A CHINESE couple tried to name their baby “@,” claiming the character used in e-mail addresses echoed their love for the child, an official trying to whip the national language into line said Thursday.

“The whole world uses it to write e-mail, and translated into Chinese it means ‘love him’,” the father explained, according to Li Yuming, deputy chief of the State Language Commission.

While the “@” symbol is familiar to Chinese e-mail users, they often use the English word “at” to sound it out — which with a drawn-out “T” sounds something like “ai ta,” or “love him,” to Mandarin speakers.

Li told a news conference on the state of the language that the name was an extreme example of people’s increasingly adventurous approach to Chinese, as commercialization and the Internet break down conventions.

Another couple tried to give their child a name that rendered into English sounds like “King Osrina.”

Li did not say if officials accepted the “@” name. But earlier this year the government announced a ban on names using Arabic numerals, foreign languages and symbols that do not belong to Chinese minority languages.(SD-Agencies)