On a lighter note, I totally do not care if Samantha Wood wants to call herself "Candi Bimbo Doll." She wanted to legally change her name to that, but the trial court refused to grant the name change (despite no opposition) on the ground that calling someone a "bimbo" is derogatory, and the Court of Appeal -- with no opposition to Wood's appeal -- reverses. So she gets to legally change her name to Candi Bimbo Doll. Go crazy, girl.
(Side note: This real-life example somewhat reminds me of the scene in Superbad where the police interview "McLovin" after the liquor store robbery and describe their interaction with someone named "Phuck". Classic. Scroll to the 4 minute mark if you'd like.)
Justice Richman notes that there's a movement to "take back" the word "bimbo," so if that's one's motivation, okay, great. Maybe not what I'd personally spend all my time on, but if that floats your boat, feel free. We generally let you change your name to whatever you'd like, as long as there's no confusion. Now, there are, in fact, limits to that (e.g., the case that refused to allow someone to change his name to "Misteri Nigger"), and those limits are, I suspect, a little bit broader than Justice Richman's opinion might suggest. But I agree that "bimbo" isn't really outside those limits, at least in this context.
But I gotta add that "this context" seems pretty important to me. And that context isn't exactly revealed anywhere in Justice Richman's opinion, beyond the mere fact -- as recounted by the opinion -- that Ms. Wood wants to change her name, says that she's "already known by" that it, says that she has "already embraced it and taken numerous, permanent steps to secure it," and that she said to the trial judge "I promise I know what I’m requesting."
What you don't know from reading the opinion -- and I can't find the briefs, so I don't know one way or the other if Justice Richman knows -- is what exactly Ms. Wood means by all that. It doesn't take long to find out that Ms. Wood is more commonly known by her stage name, Juliette Stray. Who's a transsexual adult film performer with, uh, particularly unusual assets.
There's only so much I can post that's not NSFW, but here's an article from the Daily Star that includes some details about Ms. Wood, alongside some pictures. Feel free to Google more at your leisure, with the caveat that maybe "incognito" mode (and not doing so at work) is the way to go on this one.
Suffice it to say that Ms. Wood wants to be called a "bimbo" because that's the style she's both known and going for. She's sex-positive in precisely this way. Now, some might find that derogatory, but others might find it empowering. No reason, IMHO, for the law to take a definitive side in that debate.
So let your freak flag fly, as they say.
("They," in this case, being the Court of Appeal.)
