A friend of mine whose sister lived in Europe said that when she had a baby, there was a list of approved names, and she had to choose a name from the list for her newborn.
I haven’t been able to find reference to any such list on the Internet, so does anyone know definitively whether this is true?
Although not this specific question, Cecil has addressed the topic of restrictions on baby names. Quebec, for example, empowers its public curators to step in in cases of excessively weird names.
Europe is composed of several different countries which have different laws so a general answer is impossible.
I do know an American woman in Spain who wanted to name her son John and they would not let her because they said John in Spanish is “Juan”. After much arguing she named him “Jon” which they let her do as there is no official translation for that. So, in his American documents, his name is “John” and is his Spanish documents it’s “Jon”.
The stupidity of such laws is beyond my comprehension. If that’s not a reason to limit the powers of bureaucrats I don’t know what is.
I understand that Europe is not a country. My friend led me to believe that many countries there had such approval lists. Specifically, he told me that his sister lived in a country that allowed not only the use of its approved names, but also the names on other EU countries. Hence, his nephew had an Italian first name and a Swedish middle name. (I’m not remembering either the country his sister lived in or the two countries the names came from correctly)
I’m not aware of any EU-wide policy regarding names. Also, not every European country is a member of the EU.
Having said that, many European countries empower their local administrators to refuse certain names. I recall an instance where a couple in Sweden or Iceland wanted to name their child 4.56983 or somesuch. Pronounced “Sven” or something. For obvious reasons, this was declined.
But I think in most cases, it’s up to the personal discretion of the administrator. For example, you might not be succesful registering your son as “Adolf Hitler Jansen” in Amsterdam, if you know what I mean.
Sailor, how recent is your anecdote about the Spanish law forcing someone to pick a Spanish equivalent? And where in Spain was this? Maybe Catalunia or certain Basque districts have some wacky rules in this regard.
The aforementioned Cecil articles:
Is it illegal to take a newborn home from the hospital without naming it first?
Naming babies before (and after) they leave the hospital (cont’d)
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/981016.html
Coldfire, this was in madrid and I do not know exactly when. This woman moved from DC to Madrid to get married maybe 8 years ago and she told me the story a couple years ago… I am guessing she had the kid maybe 5 years ago.
Another wacky story from Spain: A woman from Iceland had a baby boy in Spain.Now, in Iceland, it seems they do not have family names as we know them but they use the system of “X’s son” (or daughter). So this woman was --I forget her first name, let’s call her Molly-- Molly Bjorndaughter, meaning she is the daughter of Bjorn.
So she is trying to register her kid in Spain and they tell her his family name will be Bjorndaughter. She explains that will not do as that is a girls name and there’s no way he could go to Iceland with a girl’s name. The attitude of the clerk was “Well, that’s just to bad isn’t it? It’s that or… that!”
This was quite some years back and I do not remember how she resolved it. I have a very short fuse with governments and their employees. When I am involved in this type of thing the best solutions always seem to involve the use of large quantities of explosives.
What amazes me is how people get used to government intervention in their daily lives and do not see it anything strange. In China people see it as normal that the government regulate every minor aspect of their lives but you don’t need to go to China, in Europe you see much of the same. I remember discussing with a German woman who told me in Germany when you move you have to register with the police. What?! She didn’t see anything wrong with that.
Not to mention how store hours are regulated, what you can name your kid etc. Makes you feel you are back in kindergarden.
I don’t have anything official, but I’m sure at least one unlucky UK baby is named after a entire football team (i.e. 11 names, plus surname).
What about pop stars? David Beckham and Posh Spice’s kid is called Brooklyn.
Surely that wasn’t on an ‘approved’ list.
We’re talking about Europe, not the UK.
A woman I work with is from Poland and she told me this is the case in Poland. I don’t recall all the details she mentioned, but approved names included approved spellings of those names.
There were a few weird exceptions too; like if one of the child’s parents wasn’t Polish but say, Irish for example, the child would be allowed to have an Irish name. I can’t imagine how/if they could establish the legitimacy of a foreign name though.
This is currently being discussed in this thread (not limited to Europe though).
And sailor, the UK is part of Europe. You know that, don’t you?
>> the UK is part of Europe. You know that, don’t you?
Nevr mind what I know… go tell them that. 
That reminds me of a book I read. Accoriding to the book (I don’t remember the title), after the war Austria passed a law making it illegal to name a baby Adolf. Sounds like a UL to me, but I couldn’t disprove it.
About five years ago the Wall Street Journal had an article about a couple in Germany who wanted to name their son Sacha. The German officals said that was a girl’s name and wouldn’t allow it. Apparently they finally got to use that name when they were able to show that most of the Sachas for the previous few years were taken by boys. Something like 95 out of 100.
The customs officers in Germany must have a fit when Dweezel and Moon Unit Zappa visit 
My (Korean) wife was born in Italy in 1970. Back in those days, they wouldn’t allow oriental names on the birth certificates, so they gave her a Western name instead. Causes all sorts of problems when she needs to show passport and birth certificate together, since the (Korean) passport needed a Korean name (oy!). Can’t speak for what happens now in Italy, but I can’t imagine they would have kept that rule.
I was told by my friend Alex in Germany that, although her parents tried to put Alex on the birth certificate, she had to be formally named Alexandra. And another friend Max had to be named Maximillion. Apparently the authorities don’t allow shortened names on birth certificates - but I could be wrong here since I’ve only heard it from two Germans. If it is true, I’d like to add that I think it’s a pretty dumb rule.
That was in Sweden. However, there was a case the other year when some parents wanted to name their child (gender forgotten) Puma. This was declined on the grounds that it was unsuitable with an animal name like that. The parents then pointed out that in Swedish there are a number of “animal” names: Björn (bear), Ulf (wolf), Leo (lion) and probably some more, so it was a non issue. Unfortunately I don’t remember the outcome.
On the other hand, while typing the above I took a look at the Swedish Statistics data base of names. According to that there are nine females and two males with the name Puma, only one of them has it as first name, though.
In Norway, the local registrar can and should refuse to register a name for a new baby if, in his/her opinion, the name would be a serious burden to the child. This usually means names that would result in a lot of teasing. Foreign names are allowed as long as they don’t violate the basic rule, and the same is true of fanciful names. If the registrar refuses to accept the name, the parents can appeal. You have until the baby is six months old to register a name.
The parents in Sweden with the weird name want to name their son some bizarre combination of letters and numbers, pronounced “Albin”. They’ve been told that Albin is a fine name, but they need to spell it in some way that ordinary mortals can interpret. Last I heard they were still refusing, and were being fined for not registering a name for their son in time.
A mother in Denmark was still holding out when her son entered school. She wants to name him Christophpher (sic). The authorities have said they will register that as either Christopher or Christoffer, her choice, but not with the double ph’s. Parental stupidity, meet bureaucratic stupidity. I feel kinda sorry for the kid.
>> And another friend Max had to be named Maximillion
Why was that? Because he is so wealthy?
I think she means “Maximillian”.
Sailor: Spain sounds like a terrible country for a foreigner to have kids, then!
And IIRC, the Icelandic name system works slightly different. Bjorn and Molly would name their kids John Bjornson and Betty Molydottir. Still, it’s ridiculous that a different country choses to ignore such traditions.
Other than that, I can’t really say I find European legislation all that patronising. Store opening hours are regulated by municipalities in most countries, although collective labour agreements ARE somewhat of a limiter in this respect. I don’t know anything about Germans having to register with the Police when they move somewhere. In the Netherlands, you only have to register at City Hall.
bibliophage: sounds like BS to me. I’ve met a few Austrians that had Adolf as one of their first names, and they were all born after the war. I’m sure the name has lost some popularity, and chosing it might very well say something about the kids parents. After all, Austria has a considerable right wing party with some very creepy ideas about how the country should be run.