[QUOTE=Frylock]
(Note added emphasis.)
Really? 
:eek:
(IOW: Cite? :eek: )
-FrL-
[/QUOTE]
It indeed used to be true. More exactly, during the 19th century the only first names allowed were the saint’s names appearing on the calendar and the name of famous people from the antiquity. IOW, only traditional French names were allowed (The names of famous people from the antiquity were included because some of these names were commonly used, like say, Cesar, or Jewish names). This was later extended to traditional names from other cultures, I don’t know when.
In practice, it worked the following way until recently : when you declared the birth and the child’s name at the town hall, the official in charge could refuse to register this name, either because it’s wasn’t an usual name, either because he deemed it to be potentially harmful to the kid for other reasons (for instance the combination first-name + last name could have led to teasing). Though it was implemented quite randomly. Some civil servants could be strict about it, while others wouldn’t care as long as they didn’t find the name inappropriate.
It’s exactly what happened to my niece. Their parents wanted to call her the French equivalent of “Apple”. The deputy mayor refused, indeed on the basis that this could lead to teasing. Knowing my brother, I suspect he irritated the hell out of the deputy mayor, because their second choice, a slight variation (one vowel changed) of a relatively usual name was refused too. I think this one would have been accepted almost universally otherwise.
If you disagreed with the decision of the local authority, you had to go to court, and you’d be tasked with providing evidences that the name you picked was indeed traditional (in your family, your culture of origin, whatever..) and even if you did the court could still reject your choice if it was deemed potentially harmful for the kid.
The idea was of course that the interest of the child had to prevail over the parent’s wishes, something I completely agree with. And as for why it had to be a traditional name, it was intended to give the officials/courts some objective basis for their decision.
Some years ago (10 years, maybe, probably less) these laws were changed. Now, it’s the town hall official who has to ask for a court ruling if he’s opposed to your name of choice. And the courts, if I’m not mistaken, will only rule only on the basis of the interest of the kid, whether the name is traditional or not. This of course resulted in “made up names” becoming less unusual.
I would note that it’s also very difficult to change your name in France, once you’re an adult. A court has to allow it (and though I could be mistaken or it could have changed, I think only the highest court of appeal competent for administrative law can rule on this) and, AFAIK, there are only four cases when it’s possible :
-If you want to change your foreign name for a “frenchized” (not a word, but I suppose you’ll understand what I mean) name.
-If your name expose you to ridicule (say, you’re called Mr Cunt)
-If your name has become infamous (say, there’s a well-known serial killer going by the same name)
-If a branch of your family went extinct and you want to “revive” the name (That’s what the family of the former French president Giscard d’Estaing did, after the d’Estaing family, mostly known for the admiral who commanded the French fleet during the American war of independence, went extinct).
It’s also possible to get an half-official status for a pseudonym or another name you choose to use instead of your own, but I don’t know how it works exactly.
