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Baby naming laws – or, why you can’t name your son Superman in Sweden
► Posted under uncategorized by Heather
I heard about this article on the radio and I couldn’t wait to read about it for myself: 8 Countries with Fascinating Baby Naming Laws. Since I have a bit of an obsession with names, I find it really interesting that other countries have laws governing what parents can name their children!
Here’s some highlights:
• Parents in Denmark are given a list of 7,000 pre-approved names to choose from, and in order to choose a name that’s not on the list, they must get permission from their local church and the government.
• In Germany, you can’t use last names or the names of objects or products as first names.
• The Japanese imperial family only receives given names – no surnames.
• Icelandic children must have names that are gender-appropriate, grammatically accurate, and contain no more than three personal names. If parent want to choose a name that’s not on the approved list, they must apply for approval and pay a fee.
• New Zealand’s laws were adopted in 1995 and protect against any names that are offensive or too long.
• Chinese babies must be given names that are easily scannable on their national identification cards. Numbers, non-Chinese symbols, and Chinese characters that cannot be typed are not allowed. (And there are about 57,000 Chinese characters that cannot be typed!)
• Swedish laws state that names will not be approved if they are “not suitable.” That leaves the door pretty wide open for interpretation, it seems – except in the case of the parents who wanted to name their child “Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116″ (pronounced “Albin”).
Check out the original article on Mental Floss for a hilarious list of rejected names (including – spoiler alert! – “Metallica,” “Monkey,” and “Sex Fruit”). LOL!
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Amy H. says:
This is SO fascinating! I had actually heard of US hospitals refusing to sign off on birth certificates because of ridiculous names! My Mom went to school with a girl name Penny Nickel Dime, and I went to school with a girl named Crystal Chandelier! Some people can just be cruel!
Heather - Chickabug says:
That is FANTASTIC! I can't believe you knew a girl named Crystal Chandelier. I'm jealous! ; )
I think a lot of people should've named a pet something ridiculous instead to get it out of their system! Like my parents, who named their dog Muffy von Fluffington (she is, of course, small and white).