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Path: utzoo!watmath!srradia
From: srradia@watmath.UUCP (sanjay Radia)
Newsgroups: net.kids
Subject: Re: What's in a name?
Message-ID: <7041@watmath.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 29-Feb-84 14:21:23 EST
Article-I.D.: watmath.7041
Posted: Wed Feb 29 14:21:23 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 2-Mar-84 07:29:52 EST
References: <707@dartvax.UUCP>
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 30

I'm reposting this since it didn't get through the first time.

	I don't have a solution for what last name to give to a child because it
doesn't make much of a difference. If you are worried about being fair or
non sexist then flip coins. Or better still let them be named after the
mother for the next 4000 years or so to compensate for the last 4000 years.
Last names are used by governments to keep track of people and the less they
know about us the better.
	The important thing is for parents to change their attitude.
The most important name is the childs first name since that is the name that
singles out the child as an indivdual (by the way, I hate that custom,
in some families, of naming a son after the father as in John Jr. - the child
deserves his very own name which isn't begged, borrowed or stolen).
Your child should be taught that first and foremost he is John (or whatever his
first name) who is a human being and not John who is, say, a Robinson.
	Many parents (especially fathers) insist on giving their last name to
their children because they want to them to continue their heritage.
Children are your gifts to the future - so why ask them to drag your past
with them. If aything, become like your children instead of making them become
like you. Maybe you are proud what you or your father have done but it doesn't
make a damn difference after you are dead.  Isn't it better to be like the rest
of the animal kingdom and leave no marks after you perish; if you think you (or
maybe human beings in general) are any superior to any animal or thing on this
earth then you .... (words fail me).  All this reminds me of a famous cemetery
that I visited while I was living in Paris. Some people have left behind
tombstones that are 2 stories high - these people are leaving behind an
indication of the size of their ego and nothing more.

		sanjay