Chinese Couple "@" Odds with Government Over Baby's Name

It's bad enough to want to name your baby "Superman" or "4Real", but the Internet "@" sign?

The father "said 'the whole world uses it to write e-mails and translated into Chinese it means 'love him,'"' Li Yuming, the vice director of the State Language Commission, said at a news conference.

What the director means is if you pronounce the symbol in English as 'at,' it sounds like the Chinese phrase "love him.

Part of the problem stems from Chinese law which states that children are only allowed to take the surname from either their mother or father. This has led to about 85% out of China's 1.4 billion people sharing only 100 surnames, according to a 2006 survey.

Of course, I hope the parents realize what this would mean: an email address of @@gmail.com or something - and most text entry fields don't look too kindly on symbols as parts of names.