"Thank God, it's Gregory" just doesn't have the same ring to it

So I found this online this morning. This Italian couple wanted to name their son Friday, but a court ordered it changed.

Really? Friday is that heinous?

Read on. This is actually pretty funny to me. But then I live in a country full of Dakotas and Rumers and Widgets. Yes. I said Widget. I really know someone who gave their daughter the name Widget. Granted, it is her middle name, but that is what people have been calling her.

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian court has ruled that a couple could not name their son "Friday" and ordered that he instead be called Gregory after the saint whose feast day he was born on.
"I think it is ridiculous they even opened a case about it," the family's lawyer, Paola Rossi, told Reuters by telephone from the northern city of Genoa on Tuesday.
Friday/Gregory Germano was born in Genoa 15 months ago. The parents registered him as Friday in the city hall and a priest even baptised him as Friday -- unusual in Italy since many priests insist that first names be of Christian origin.
"We named him Friday because we like the sound of the name. Even if it would have been a girl, we would have named her Friday," the boy's mother, Mara Germano, told Reuters.
When the boy was about five months old, a city hall clerk brought the odd name to the attention of a tribunal, which informed the couple of an administrative norm which bars parents from giving "ridiculous or shameful" first names to children.
Maybe we should pass some sort of baby-name law here. No more Scouts. No more Apples. Only good historic or Christian names allowed. I am lobbying for more Benitos and Adolfs and Judases.

The tribunal said it was protecting the child from being the butt of jokes and added that it believed the name would hinder him from developing "serene interpersonal relationships".

Um... what the fuck does that mean? Just because someone is named Gregory doesn't mean they will have friends. I think that having to grow up with half the people in your life calling you Gregory and the other half calling you Friday would be more disruptive.

The Germano family appealed but lost their case this month and the story was carried on the front page of a national newspaper on Tuesday.
When ordered to change the name, the parents refused and the court ruled the boy would be legally registered as Gregory because he was born on that saint's feast day.
"I really doubt this would have happened to the child of parents who are rich and famous," the boy's mother told Reuters, recalling that some famous Italians had given their children unorthodox names such as "Ocean" or "Chanel".
The appeals court ruled against Friday because it recalled the servile savage in Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe and because superstitious Italians consider Friday an unlucky day.
"I am livid about this," the boy's mother said. "A court should not waste its time with things like this when there is so much more to worry about."
"My son was born Friday, baptised Friday, will call himself Friday, we will call him Friday but when he gets older he will have to sign his name Gregory," she said.

So that ranks right up there when it comes to government wasting its time on shit it has no business wasting its time on.
I guess I should just be happy it wasn't my own government for a change.