Etc.

Well, we enjoy being different

Think of the hundreds of possibilities for naming a newborn male child – from Aaron to, say, Zsigmund. New Zealanders Sheena and Pat Wheaton chose none of them when their son arrived back in June. Instead, they decided he should go through life being known as 4Real. Really. Why? Because they say it didn't sink in that they were going to be parents until Sheena underwent an ultrasound scan and they saw an image of the baby for the first time. Now, there are various combinations of "for" and "real" that Mom and Dad could have registered after the infant was born, but they decided 4Real was best. Alas, the Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages didn't agree. A given name, it ruled, must be "a sequence of characters" because the dictionary definition says so. The parties are in discussions to try to reach a compromise, although the Wheatons won't promise not to appeal the registry's decision to the courts. They also are not happy that other people seem to take the state's side in the dispute. Some of the criticism, while predictable, "does get to you," Dad admitted to the New Zealand Herald. Still, the Wheatons are resourceful, and they've come up with a Plan B. They now will seek approval for the baby to be registered as ... Superman. But even if that – ah – flies, Dad said, around the house their son's name "is gonna stay 4Real."