What this German women told me is when you move in Germany you have to register with the police just so they know where you are and keep track of you. To me that sounds like big brother and a pretty bad big brother at that. Similar measures have been ruled unconstitutional in other European countries though.
I am completely opposed to the government getting involved in anything unless there is a compelling interest for society. What I decide to name my kid does not fall into that category. The most I would do would be to give the bureaucrat authority to take the matter to a judge if the name would be so stupid it would cause harm to the minor.
Regarding the icelandic woman. I distinctly remember her last name was Bjorndotter (sp?) and she had a baby while being single in Spain so the baby would carry her family name.
All these laws regulating stuff seem like a good idea until you come up with a case where they are obviously a very bad idea. I can’t see the need.
I thought in France that everybody had to register at their local police station and re-register if they move house or location.I also thought they had to carry identity cards at all times. Has this law now been changed ?
Don’t forget that in the movie “Day of the Jackal” they tracked down the bad guy by using the hotel registration cards that go to the police station every morning!
2 stories which I heard (and have no intention of tracking down the cites right now)
In Germany, it was against the law to name a child with a “wrong gender” name. However, foreign names like (Italian) Andrea and (French) Nicholas created a problem, the resolution of which I haven’t heard.
In Iceland, you can’t be a citizen unless you have an Icelandic name. When Vladimir Ashkanazy, the composer, became a naturalised citizen, his name was added to the list of approved names. Now it is acceptable in Iceland to call your child “Vladimir Ashkenazy” but not Jason or Sean.
But that’s just about the amount of control German authorities inflict on children’s names.
Among the latest rejected names were things like “Atomfried” and “Bierstüberl” (beer room, i. e. watering hole). I can’t see any sane reason for anybody to give one’s child such a name.
Just image him/her in elementary school. Kids can be mean.
The debate here illustrates one of the philosophical differences in approach between the common law (found in England, the U.S., most of Canada) and the civil law (found in continental Europe and Quebec). I think it’s worth pointing out that the civil law approach isn’t just a “bloated bureaucracy” thing - it’s one aspect of a sophisticated legal system.
Under the common law, a name is a personal thing. You can change your name at will, and call yourself something else, provided you aren’t doing it to defraud someone, or commit some related crime. Provisions for the “change of name” in common law jurisdictions are simply to provide a record of the change, but government approval is not necessary.
In the civil law world, things are different. The name is not just a personal matter, but a question of public record, part of the civil law concept of “civil status,” which is a combination of citizenship, residence, marital status, parent/child status, and so on. The name in the civil law world is part of your civil status, and must be recorded with the state. By implication, this gives the state some say in the name, since it is not a purely personal thing.
Which isn’t to say I think they are both equivalent; I prefer the common law approach.
Wow. I was born Osiris and dang nabbit I’ll die Osiris. So I guess that means I can never become a citizen of Iceland or France. Although I wonder what they would do if I had some fantastic idea and was able to make it work, say the ability to make spaceships that fly faster then light, and I wanted to move there and be a citizen. I bet they’d change there laws then.
Coldie may know if this is no longer the case, but my college advisor was from the Netherlands. Her name was Jenny, and she claimed that her parents had to get official persmission to give her what was at the time a fairly unusual name. I guess this would have been the 1920s or 1930s.
As for documentation etc, I can remember feeling fairly surprised at how little paperwork there was involved in bringing Cranky Jr. into the world. We gave info for his birth certificate, of course, and then I eventually went and got a SSN for him, but I recall thinking that this was such a HUGE big deal for us, shouldn’t there be some ceremony where we go write his name in a big registry of U.S. Citizens? You forget people are born and die every single day, when it happens to you.
I forgot to mention in my previous post that I’ve read reports of the same type of government review of baby names coming from some South American countries, which are also primarily civil law jurisdictions as well.
I’d just like to add that name restrictions in Iceland are notoriously strict and inflexible. For instance, it’s ok to call your son Maríus, but Marius his wholly illegal. Spot the subtle difference between legality and illegality in Iceland
— G. Raven
p.s. at least they legalized beer, what, ten years ago? Progress moves slowly in the cold
With the British General election in mind , there have been occasions in the past when a candidate from a fringe party has changed his name to that of a candidate from one of the main-stream parties in the same town. The object of this was to have 2 candidates on the ballot paper with the same name and the confused voter would put his cross against the wrong person. I think the law has now changed to prevent this or modifications have been made to the ballot paper to end the confusion.
Maybe back in the day, but today, anything goes. Kevins, Melvins, Jeffreys, and Dylans are popping up like no tomorrow. And I don’t think it’s a good thing, personally. Mind you, these are all fine names in the English language. But a Dutch kid called Dylan van den Berg, that’s just… weird. For some reason, it’s always the lower social classes that give their kids English/American names.
It’s been a long time since my French classes, but it’s my understanding that the French have a long list of ‘approved’ names. While it is not impossible to name your child something different that what’s on the list, the parents must pay a fee to name their child something else.
On a related note, back in the U.S. …
My sister and brother-in-law were married in a drive-through Vegas ceremony. My sister attempted to renew her driver’s license to state: <first name> <middle name> <inital of new husband’s last name> <last name>. IOW, she attempted to change her name from ‘Jane Deer Doe’ to ‘Jane Deer G Doe’ (the ‘G’ taking on the significance [or lack thereof] of the ‘S’ in H. S Truman’s name). This attempt turned in to a 6-week-long bureaucratic nightmare which was ultimately resolved in sis’s favor. Just goes to show it’s not just non-US countries that have restrictions
When I first moved to England in 1996, I was required (as a non-citizen) to register with the local police, and re-register whenever I changed residences or jobs. I had a little green cardboard booklet I was supposed to carry with me at all times (which I thoughtfully put through the wash). What a pain. In 1997 the UK relaxed the rules considerably, and now only require citizens of a much smaller list of countries (which does not include the US) residing in the UK to go through this process. So the police are no longer required to track my whereabouts. More fools they (muahahahahaha…).
Name changes:
It used to be, and still may be, that in Nebraska a woman divorcing her husband needed his permission to change her name back to her maiden name. That’s just cruel.
Republic of Ireland still has this requirement for US citizens. They’re uhhhhhh … pretty lax about enforcing the terms stated inside the little green cardboard booklet though. That’s all I’m gonna say
)