Couple who named son after TV show "Jake 2.0" faces red tape

OLALLA, Wash. — "Jake 2.0" didn't cut it with viewers, and a couple who named their son Jake Matthew Thompson 2.0 are finding the numerical part doesn't cut it with businesses and government agencies.

Although decimal designations are commonly used for successive versions of computer software, many computers can't seem to handle it for human names, parents Kyle Thompson and Dawn Carpenter have been told.

Their son was born on Feb. 4, 2004, a couple of months after the UPN science fiction show was canceled after less than four months on the air, but they still liked the name.

"He's like an upgrade of us, the better version," Thompson said.

The state birth certificate, however, reads "Jake Matthew Thompson Two Point Zero," the child's Social Security card reads simply "Jake Matthew Thompson" and Gerber Baby Foods was unable to fill an order for a "Jake 2.0" spoon, sending one that said merely "Jake" with the birth date.

Officials at the Social Security Administration and state Health Department said their equipment can handle only letters with hyphens and apostrophes.

Carpenter, a housekeeper at a convalescent home and an aspiring actress, said some co-workers have told her that when her son reaches school age, classmates will make fun of his name, "but I don't worry about it. They made fun of me because my nose is small. They make fun of you no matter what you do."