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Who, What, Why: Why do some countries regulate baby names?
BBC ^ | 02/04/2013

Posted on 02/04/2013 8:01:20 AM PST by SeekAndFind

A 15-year-old Icelandic girl has won the right to keep her first name, despite it being "unapproved" by the state. Why do some countries restrict baby names?

Parents-to-be often find it hard enough to find a name they both like, let alone one the state might also be in favour of.

Bjork Eidsdottir had no idea when, in naming her newborn girl Blaer 15 years ago, she was breaking the law.

In the eyes of the authorities Blaer, which means "light breeze", was a male name and therefore not approved. It meant that for her entire childhood, Blaer was known simply as "Girl" on official documents.

But Reykjavik District Court ruled on Thursday that it could indeed be a feminine name.

"Finally I'll have the name Blaer in my passport," she said after the ruling.

Several countries - such as Germany, Sweden, China and Japan - also restrict names. Why?

In the case of Iceland, it's about meeting certain rules of grammar and gender, and saving the child from possible embarrassment. Sometimes, although not in every case, officials also insist that it must be possible to write the name in Icelandic.

There is a list of 1,853 female names, and 1,712 male ones, and parents must pick from these lists or seek permission from a special committee.

Similar concerns about child welfare are present in Germany, where a Turkish couple were not allowed to call their baby Osama Bin Laden.

One couple named their baby Berlin after the city in which they met, prompting the registrar to mount an objection. He eventually relented after the family's lawyer pointed out that the courts had allowed the name London.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: baby; names; regulation
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To: Tax-chick

RE: I don’t believe “Ima Hoare” would ever “embrace” her name.

I heard that she changed her name to “Ura”. :)

She might want to disown her parent’s family name as well.

Hey, if Cassius Clay can change his name to Muhammad Ali, Lew Alcindor to Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and Ron Artest to Meta World Peace, I’m sure Ms. Hoare can change her family name to “Saint”, or “Hero”.


21 posted on 02/04/2013 8:39:45 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: Ciexyz

Those are names of places and things, though-people have been naming kids after those forever, dumb or not. An old hippie chick of my acquaintance out here named all 5 of her kids after trees and flowering plants. A Brit friend named her kids after the state they were born in, and a country-Wyoming, Montana and India-and she pronounces it “Indjia”...


22 posted on 02/04/2013 8:42:04 AM PST by Texan5 ("You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line"...)
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To: SeekAndFind

Or change her name to “Mary Jane Andrews” or something equally bland.


23 posted on 02/04/2013 8:42:36 AM PST by Tax-chick (Just what this family needs: more smugness.)
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To: Telepathic Intruder

LOL-in the book, kids were given an approved short letter prefix, and a number-like Ann252-it was called a “nameber”. Scary book, especially now-you should read it.


24 posted on 02/04/2013 8:48:10 AM PST by Texan5 ("You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line"...)
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To: Telepathic Intruder

Actually, Gwyneth is a fairly commom name in Britain-a very old name.


25 posted on 02/04/2013 8:52:10 AM PST by Texan5 ("You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line"...)
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To: Telepathic Intruder

“Not that Gwyneth is a real name of course”.

Actually, it is a Welsh name meaning “fair and white”.


26 posted on 02/04/2013 8:53:01 AM PST by momtothree
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To: SampleMan

I know a family, locally, who adopted a child named Richard and had his name legally changed - to “Buckshot.”


27 posted on 02/04/2013 8:53:11 AM PST by Wordkraft (Remember who the Collaborators are.)
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To: SeekAndFind

From wiki;
“Ima Hogg (July 10, 1882 – August 19, 1975), known as “The First Lady of Texas”,[1] was an American philanthropist, patron and collector of the arts, and one of the most respected women in Texas during the 20th century”


28 posted on 02/04/2013 8:54:54 AM PST by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ( Ya can't pick up a turd by the clean end!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Several years ago i recall a woman in a Scandinavian country being given a jail term for naming her son “Christophpher.”


29 posted on 02/04/2013 8:55:06 AM PST by LS ('Castles made of sand, fall in the sea . . . eventually.' Hendrix)
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To: Telepathic Intruder
Instead of names, if we all had numbers followed by one or two letter prefixes, the government could easily assign them to us.

And tatoo them on our arms!

30 posted on 02/04/2013 8:58:39 AM PST by VRW Conspirator (Sometimes it takes calamity to lead to serenity - FReeper RacerX1128)
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To: momtothree

Thank you-I never looked up the meaning. Wales, Scotland and Ireland have some of the loveliest names in the old language(s) of the pre-Roman population.


31 posted on 02/04/2013 8:59:22 AM PST by Texan5 ("You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line"...)
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To: SampleMan

“I’m for parental rights and the right to change your name....”

I am as well. The U.S. has so many cultures/ethnicities in it. Good or bad.. does someone really advocate a government book of pre-approved names? I am not fond of the name “Hester” or “Gertrude”.. but parents have the right to name their daughter that name. Sometimes.. I think names are in the eyes of the beholder.


32 posted on 02/04/2013 8:59:26 AM PST by momtothree
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To: P.O.E.

and there is a vein in the black community that claims there is name discrimination because people hear a black sounding name in a phone interview and make assumptions.


33 posted on 02/04/2013 9:01:39 AM PST by bravo whiskey (“People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.”)
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To: SeekAndFind
Two comments:

1. The NY Times has a reporter named Jennifer 8 Lee, and please remember that there is no period after the 8.

2. Sometimes names can become unpopular very quickly:

Hillary: The Most Poisoned Baby Name in U.S. History

34 posted on 02/04/2013 9:02:10 AM PST by untenured
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To: untenured

“Sometimes names can become unpopular very quickly..”

Like the name Monica. When I was a kid, there were several Monica’s that I knew. I don’t hear the name in school anymore.


35 posted on 02/04/2013 9:06:10 AM PST by momtothree
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To: SampleMan
My late mother hated her given name. She had it changed the day she turned 18. Mom was pissed, dad was more fair minded and said "you've got to live with it , not me" and let it go.

CC

36 posted on 02/04/2013 9:06:10 AM PST by Celtic Conservative (Come to Michigan, enjoy the beauty of all 4 seasons- sometimes all in the same day)
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To: SeekAndFind

Problem is...Germany now has, probably, about 1 million Mohammeds and counting. All that name regulating for naught.


37 posted on 02/04/2013 9:08:46 AM PST by riri (Plannedopolis-look it up. It's how the elites plan for US to live.)
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To: bravo whiskey

Well when the interview starts off with the interviewee being highly offended about how the name is pronounced, it’s not hard to imagine.


38 posted on 02/04/2013 9:09:22 AM PST by P.O.E. (Pray for America)
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To: Telepathic Intruder
Um, Gwyneth is a real name. It's Welsh.

CC

39 posted on 02/04/2013 9:09:44 AM PST by Celtic Conservative (Come to Michigan, enjoy the beauty of all 4 seasons- sometimes all in the same day)
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To: momtothree; Tax-chick

One of my cub’s friends named her girlchild “Aubergine”, because she heard the word on TV and liked it-when she was told it referred to eggplant in French, she didn’t seem to care, stuck the kid with the name anyway...


40 posted on 02/04/2013 9:10:47 AM PST by Texan5 ("You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line"...)
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