Ban that Name!
Woman in the Middle | January 31, 2015The first I ever knew that other countries actually weigh in on what you name your child was 30 or so years ago. Someone I knew married a German fellow and they moved to Germany while she was pregnant. The baby was a girl and my childhood friend wanted to name her Chanel, as in Coco Chanel. Well, I remember hearing the baby’s father say that he had to go before the local authorities to justify the baby’s name. When asked by the authorities why that name was chosen, he said he just shrugged and said the mother was American and that was the name she wanted. That was enough to insure that their little baby got to keep the name Chanel.
As an American, the idea that the government would weigh in on what I named my baby was absurd. As a woman in the middle of life, I now can see the value of protecting children from parents who are idiots. There are arguments on both sides.
The Mom.Me website has an article about naming laws from around the world. There are a few countries that even have lists. Denmark has a list of about 7000 approved names. Portugal has an 80 page document outlining acceptable and unacceptable names. Japan has a list of 2323 names that are acceptable. (“Devil” is not one of them.) Iceland has a list of 3565 allowed names. New Zealand doesn’t have a list, but does reserve the right to say no names they think are unacceptable. The New Zealand authorities thought “Sex Fruit” was not a good name.
Naming our girls took quite a bit of time and effort on the part of Hubby and I. Maybe if we had had to pick from a list it would have taken less time! IF course, we didn’t pick anything crazy. Although both girls do complain that they can’t find their names on a mug anywhere. We just tell them that if that is the worst thing that ever happens to them, life will be a breeze!
The whole article can be found at: http://mom.me/parenting/7123-banned-baby-names-around-world/
FYI, I found the website and the article all on my own. Nobody gave me anything to mention it here. Sigh.
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