After The Register published this story - My name's too rude for MS Passport - you've given us a fascinating insight into the role of the service as an arbiter of public decency. Specifically, into the criteria Hotmail admins employ for accepting user names.
Who gets in, and who doesn't?
Well, in addition to scanning for offensive strings, some names contain reserved words, or keywords goes the theory. So 'Maillard' is banned because it contains the string 'mail'. Jesse Towner thinks this is why our "vautour" pseudonym was rejected - because it contains 'auto', and why she couldn't register as her surname contains the string 'own'. Then again we heard from a Vautour in Canada who had successfully used her surname - suggesting that there are geographic inconsistencies too.
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