Babies have been stopped from boarding planes at airports throughout U.S.A because their names are similar to those of possible terrorists on the government's "no-fly list."

It sounds like a joke, but it's not funny

Ingrid Sanden's 1-year-old daughter was stopped in Phoenix before boarding a flight home to Washington. (Children under 2 don't need tickets but Sanden purchased one for her daughter to ensure she had a seat.) "It was bizarre," Sanden said. "I was hugely pregnant, and I was like, 'We look really threatening.'"

Sarah Zapolsky and her husband had a similar experience last month while departing from Dulles International Airport outside Washington. An airline ticket agent told them their 11-month-old son was on the government list. They were able to board their flight after ticket agents took a half-hour to fax her son's passport and fill out paperwork.

Well-known people like Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., and David Nelson, who starred in the sitcom "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet," also have been stopped at airports because their names match those on the lists.

Airlines still have the duty to check passengers' names against those supplied by the government. That job has become more difficult - since the 2001 attacks the lists have swelled from a dozen or so names to more than 100,000 names, according to people in the aviation industry who are familiar with the issue. They asked not to be identified by name because the exact number is restricted information.

The Transportation Security Administration has a "passenger ombudsman" who will investigate individual claims from passengers who say they are mistakenly on the lists -- 89 children have submitted their names to the ombudsman. Of those, 14 are under the age of 2.