Italian couple banned from naming their son after a day of the week

Italy's top court has banned a couple from naming their son Venerdi (Friday), saying such a "ridiculous" name could expose the boy to mockery.

The Cassation Court said the name - taken from Daniel Defoe's famous novel Robinson Crusoe - was associated with "subservience and inferiority".

The judges also ordered that the boy be renamed Gregorio - after the saint's day on which he was born.

The parents had argued that they should be free to name him as they pleased.

The couple, known only as Mara O and Roberto G, had pointed out that Italian celebrities quite often gave their children bizarre names, citing Chanel and Oceano as examples.

They now say that they will continue to call the boy Friday, describing it as "nice", and that they might even call their next child Mercoledi (Wednesday).