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Did you know that at least 10 baby names have been banned in the United States?

What happened to freedom of speech?

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A crying baby.

The names we give to our children can be very personal. They can reflect religious beliefs, family heritage, or have a special meaning attached to them, as in Grace, which means "divine favor," or Eli, which means "ascended." In the United States, people they are protected by the Constitution's First Amendment, freedom of speech, which allows us to name our babies whatever we like.

However, there have been some cases where the courts decided that a particular name is illegal, and, although it is infrequent, it has happened at least 10 times in the country. The most notable banned names are Misteri N-Word, King, Queen, Jesus Christ, III, Santa Claus, Majesty, Adolf Hitler, @, and 1069.

 court, court reporter, legal system, plaintiff, judge, baliff A court reporter taking notes.via Canva/Photos

Why are these 10 names banned in the United States?

III (Roman numerals pronounced “three”)

Thomas Boyd Ritchie III was known by many of his friends simply as III. So, he petitioned the court to have his name changed to Roman numerals. Sadly, a California court rejected the name change because it was a symbol and a number. It’s illegal for people to have numbers in their names because they can’t be entered into state name databases.

Misteri (N-word)

In the California Superior Court case Lee v. Superior Court (1992), Russell Lawrence Lee wanted to change his name to Misteri (N-word). Lee believed that the name could be used to conquer racial hatred. Unfortunately for Lee, the court denied his request, saying the name constituted “fighting words.”

@ (pronounced “at”)

The address symbol, or @, has been banned in multiple jurisdictions because, like a numeral, it cannot be input into state database records.

Jesus Christ

The name of the Christian lord and savior has been banned in several U.S. states based on claims of blasphemy and the possibility of confusion.

 jesus christ, heaven, god, divinity, holy trinity, religion Depiction of Jesus Christ in Heaven.via Canva/Photos

1069

In 1976, the North Dakota Supreme Court told high school teacher Michael Herbert Dengler that he could not change his name to “1069.” “The only way [my] identity can be expressed is 1069. The first character, 1, stands for my concept of nature which manifests itself as one individual among the various forms of life,” he noted. “I stand as a single entity amongst millions of other entities, animate and inanimate. But yet even though I am an entity unto myself, I am part of the whole of life which is one. I am one; life is one; and together we are one.”

He later moved to Minnesota and tried to change his name, but he was rejected again. Neither state allowed people to have numbers as their names.

Santa Claus

In December 1999, Robert William Handley of Ohio filed a petition to change his name to Santa Rob Claus, because he had played the Christmas character for the past 40 years, and was known as “Santa Rob” year-round. The court rejected his petition, saying it was “misleading to the children of the community.” Two years later, the Supreme Court of Utah allowed the name change.

 santa claus, santa rob, banned names, christmas, saint nick A photo of Santa Claus.via Canva/Photos

Majesty, King, Queen

In several states, naming your child after a royal title is illegal to avoid confusion with actual royalty. Does Queen Latifah know this?

Adolf Hitler

If you want to name your child Adolf Hitler, you can’t do it in Texas. After the atrocities he committed in the 1930s and ‘40s, his name has no place in the Lone Star State. However, you can be named Adolf Hitler in New Jersey. Back in 2009, there was a big hubbub when the father of Adolf Hitler Campbell wanted his child’s name written on a birthday cake, and the proprietor of the business refused.

This article originally appeared in May.

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People share the most embarrassing things they've ever said and the cringe is delightful

A psychologist explains why those moments stick in our minds.

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A photo ofJohnny Depp in 2020.

There's never a dearth of cringe when it comes to the embarrassing stories we all (or at least most of us) have. In sharing those stories, maybe we can't completely mend humanity, but it's nice to not feel so alone.

So, I'll start. I went to the premiere of the movie Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street on the Paramount lot many years ago. The film's star, Johnny Depp, was making the rounds with his publicist and they were almost to my tiny table. My breath got shallow, my eyes watered from anxiety. My boyfriend at the time told me to "chill"—which always helps a person chill. I did not chill. He said, "Just tell him you liked the movie." I thought, yes, that's what I'll say. But when we were finally face to face, I completely panicked. And instead of something appropriate like "How 'bout that Sondheim?" I said, and this is exact, "We're both wearing hats." He looked at me, gently, and agreed that yes, we were both wearing hats. I added, now feeling more at ease, "They are brown hats."

 Johnny Depp, brown hat, premiere, movie star, celebrity Johnny Depp at Pirates of the Caribbean event | Andy ...  www.flickr.com  

I couldn't make eye contact with my boyfriend the entire ride home.

There are so many online threads dedicated to embarrassing things people have said over the years. You know, the ones that stick in your mind, well…forever. In the r/AskReddit thread, someone simply posited, "What's the most embarrassing thing you've ever said or done?"

The replies range from adorable to downright high-alert awkwardness. Cutely, this person shares, "I once called my teacher 'dad' once."

Also in school, but less wholesome, this person had an oopsie in Home Economics. "In middle school cooking class we had to come up with the name of our fake restaurant in groups. We decided on the Chum Bucket from SpongeBob. I had to go type it in to be displayed on the giant screen—yep, I typed 'C-- Bucket' on accident. I don’t think I even knew what that word meant yet."

 spongebob, cartoons, happy dance, Nickelodeon, cringe GIF by SpongeBob SquarePants  Giphy Nickelodeon  

And since we're talking about school days, here's one more from my personal vault. In 9th grade, Brian, on whom I had the biggest crush, offered to walk me from World History to English—complete with carrying my bookbag, like it was the 1950s. I struggled to find anything to say, as I was so nervous, and finally, after wracking my brain, asked, "So what school do you go to?" I asked this of the guy carrying my books in the SCHOOL WE WENT TO.

A few other Redditors got racy with their confessions. "Let someone use my phone to look up something. Forgot the last thing I did was watch porn and that was the tab that was open." A Redditor responded to that with, "One time I forgot to close the tab, got in my car with my buddy, my phone auto-connected to Bluetooth... you see where I'm going with this."

And this one takes the spatula. "I accidentally spanked my fiancé in front of his mother." (It's later explained she didn't realize the mother was in the room.)

Now here's a sweet one that could happen to anyone. "Once, I was talking to someone I thought was a long-lost friend, and I went on about how much I missed them. Turns out, it was a complete stranger who just had the same name. I still think about how red my face was when I realized."

 hugging, friendship, awkward, cringe, gif Two people embrace in an awkward hug   Giphy  

Psychologist David J. Hallford explains in his Psychology Today article "Why Do I Remember Embarrassing Things I've Done... and why do I feel ashamed all over again?" that these thoughts and feelings are common. "We’ve all done it—you’re walking around going about your business and suddenly you’re thinking about that time in high school you said something really stupid you would never say now."

But digging into why these memories pop up is rather interesting. "Memories might share a type of context (different beaches you’ve been to, restaurants you’ve eaten at), occur at similar periods of life (childhood, high school years), or have emotional and thematic overlap (times we have felt close to or argued with others)." In other words, as our brains were developing, synapses connected and emotions ran high. That explains why so many "embarrassing" memories seem to come from our younger years.

That, and well, wearing a hat with Johnny Depp.

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Husband wakes up wife to pretend they're mid-Uno game and her reaction is adorable

"Waking up to a 'draw 4' is diabolical"

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A husband pranks his wife with an Uno game.

When Kaleonahe Curry Puller went to sleep one night, she probably looked forward to getting good rest and, hopefully, pleasant dreams. What she didn't expect was to be jarred awake by her husband gently putting Uno cards in her sleeping hand while nudging, "Babe. Babe. It's your turn."

On the very popular TikTok account @kaleonahe_asantya, husband and wife team Bryan and Kaleonahe post hilarious and wholesome "couples" videos. In many of them, they prank one another, which, according to an article from the Cleveland Clinic, is healthy for a relationship. They share psychologist Susan Albers's view: “A good laugh can reduce our stress level, increase our immune response and, some studies suggest, help us to live longer."

On this particular day, Bryan thought a good old-fashioned sleeping prank was the way to go. On the viral clip, a chyron reads, "I woke up my wife in the middle of the night and made her think we were playing Uno" on the bottom as Bryan sneaks the card into her hand. She ever-so-slightly stirs with a "Hmmm?" to which Bryan says, "It's your turn, draw four."

@kaleonahe_asantya

I was getting that “GOOD” sleep‼️ #funny #funnyvideos #family #prank #foryou #foryoupage #explore #explorepage #viral #trending #followers➕ #humor #hilariousvideos #laughter

She groggily looks at her cards and questions with a quiet, "Huh?" He repeats, "Draw 4, babe." And then asks, "How you gonna turn over and fall asleep in the middle of a game, babe? C'mon."

She rubs her eyes and earnestly asks, "Draw four, what?" and is met with his laughter. Again he says, "It's your turn! Babe." She then looks at her cards and rolls over to scan the deck. He continues to rib her, saying, "Babe." She's now awake enough to say what we're all thinking: "What? Stop saying babe."

He stays in the bit and replies, "Well, you're just sitting there! Draw four. I put down a four, you've gotta draw four cards." And here's the best part: Kaleonahe actually begins fanning out her cards and retorts, "I'm seeing if I have one," (meaning a four, so she doesn't have to draw four cards.)

 uno, card games, reverse card, playing games, prank An alien presents an Uno Reverse card.  Giphy GIF by Quirkies 

He tells her she doesn't, and she looks up with suspicion. "You already looked at my cards?" He denies this, but she understandably asks, "When were we playing Uno?" She then dutifully draws four cards. He immediately puts down a green card. She's full-on playing now, and it's simply so cute how agreeable she is, even half-asleep. She looks through her cards and changes the color to blue. He then tells her to "draw two," and now she's awake. She looks at his card and back at her deck, with one hand on her weary head.

She asks one last time, "When were we playing this?" He never breaks character, and it's a sight to see.

At over 3.5 million likes, the tens of thousands of TikTok comments are as delightful as the prank itself. One person notes, "You could have at least given her a good hand." Someone else suggests he "do 'Go Fish' tomorrow night."

Lots of people notice how strong the relationship seems and what a good sport she is. "Women are such team players in relationships! Sleepy and all allowed her boo to disturb the peace for Uno — too cute!"

   Kaleonahe Curry Puller and her husband Bryan prank each other.   www.youtube.com  

The clip is making the rounds again on Insta Reels and YouTube, thanks to Kaleonahe's reminder that it got over 30 million views on TikTok. One Instagrammer claims they might have handled things differently: "The way she turned over and played is real love because the amount of not-so-nice words that would have come out of my mouth from being woken up from a dead snoring sleep."

Someone else jokes, "This is the meanest thing I've ever laughed at."


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5 generations competed to see who’s the funniest. Gen X won and some Boomers have complaints.

"Every generation thinks they are the funniest. They're all wrong."

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A comedian sits on a stool and tells jokes.

Before anyone gets offended, of course there are hilarious people of every age in every generation. That's just a fact. But a lot of people are biased in believing that their generation—from Alpha to Boomers—are definitively the funniest. The popular longtime web series Good Mythical Morning decided to put it to the test by bringing a comedian from every generation to participate in a game show. A "joke-off," if you will.

  - YouTube  www.youtube.com  

Hosts Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal welcome their guests, calling it the "laugh clash zone," and they immediately get to business. First we meet Adley Jones, representing Generation Alpha (born between 2010–2024). Next up is Teig, who announces he's Gen Z (b. 1997–2010). Then we have Jared Kassebaum in for the millennials (born 1981–1996). Next down the line is Amanda Cohen, who is Gen X (1965–1980). And last, but far from least, is Michael J. Carmichael, the baby boomer (1946–1964).

The way the game works is all of the comedians are given a topic of which they must write and tell a joke. It's a little more complicated, but for the purposes of "which gen wins joke contest"—we'll leave it at that. There's a small judging panel and a tiny studio audience, who mostly (frankly) seem bored, despite all of the comedians being adorably eager and funny. The topics the hosts can choose from are: AI, Trader Joe's, Disney adults, PDA, Cybertrucks, and "a wildcard joke."

 comedy, laughing, audience, funny, gen People in an audience laugh.   Giphy GEICO 

Rhett is asked to choose the first topic, because of course, "he's taller." He chooses Trader Joe's. The comics deliver their best "What's the deal with Trader Joe's?" material, and while they all offer some interesting points of view, it's decided that the audience and judges responded most favorably to the millennial. (He tells a fun joke about Trader Joe's requiring their employees to have dainty tattoos.)

But there's much more to come. Three more rounds, and the comedians start loosening up. Gen Alpha takes the AI round with her "incel" joke, while Gen X strongly wins in the Cybertruck category by spelling out the word d-bag. Lastly, the hosts choose "wildcard" for the final round, wherein the comedians can choose whatever material they want. Everyone brings their A-game, but "based on the loudest laughs in the room," Gen X takes it again. (Personally, I was partial to the Gen Z-er, but to each their own!)

@dailymail

Which GENERATION has the best humor?! #generationz #genalpha #millennial #newyork #nyc #interview #timessquarenyc

The comment section perfectly exemplifies how it's fun to support ALL generations in the name of comedy. One person notes of the Gen X-er, "Amanda was the best come-from-behind I've ever seen. I liked Teig and Jared a lot more at first but she ended up slaying me in the later rounds."

Another commenter points out how tough the crowd was, especially the young girl in the front. "It took Pokémon twerking to get that lil girl in the crowd to laugh."

Some admit that what they found the most humorous doesn't fit with their gen. "I'm 22 years old and realize I have boomer humor." Another confesses, "The incel joke was so unexpected I spit coffee onto my work monitor. That little girl wins the whole episode!" (Let's hope their work monitor didn't explode.)

In over one thousand comments, every single comic got lots of love and support, but Boomer Michael J. might just have gotten the most. "Michael J was robbed!! So underrated, he deserves more love than this!!"

  - YouTube  www.youtube.com  

Of course, this is only one small group of comedians on one small day. For a larger sample size with more famous comedians, Netflix Is a Joke compiled their own "who said it better" montage. Safe to say they all brought their respective houses down. Bo Burnham, Mark Normand, Ronny Chieng, Christina P, Patton Oswalt, Nate Bargatze, Jordan Rock, Mae Martin, Iliza Shlesinger, Michelle Wolf, Tim Dillon, and Jo Koy all give their insight on generational humor—and it's top-notch.


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