A Child Named "Weather'by Dot Com Chanel Sheppard"
June 17, 2007
The following transcript excerpt is one of the funniest things I've found this year:
During the hearing the following discussion was had between the court and Sheppard with regards to the child's name.
The Court: I simply do not understand why you named this child - - his legal name is Weather'by Dot Com Chanel Fourcast Sheppard. Now, before you answer that, Mr. - - the plaintiff in this action is a weatherman for a local television station.
Sheppard: Yes.
The Court: Okay. Is that why you named this child the name that you gave the child?
Sheppard: It - - it stems from a lot of things.
The Court: Okay. Tell me what they are.
Sheppard: Weather'by - - I've always heard of Weatherby as a last name and never a first name, so I thought Weatherby would be - - and I'm sure you could spell it b-e-e or b-e-a or b-y. Anyway, Weatherby.
The Court: Where did you get the "Dot Com"?
Sheppard: Well, when I worked at NBC, I worked on a Teleprompter computer.
The Court: All right.
Sheppard: All right, and so that's where the Dot Com [came from]. I just thought it was kind of cute, Dot Com, and then instead of - - I really didn't have a whole lot of names because I had nothing to work with. I don't know family names. I don't know any names of the Speir family, and I really had nothing to work with, and I thought "Chanel"? No, that's stupid, and I thought "Shanel," I've heard of a black little girl named Shanel.
The Court: Well, where did you get "Fourcast"?
Sheppard: Fourcast? Instead of F-o-r-e, like your future forecast or your weather forecast, F-o-u, as in my fourth son, my fourth child, Fourcast. It was - -
The Court: So his name is Fourcast, F-o-u-r-c-a-s-t?
Sheppard: Yes. . . .