It is reported in Beijing that a Chinese couple want to use the @ symbol as a name for their child. The father of the child says the whole world uses it to write e-mails and when translated into Chinese it means “love him.”

It is not reported whether the @ name was accepted or rejected by the police, who are the arbiters of names because they issue identity cards.

Written Chinese uses characters instead of an alphabet and that makes it difficult to develop new words for new things and ideas.