In 1987, Mai Van Cán and his wife, Do Thi Vân — a couple from Quang Nam province in central Vietnam — welcomed their fifth child.
The problem?
Several years earlier, Vietnam had put a two-child policy in place.
So, soon after the newborn arrived, the family was fined 6,500 dong (Vietnamese currency) by the government.
Mai was upset about this — his wife’s pregnancy had been unplanned, and he had to borrow money to pay the fine. In a fit of resentment, he named the baby boy Mai Phat Sáu Nghìn Ruoi, which loosely translates to “fined six thousand five hundred” (or, more precisely, “fine of six thousand and a half”).
Here are the definitions of each component of the given name:
In the late 1990s, local government officials tried to persuade Mai to change his son’s name, because the boy was being “constantly teased” by classmates.
He refused.
A few years later, they tried again.
This time, he relented.
So, in September of 2005, Mai Phat Sáu Nghìn Ruoi — now in his late teens — was renamed Mai Hoàng Long, meaning “golden dragon.”
(I had to remove most of the Vietnamese diacritics from this post because they don’t render properly on my site, unfortunately.)
Sources:
- Huu Tra. “Bi hai quanh cai ten “Mai Phat Sáu Nghìn Ruoi”.” Than Nien 9 Jul. 2006. [Translation]
- “He’ll Always Be Their Little 6,500.” Los Angeles Times 8 Jul. 2006.
- “Teen’s Name Changed After Years of Mockery.” Foxnews.com 7 July. 2006.
Image: Adapted from South Vietnam 5 Dong 1955 (public domain)
