
Apparently, some countries have gotten so fed up with random fistfights over baby names that they've passed laws on just this subject. Countries with baby-name legislation have an "approved" list of baby names, and forbid parents from naming their children anything else. Generally, countries with this sort of law will not register a child given an unauthorized name, and birth records will simply reflect "Girl" or "Boy" on that child's vital record. This brings up a creepy tangent -- what happens to a child who grows to adulthood and yet is a non-citizen? I personally don't know, nor do I know anyone in that predicament. Even so, the threat of social ostracism, or being a living non-person, tends to scare parents into naming their kids something acceptable, for the benefit of everyone else.
Sadly, I don't live in a country that values that benefit. Americans consider it their liberty to name their children anything they want, going so far as to call it an important, constitutionally-protected expression.
Apparently, then, a parent's liberty to name his child Bonkzillius (a name I just made up, but I've heard worse) outweighs the eighteen years of ridicule, shame, and abuse that child will endure until he becomes an adult, when he may legally change his name to Steve.
Before you throw bricks at me and label me a fascist, consider this: do we really want all the sci-fi geeks naming their kids Hyperion? Do we want all the roleplaying game nerds calling their progeny Excelsior? Or all the doctors' kids Caduceus? Or the lawyers' Res Ipsa?
Hell, can we put up with all the carnies naming their kids Spin-A-Whirly, after the ride in which those children were conceived?
I don't think I can, nor would I want to.