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Common sense or censorship? These 10 baby names have been banned in the United States.

You might really love Christmas, but that doesn't mean you can name your kid 'Santa Claus.'

via Canva/Photos

A crying baby.

Naming a baby is a difficult decision, and it doesn't get any easier when the names you might like are "off limits" for any number of reasons. 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 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's history. 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 in 1984. 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.

@, at, symbol, address, names, banned The "@" symbol.via Canva/Photos

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.

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, banned names, christmas, saint nick Santa Claus Christmas GIF by benniesolo Giphy

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. It has been updated.

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Her AncestryDNA test had a powerful impact on her, so she asked others to take one, too.

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"I never really understood what it meant to be Peruvian as a child," says Connie Chavez.

Chavez is a self-taught videographer who works at Latina magazine in New York. Growing up in New York, she didn't really have an opportunity to be around other Peruvian people. Her friends dismissed her background, assuming it was the same as any other Latino culture.

"Nobody understood what Peru was," she says. "It made me really feel bad."

Now that she's older, Chavez has had the opportunity to learn about the rich, unique culture that she is a part of. "I'm Peruvian, and I'm proud," she says. Her parents taught her about the history and culture of their Incan ancestors, and that’s what led her to eventually embrace her heritage. "Because of that knowledge, I feel powerful," she says.

Learning about her background boosted Chavez's confidence in who she is — and it made her want to get others involved. Watch her story below:

It wasn't just as a kid that Chavez faced misunderstandings and mischaracterizations of her culture.

During the 2016 election season, Chavez found herself on the receiving end of xenophobic and racist comments.

"It was last August, and I was feeling really low because I was hearing a lot of xenophobic things, racialized remarks towards me," says Chavez.  

She found herself wondering what she could do to start a more productive dialogue around race and culture. Inspired by activist Carmen Perez and her goal of starting "courageous conversations," Chavez wanted to start some courageous conversations of her own.

"It is really hard to talk about race. It's really difficult," she says. "People feel uneasy, but that feeling is what creates progress."

Chavez decided to take an AncestryDNA test as a starting point for these conversations.

As she puts it: "Are you 100% everything? No, you're not, and there's no such thing as a superior race because, essentially, we all have DNA from the entire world."

Chavez's test revealed that she's 59% Native American, 27% European, 2% African, and 3% West Asian.

"After seeing my Ancestry results, I got to admit, I felt really powerful," she says. "I truly felt like a global citizen. It just affirmed what I always believed in, and it really gave me the confidence to reclaim certain parts of myself."

Chavez wanted to share the empowerment she felt with others, so she persuaded her coworkers at Latina to take AncestryDNA tests too.

Chavez worked with AncestryDNA to procure tests for her coworkers, and then the women got together at work to discuss their results. They broadcast the conversation in a Facebook Live video.

Many of Chavez's coworkers felt empowered by their results too.

"I would definitely say I feel a lot more confident in who I am, knowing where I come from," says Barbara Gonzalez, a former staff writer at Latina.

It's not always an easy process; sometimes seeing the results can be emotional and even scary. Chavez says, "It is a deeply profound, sentimental issue for some people, and I understand it. This is a big thing."

But, she says, it's worth it. "It's a beautiful thing to find out who you are."

Latina staffers discussed their results in a Facebook Live video.

Chavez's project demonstrates how learning about your ancestry isn't just about the past — it can also help shape the future.

With the help of her coworkers, Chavez used her AncestryDNA results to spark important conversations about race and culture. And she's inspiring others to do the same.

After the Facebook Live broadcast, she says she received numerous emails from people thanking her.

"When I started seeing the responses and the happiness behind every response," says Chavez, "I felt compelled to just continue the work that I'm doing."

"I never really thought of myself as a pioneer for  anything, but really, starting this project really made me feel like I had a purpose here."

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How a pet project about cooking turned into a moving tribute to grandmothers everywhere.

What we can learn from our ancestors about ourselves is invaluable.

Jonas Pariente's grandmother, Mémé, passed away shortly before his 30th birthday.

Mémé was born in Poland in 1916. His other grandmother, Nano, was born in Egypt in 1933.

When Jonas was 23, he began filming both of his grandmothers in the kitchen as a way to learn more about his roots and identity through the signature dishes they cooked and the stories they shared.

Nano and Mémé. Image from Jonas Pariente, used with permission.

Our ancestors have invaluable lessons and history to pass on to younger generations — after all, who knows more about where we came from than they do?

Mémé's death inspired Jonas to create a collaborative video series he called the Grandmas Project.

The Grandmas Project is a web series through which people around the world are invited to share their grandmothers' stories through their recipes. With his own grandmothers, Jonas discovered that food was a great entry point to conversations about their childhoods, their immigration journeys, and other things they had never talked about.

Food was how Jonas learned to appreciate the time he spent with his grandmothers, and the series of videos produced for the Grandmas Project is a beautiful way to honor the bonds and memories we share with our grandmothers with the rest of the world.

Nano cooking. Image by Jonas Pariente, used with permission.

The Grandmas Project is about so much more than just food, though. It's about preserving history.

For Jonas, the idea of collecting, celebrating, and sharing our grandmothers' recipes isn't just a way to keep the food alive — it's a way to preserve our heritage through those recipes as they're passed from generation to generation.

Some of the best moments of his life were ones spent visiting Mémé and Nano on his own, Jonas tells Upworthy, though he cautions that those moments can be fleeting if we don't take the time to appreciate them.

"Sometimes we hesitate or find excuses not to call or visit our grandparents. It sucks because these moments can't be replaced and can turn out to be magical," Jonas says.

Nano and Jonas. Image by Jonas Pariente, used with permission.

Jonas' story is a perfect example of the wonderful things that can come about when we pump the brakes on our hectic lives and take the time to call or visit our grandparents.

The amazing response to the Grandmas Project shows just how many people feel the same about their own grandmothers.

Jonas' Kickstarter campaign to create 30 short films with 30 recipes was successfully funded in May 2015. Over $21,000 was raised in 30 days. The project received video submissions from every continent — over 100 in total, Jonas says. Four films have been completed, and another 10 entries will soon be chosen to go into production after the summer.

In January 2016, the Grandmas Project received an award from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for its work “raising awareness among the general public to the intangible cultural heritage through digital means.”

Jonas says he's happy his project created a little spark that's encouraging people to spend more time with their grandmas.

"I'm very, very proud of that, and I believe it does people good."

Watch one of the videos from Jonas's "Grandmas Project" series:

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7 mouthwatering dishes that show the African origins of Southern soul food.

It's time for some Southern discomfort.

Michael Twitty is a southerner, a Jew, a cook, a gay black man, a TED fellow, a historian, and an all around cool dude.

I first discovered him in a Washington Post article about his work uncovering and illuminating the African-American origins of southern cooking.

OOooh!

He’s a man who spends his time trying to deeply understand, uncover, and then share the roots of the food he loves. And he goes to great lengths to do it — he once spent 16 hours picking cotton to get the experience of his ancestors.

Another time, he met with the white descendants of the family that once OWNED his ancestors to compare recipes of their families!

He writes about these experiences and more on his hugely popular blog, Afroculinaria.

Through food, Twitty sees a way to heal old American wounds.

Twitty is on a mission to bring attention and appreciation to the true roots of our favorite Southern dishes.

He calls it "culinary justice."

As he wrote in an open letter to Paula Deen (that later went viral):

"In the world of Southern food, we are lacking a diversity of voices and that does not just mean Black people — or Black perspectives! We are surrounded by culinary injustice where some Southerners take credit for things that enslaved Africans and their descendants played key roles in innovating. Barbecue, in my lifetime, may go the way of the Blues and the banjo... a relic of our culture that whisps away. "

As a semi-Southern white person, I've often looked at Southern food, culture, history and been like, "There's a lot more here that I don't know about."

Well, turns out there is!

Here are some of Twitty's favorite authentic dishes, all of which went on to have a huge influence on Southern soul food.

I dug through Twitty's Twitter account to find these gems. And now I am hungry. Join me.

1. Fried chicken and sweet potatoes

A true classic!

Many people see these dishes as classic Southern fare, but there's a LOT more to Southern culinary traditions, as you'll see below.

Here's a nod to the so-called classic, with a very authentic twist — prepared over open coals! #impressive.

2. Kush, aka the original cornbread stuffing

Twitty's recipe was featured in Vice magazine's Munchies:

“Kush was a cornbread scramble made from the basic elements of the antebellum ration system, which spread from the enslaved person’s quarters outward to the Big House and the kitchens of whites high and low.”

The kush above is prepared with quail. You can find the recipe for Twitty's kush here.

3. West African stew

Any Southern person has a special relationship with okra. Trust me.

Twitty (and this stew below) is no different. He prepares an authentic West African stew featuring the mythical okra, a tropical plant native to Africa.

Here's the recipe (with links to the tweets!):

  1. Heat the palm oil.
  2. Add the sweet potatoes.
  3. Add the onions and okra and fry over high heat.
  4. Add soaked salt fish and a few chopped tomatoes, maybe garlic.
  5. Add fresh greens and stir gently; salt to taste.
  6. Add red pepper and stew until vegetables are done and salt fish is flaked and hot.
  7. Watch out for bones. Eat stew with your favorite starch.

And if you're wondering what that fluffy mashed-potato-like substance is, it's...

4. Fufu

Twitty recently collaborated with Colonial Williamsburg to illuminate the culinary traditions of slaves during that time period. The dishes are nothing if not period appropriate at Colonial Williamsburg, and this highlight is just one of many that serves to bring the stories of American slaves into the light.

Fufu "is to Western and Central Africa cooking what mashed potatoes are to traditional European-American cooking."

Oh, and high-five for Colonial Williamsburg not shying away from acknowledging America's legacy of slavery!

5. Akara

Akara are black-eyed pea fritters!

Black-eyed peas, or Vigna unguiculata, are actually native to Asia and the Mediterranean, and they were first domesticated in West Africa.

6. Gullah Geechee winter greens and rice

As Twitty stated in a cooking video with ChefsFeed, "Gullah and Geechee were colloquial names for the Africans that were brought to the [American Southern coastal] area to grow rice"

The dish is essentially collard greens simmered in a homemade ginger-peanut butter-coconut milk. This recipe is vegan and gluten free, just FYI.

Feast your eyes.

I want to go there. You can learn more about the recipe by watching the video here. Image via ChefsFeed/YouTube.

And as for the plain and simple rice? Let's remember its origins.


7. Guinea yam fried in palm oil


The Igbo people are an ethnic group of Africans that still exist today. During the trans-Atlantic slave trade, though, many Igbo people were brought to the Chesapeake Bay and Maryland colonies, making that particular ethnic group the largest in the region.

So naturally it follows that these folks would've had a huge influence on the way food was prepared — bringing their own traditions and methods with them. Including dishes like this one.

To find the origins of these dishes, Michael Twitty sought out recipes not just from his family, but from the descendants of the family that once enslaved his ancestors.

And yes, he's related by blood to some of those descendants of slave owners, too. It's a whole mix of history and food, shame and love.

It's crazy to think about ... but so is America.

It's about time we recognized that the folks who profit off Southern food — like Paula Deen and Colonel Sanders — aren't necessarily the only ones who made it what it is today.

Michael Twitty's job isn't just to whip up fantastic looking dishes. It's to make sure everyone knows that Southern food has deeper roots in black American culture than we ever realized.

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