A father in Egypt has named his daughter “Facebook,” to commemorate the role of the social networking site in the uprising that eventually led to the “dethroning” of now former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Reports of the event first emerged on Sunday, Feb. 20.
Created by now world famous Googler Wael Ghonim, the “We Are Khaled Said” Facebook page emerged just days after Said’s death in June of 2010. The page was key during the uprising. Ghonim seemed to vanish during the uprising; it wasn’t until after Ghonim was released from the custody of Egyptian National Security Forces that he publicly admitted to being the “admin” of the page.
In an interview with Egypt’s Dream TV, Ghonim said:
“I didn’t want anyone to know that I was the admin. I’m not the hero.”
The report comes via Al-Ahram (one of the most popular Egyptian newspapers). Translated, it said,
Man Names His Newborn Girl Facebook
A young man in his twenties wanted to express his gratitude about the victories the youth of 25th of January have achieved and chose to express it in the form of naming his firstborn girl “Facebook” Jamal Ibrahim (his name.) The girl’s family, friends, and neighbors in the Ibrahimya region gathered around the new born to express their continuing support for the revolution that started on Facebook. “Facebook” received many gifts from the youth who were overjoyed by her arrival and the new name. A name [Facebook] that shocked the entire world.
While an obvious homage to an important event, we hope the father took into consideration the effects such a strange name might have on his daughter’s life. Children are often cruel, as many parents known. We have not, by the way, heard of any reference to a naming of a child as “Twitter,” also in honor to the event.
Via: TechCrunch