Chinese Baby @

A chinese family, bored with the common custom of naming their son Li, chose instead to name the baby “@.”  Yeah, the At symbol. 

 
Chinese Baby approves.

From the AP here:

A Chinese couple seeking a distinctive and modern name for their child chose the commonly used Internet ‘at’ symbol, much to the consternation of Chinese officials.
 
The unidentified couple and the attempted naming were cited Thursday by a Chinese government official as an example of bizarre names creeping into the Chinese language.

The symbol pronounced in English as ‘at’ sounds like the Chinese phrase “love him.”

In their quest for a different name, Li said that the parents of baby ‘@’ were not alone. As of last year, only 129 surnames accounted for 87 percent of all surnames in China.

I can completely sympathize with the urge to name your child something unique.  I did the same for my own son, although I stuck to nominally English-sounding words.  But how long before we begin to see people naming their children emoticons?  Or even full-blown ASCII art?