Egyptian man Names Newborn Daughter 'Facebook'

Feeling thankful that Facebook created a medium for organizing the Egyptian demonstrations that ultimately played a part in President Hosni Mubarak’s resignation from the post he held for 30 years, Egypt’s Jamal Ibrahim recently named his newborn daughter Facebook Jamal Ibrahim.

The news was published in Egypt’s Al-Ahram, a government-owned news outlet. According to the English translation, “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.”

While some took to the streets pelting stones and resorting to violence during the Egyptian protests, others started their own war on the social media front. Many organizers of the Egypt demonstrations - mainly university students in their 20's - used social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google (News - Alert) Doc to gather the protesters against Mubarak's government.

Social media users relied on the use of their cameras and words to upload photos and comments about what was happening daily during the protests and garner support for their cause. Some created Facebook groups encouraging those who felt the same way as them to publically declare their support while others used the social media site to organize group protests.

Technology experts argued at the time that social networking sites provided a two-way conversation which enabled groups to ban together and figure out where to convene for protests. Facebook provided an alternative to different forms of media which often had limitations placed on them.

"It is difficult for the government to monitor each and every discussion that is going on Facebook unlike the case of the main stream media," said Moses Simiyu, an ICT expert, in a statement.

In fact, Egyptians became so dependent on Facebook to spread their messages that in late January the Egyptian government prohibited the use of Facebook. This wasn’t the first time, however, that Facebook played a role in Egypt’s political sphere. In April of 2008, Egyptian youth mobilized 80,000 supporters to protest rising food prices, mainly through the help of the social networking site.

In a day where celebrities name their children seemingly meaningless names, from Apple (News - Alert) to Harrow to Coco, perhaps there is something to be said about the fact that an Egyptian man named his child after the very thing he felt helped lead to the end of a period marked by dissonance and violence. Just as individuals pay respect to those generals and leaders they feel put an end to oppression and dictatorship, for Ibrahim, Facebook was some kind of hero as well.

With Facebook’s growing popularity and continued world-wide domination, one can only guess when the social network site will make the list of top baby names in the United States.