Re: [tlug] Child abuse :-(

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Nguyen Vu Hung writes:
 > 2008/10/14 Stephen J. Turnbull <stephen@example.com>:

 > Would you care to explain that what is the problem with the name
 > "Hope" in the US?

None, that's precisely the point.

 > I never heard of anyones named "Chikara" in Japan but 力 can be
 > pronounced as つとむ。

I know at least one, written as 力 as you might guess.

 > Is "Linux" a madeup word?

Yes.

 > As far as I can tell, in English, "x" is used as a placeholder and
 > we can replace it with any character we like, just like "xxx"(
 > google it) :D.

Not anywhere I've spoken English, it's not.  By analogy to the
practice in math, of course "Mr. X" and things like that are common
idioms, but I've never seen it used as a variable character in any
situation except maybe game shows.

 > The name of the creator of the OS Linux is Linus, but I don't know
 > if there is any relation between Linux and Linus.

It's in his book, _Just for the Fun of It_ (IIRC), as well as other
sources.  There were several reasons for the choice.

 > We can find a dictionary name in any bookstores in Japan while recently,
 > Japanese loves to name their kids like: 玲奈( Rena ),　真理亜( Maria ).
 > However, Japan only allow names in Kanji

I had no trouble registering my daughter in hiragana, and often see
such on my class rosters.