By NICHOLAS KULISH Published: New York Times May 5, 2009
BERLIN - Germany is renowned for fighting inflation, but the battle extends beyond money and into the realm of names. In a split decision on Tuesday, the German Constitutional Court upheld a ban on married people combining already-hyphenated names, forbidding last names of three parts or more.
It was not the first time the court was forced to weigh in on the subject of names, which are regulated start to finish, fore to family, here in Germany. This time, it was a Munich couple who decided to challenge the constitutionality of a 1993 rule limiting the names of married people to a single hyphen and two last names.
Frieda Rosemarie Thalheim, a Munich dentist, wanted to take the last name of her husband, Hans Peter Kunz-Hallstein, to become Frieda Rosemarie Thalheim-Kunz-Hallstein. The case brought Germany's minister of justice before the court in Karlsruhe for oral arguments in February to defend the ban on what the Germans call "chain names."
By a vote of five to three, the court refused to budge, ruling that ballooning names "would quickly lose the effectiveness of their identifying purpose," and declined to overturn the law on the grounds that it infringed on personal expression.
In a telephone interview, the couple's lawyer, Rudiger Zuck, said his clients had no comment on the ruling, but added, with what sounded distinctly like a note of resignation, "The Germans are old-fashioned."
Germany takes a highly regimented approach to naming. Children's names must be approved by local authorities, and there is a reference work, the International Handbook of Forenames, to guide them. Jurgen Udolph, a University of Leipzig professor and head of the information center there that provides certificates of approval for names that have not yet made the official list, said that "the state has a responsibility to protect people from idiotic forenames."
That responsibility is often tested in court. In 2003, an appellate court ruled that a boy could not be named "Anderson," because it was a last name in Germany. And the Constitutional Court ruled in 2004 to limit the number of forenames a child could have, capping at five the number a mother could give her son, to whom she had tried to bequeath the 12-part "Chenekwahow Tecumseh Migiskau Kioma Ernesto Inti Prithibi Pathar Chajara Majim Henriko Alessandro," to protect the child.
Germany's economy minister found professional success despite bearing the lengthy name Karl-Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg, a name as aristocratic as it is long. Although, when he was appointed to the job, a practical joker sneaked the name "Wilhelm" into his Wikipedia entry for good measure, an error that promptly spread to numerous media reports, including one on the front page of Bild, the country's largest newspaper.
Lawyers for B. Madoff of Manhattan were in federal court on Thursday asking a panel of judges to spring him from jail while he awaits sentencing for his crimes. The judges did not rule right away. But B. Madoff of Manhattan hopes that they say no.
There is no contradiction here.
B. Madoff with the lawyers is, as you may have guessed, Bernard L. Madoff, the Ponzi schemer. The other B. Madoff produces commercials and documentaries. He is listed in the Manhattan phone book as B. Jeffrey Madoff. The B stands for Ben.
This B. Madoff is no relation to the master swindler. He pronounces his name differently. His is MAD-off. The other guy is MADE-off, a pronunciation that has led to obvious one-liners too numerous to count.
For months, B. Jeffrey Madoff has received phone calls, dozens and dozens of them, from people who saw the listing for him in the Manhattan directory, figured that he might be the infamous Bernard and decided to tell him off. The calls, Mr. Madoff said, have come "at all hours of the day and night," generally from "people who were either upset or unhinged or both."
"I got a package at my office, which I returned to the post office because it was addressed to Bernard Madoff, with no return address and a label that looked like a kidnap note," he said. He never opened it. What were the odds on it being something good?
With Bernard Madoff behind bars since he pleaded guilty last week to running a vast swindle, the angry calls have been less frequent. Let the man stay in jail, Ben Madoff said. To him, it is a matter of justice.
But it is also likely that if Bernard were allowed to go back to his East Side penthouse, the crank callers might return in droves. Rationality is not a guiding force with some of those people. The other day, Ben Madoff's phone rang at 4:30 in the morning. "I'd hope that if you're angry enough at him to want place a call," he said, "you might follow the news closely enough to realize that he's at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, not on the Upper West Side."
"A surprising number of callers are wounded victims who were just at a loss," he said. "I feel for them." But others are "hateful." They include some who have used the scandal as "a camouflaged opportunity" to spew anti-Semitic venom, he said.
Last week, he took a call from a woman in Illinois. "She said, ‘Are you Bernard Madoff?' " Ben Madoff said. "I said: ‘No, I'm not. You have the wrong number.' And she said, ‘Are you a Jew, too?' " He hung up.
These are probably not the best of times for anyone named Madoff, even those who do not share a first initial with the crook. Most Madoffs whom we contacted in and around the city were reluctant to talk, or did not respond to messages left for them. One woman had a friend call us back to make sure that she would not be mentioned.
It has to be a burden to bear a name that has become so thoroughly reviled. But Charles Ponzi could assure the various Madoffs that time lives up to its reputation as a healer.
Mr. Ponzi, 65, is a retired businessman living in Watervliet, N.Y., near Albany. He has the same name as, but is not related to, the con man, who died in 1949. When he was younger, Mr. Ponzi said by phone, people often asked if he was connected to the swindler. "Then it went into a lull," he said. "Until this idiot."
That would be Bernard Madoff.
Not that the association with infamy has been all bad for Ben Madoff. Three weeks ago, he wrote about the name confusion for The Huffington Post. That article produced dozens of reader comments, and led to an invitation to submit more articles on other subjects. "It's imposed a writing discipline that I never really imposed on myself before," he said. That's a plus.
ON the negative side, he could live without law firm ads - like one running under the headline "Madoff Ponzi Victim?" - that pop up when you do a Google search for his company, Madoff Productions. And though he is 60 and could not be mistaken in any way for the 70-year-old Bernard Madoff, he is skittish enough to have asked not to be photographed. Similarly, he rejected a TV network's request for an on-camera interview.
Above all, he cannot abide by suggestions made to him that he change his name.
"He's not going to take my name away," this B. Madoff said of the other. "That would just add to the things he's stolen. I would not let him get away with that."
Virginia, Nov.28 (ANI): These days, if you carry the surname Obama, you can get away with anything.
Ask Nicanor Obama. 28-year-old Nicanor recently found the effectiveness of being identified with US President-elect Barack Obama. The District Police hauled him up for speeding near the Verizon Center.
But on seeing his driver's license, the officer put the citation book away, and said: 'Well, I'm going to let you go because you have the Obama name' .
Since Election Day, his moniker has sparked goodwill, from nightclub freebies to hearty handshakes from fellow students at the University of the District of Columbia, where he studies political science.
I'm not related to the president, but I think Obama is a good name to have right now, Nicanor said of his famous last name.
I signed up for a Harris Teeter card the other day, and the woman was, like, Obama?, said Denise Maye Obama, 19, of Alexandria.
She said: 'That's a first. Are you related to the president?' Everyone asks if I'm related to the president now. One of these times I'm going to say yes, just for the fun of it, added Denise, a recent graduate of T.C. Williams High School and a freshman at the University of Virginia.
According to Francisca Obama, a graduate student in Human Resources at Strayer University, no one forgets or botches her name any more.
If it's good to be an Obama, it's also exceedingly rare. According to databases, there might be fewer than 20 Obama families in the United States, compared with more than 11,000 Clintons and 60,000 Bushes.
Whitepages.com shows more than 70 Obama listings, but many of those are clunky fakes, including the entry for Hillary C. Obama of Cleveland.
Sharing a presidential name can bring small blessings, according to others who have seen their names rise to the highest office in the land.
People will remember your name, that's for sure, said Jackie Nixon, a research director at National Public Radio. (ANI)
Your famous name can get you on NBC's Deal Or No Deal !!
The world's most famous game show is searching for people with famous names for the new syndicated version of the show.
If you've got a name like George Bush, Tom Cruz, Meg Ryan, or an equally famous and recognizable name, you've automatically got a shot to audition to be a contestant. The syndicated DOND is a 1/2 hour version of the show with a top prize of $500,000 and is still hosted by Howie Mandel. Auditions are being held in Culver City starting as soon as Friday, May 30th. We will be seeing people over the next couple weeks. If you're interested in auditioning for the show, AND LIVE NEAR THE LOS ANGELES AREA, please send your name, age, occupation, a brief description of yourself, a phone number, and a recent photo to :
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We are specifically looking for people within a 2-3 hour drive from Los Angeles, as there is no travel budget for this show.
Thanks, and we look forward to seeing you soon.
--
Michael Yates
Casting Associate
Deal or No Deal
:mailto:
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Names That Match Forge a Bond on the Internet
By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM
Published: New York Times April 10, 2008
From time to time Sam Blackman, a pediatric oncologist in Philadelphia, checks up on people other than patients. Namely, other Sam Blackmans. Skip to next paragraph No stethoscope is needed to take the pulse of his namesakes, though just a Google search. And while he has never met the men he refers to as Sam 2.0 and Sam 3.0, when one of those other Sam Blackmans posted a photograph of his wife on the Internet, Dr. Blackman, 39, couldn't help but feel a twinge of pleasure.
"I'm like 'Oh! Sam Blackman got married," he said. "I felt like I should send a card or check his registry on Amazon."........
