Court bans cartoon character name for child
A couple who wanted to name their son after a popular French cartoon character have been told they cannot, in the interests of the child.
When the couple told officials they wanted to register their newborn son's name as "Titeuf", the registrar informed authorities who took the matter up in court.
"Titeuf" is the name of a popular cartoon character with a distinctive blond hairstyle.
The cheeky character, who is usually seen getting into trouble with his friends, was created in the early 1990s by the cartoonist Zep and became one of France's most popular comics, selling over 1.8 million copies a year.
Regional newspaper Ouest France reported that judges described the cartoon character as "a sympathetic caricature designed to make people laugh on the grounds of his naivety and the ridiculous situations he finds himself in."
As a result, giving this name to a child would "attract mockery" and could risk "constituting a real handicap for a child becoming an adolescent and then an adult, as well as his personal and professional relationships."
The child has been given the more sober name of Grégory in the meantime.
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