. But then that eventually fell out of
(09:24):
favor over time to where non religious middle names became
a thing.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Yeah, a lot of times it was the mother's maiden name,
the family name. It could just be like the parents
were like I really like McGillicutty, so that your middle name. Yeah,
and it just kind of picked up by I think
World War One was the first time where the US
government at least officially recognized the existence of middle names,
(09:48):
when the enlistment forms for the military asked for a
middle name. Yeah, and within I don't know a couple
of decades, a handful of decades has computers started to
be used for documentation of individuals, like tracking people, big
brother type stuff. They were programmed for three names, first, middle, last,
(10:11):
and what would happen Chuck if you did not have
a middle name.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
If you don't enter that, they would insert n M
I no middle initial because not everyone has a middle name,
and some people have many. I know that. My friend
Justin from England, he is one. He has three two
(10:37):
middle names, so something three names than a surname. No,
it's just I think it's more common in the UK
to do something like that. So he's Justin Neil Alexander Stewart,
so two middle names, one first name and his surname
very nice and his social Security number.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Is you got anything else?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
I got nothing else?
Speaker 1 (10:58):
I don't either, I guess I'm mean short. Stuff is out.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Stuff you Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For
more podcasts, My heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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