Government Control of Names

[m0002a]

excerpts from this article:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/07/03/mf ... tml?hpt=C2

In the U.S., you can name your kid almost anything, but that's not the case everywhere in the world. Let's take a look at some countries with pretty strict or otherwise fascinating baby-naming laws.

1. Sweden

Enacted in 1982, the Naming law in Sweden was originally created to prevent non-noble families from giving their children noble names, but a few changes to the law have been made since then.

The part of the law referencing first names reads: "First names shall not be approved if they can cause offense or can be supposed to cause discomfort for the one using it, or names which for some obvious reason are not suitable as a first name."

If you later change your name, you must keep at least one of the names that you were originally given, and you can only change your name once.

Rejected names: "Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb111163 (pronounced Albin, naturally) was submitted by a child's parents in protest of the Naming law. It was rejected. The parents later submitted "A" (also pronounced Albin) as the child's name. It, too, was rejected.

Also rejected: Metallica, Superman, Veranda, Ikea and Elvis.

Accepted names: Google as a middle name, Lego.

2. Germany

In Germany, you must be able to tell the gender of the child by the first name, and the name chosen must not be negatively affect the well being of the child. Also, you can not use last names or the names of objects or products as first names.

Whether or not your chosen name will be accepted is up to the office of vital statistics, the Standesamt, in the area in which the child was born. If the office rejects your proposed baby name, you may appeal the decision. But if you lose, you'll have to think of a different name. Each time you submit a name you pay a fee, so it can get costly.

When evaluating names, the Standesamt refers to a book which translates to "the international manual of the first names," and they also consult foreign embassies for assistance with non-German names. Because of the hassle parents have to go through to name their children, many opt for traditional names such as Maximilian, Alexander, Marie and Sophie.

Rejected names: Matti was rejected for a boy because it didn't indicate gender.

Approved names: Legolas and Nemo were approved for baby boys.

3. New Zealand

New Zealand's Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act of 1995 doesn't allow people to name their children anything that "might cause offence to a reasonable person; or [...] is unreasonably long; or without adequate justification, [...] is, includes, or resembles, an official title or rank." Officials at the registrar of births have successfully talked parents out of some more embarrassing names.

Rejected names: Stallion, Yeah Detroit, Fish and Chips, Twisty Poi, Keenan Got Lucy, Sex Fruit, Satan and Adolf Hitler

Approved names: Benson and Hedges (for a set of twins), Midnight Chardonnay, Number 16 Bus Shelter and Violence

4. Japan

In Japan, one given name and one surname are chosen for babies, except for the imperial family, who only receive given names. Except for a few examples, it is obvious which are the given names and which are the surnames, regardless of in what order the names have been given. There are a couple thousand "name kanji" and "commonly used characters" for use in naming babies, and only these official kanji may be used in babies' given names. The purpose of this is to make sure that all names can be easily read and written by the Japanese. The Japanese also restrict names that might be deemed inappropriate.

Rejected names: Akuma, meaning "devil."

5. Denmark

Denmark's very strict Law on Personal Names is in place to protect children from having odd names that suit their parents' fancy. To do this, parents can choose from a list of 7,000 pre-approved names, some for girls, some for boys.

If you want to name your child something that isn't on the list, you have to get special permission from your local church, and the name is then reviewed by governmental officials. Creative spellings of more common names are often rejected.

The law states that girls and boys must have names that indicate their gender, you can't use a last name as a first name and unusual names may be rejected. Of the approximately 1,100 names that are reviewed each year, 15-20 percent of the names are rejected. There are also laws in place to protect rare Danish last names.

Rejected names: Anus, Pluto and Monkey.

Approved names: Benji, Jiminico, Molli and Fee.

[xan_user]

In the U.S., you can name your kid almost anything,

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,479904,00.html

[faugusztin]

Actually, it's fascinating that there is no rules for naming in USA. If there weren't rules for first names in many countries the most of the childs of the gypsies in europe would be named after persons in currently running south american soap operas (Isaura, Esmeralda etc etc).

For a good example look at this, the czechs have more lax rules than many european countries :
http://www.pitraz.cz/img/vtipy/winettou.jpg

And honestly, many babies of "stars" have simply idiotic names.

[m0002a]

Actually, it's fascinating that there is no rules for naming in USA.

Even if there were such rules in the US, they would vary by state. The US Federal government has no constitutional jurisdiction in such matters.

[colm]

be it my nature.. knowing what noble is, and even the use of the word. no doubt my past is euro bluntly murderously prophetically killer in defense of it. (once upon a time in a land far away)

seeing a nickname for barack as "barry"

or a well written last name like "donovan" as somebodies first....

or the name donovan spelled like dunnevin, or any of the many other spellings.America let it in. America let it happen.

I am guessing, not only due to product the U.S. accepts and never builds for itself anymore...

a bad bad supremacy war in the name of God is going to emerge. My bad "crazy man on the corner" prediction.

I respect those naming laws. When humans were apes humping in clanly manners (if it meant cousins as wives) needed a man to stand up and stop mixing skills with idiots and thieves... a man needs a name, a government needs integrity to know who that man is.

[andyb]

I am rather surprised that Germany and Denmark dont allow surnames and forename's to be the same (not a duplication jike, "John John"). There are loads of people in the UK with forenames that are surnames (or is it the other way round.?)

Anyway here are some examples, and them in reverse (note that the "s" disapear.

Paul Terry, John Henry, David Richards, Martin Williams.

Terry Paul, Henry John, Richard David, William Martin.

Also in the UK there are a selection of names that can be used for both sexes, they are not common though, and are generally associated with a single sex more than the other.

Hilary is the only one that springs to mind, but there are others.

Seperately most people in the UK have an abbreviated name that is used most of the time, and many of these cross sexes, especially in speech.

Jo(e), Nic(k), Lee (Leigh), Sam, and many others.

The classic names are usually to best because they can be easily accepted by people from all generations, wheras many "modern" names just seem stupid to many people, esspecially if the are named after some pop-stars stage name "Miley", or a filthy slut "Jordan", not least because spelling questions will be constantly asked of the person with the unusual (but inoffensive) name Miley.

Interestingly certain names (classic or otherwise) have gone in and out of fashion over the centuries, a couple of examples being "Alice" and "Adolf", I have never ever met anyone called Alice except a dead relative who would now be about 90, now its very popular in some countries, I dont need to say much about Adolf though or why it is now a rather unpopular name.

http://www.polaine.com/2005/11/06/adolf ... ter-1940s/


Andy

[judge56988]

From a column in a UK newspaper:

I’ve always thought Jamie and Jools Oliver were among the most tedious people ever to have lived – but now they’ve shocked my socks off by calling their kid something about two steps beyond completely ridiculous.

Stupid Baby Names is without a doubt my favourite celebrity trend of all time – give me a Bluebell Madonna over a Max any day.

But Jamie’n’Jools (as you just KNOW they sign their Christmas cards) have taken it to a whole new level.

I suppose already having daughters called Poppy Honey and Daisy Boo, they knew they had to raise the steaks. (Oh come on, it’s Jamie Oliver, surely I’m allowed ONE food pun?)

Petal Blossom Rainbow Oliver was always going to stick out in a crowd, because her name sounds like a My Little Pony.

But even more unfortunately for her, that’s because it literally IS a My Little Pony.

Enjoy school, PBRO.

Other celebs with ridiculously named children include David Bowie, Bob Geldof and David Beckham.
My award for the most popular stupid name is "Chardonnay" - popular with the less well educated classes of the UK, from a character in a TV "drama" about footballers wives. Originally of course, a type of French wine from a French Village called Chardonnay. According to Wikipedia it means "thistle covered place".

Still, I suppose it's better than the name Mr and Mrs Head gave their son - they called him Richard...

There should be a law against it!

[lm]

2. Germany
...
Rejected names: Matti was rejected for a boy because it didn't indicate gender.

That's weird. It's one of the most common boy names in Finland. The finnish version of Joe Sixpack is Matti Meikäläinen.

[Deucal]

Iceland

Since 1930 there has been a naming commission that has the final say if a name is allowed or not.
There is a database on currently allowed names.

Only Icelandic names that can be proven to be Icelandic can be used.

Which in my point is how it should be, and even with these restrictions I have seen Icelandic names that make me cringe with sympathy towards the baby, some names just beg to be bullied.

Family names are also forbidden, unless your family had that family name before 1930.