Names are pretty strictly controlled in Quebec. For example, the family name may only be derived from the family name of one of the parents, or the hyphenated combination of the two.(source)I imagine the “derived” is in place for certain variants (ska and ski in Polish, for example). The Civil Status Register can also refuse given names for inappropriateness. There was a famous case a few years back where a set of parents were not allowed to name their child “Spatule”. In Quebec French, that means “spatula”, though apparently the parents were thinking of “spoonbill”, as in the bird.
Danish is a race now? I thought it was just a pastry.
In Norway you have to have a first name and a last name. You may have one or more middle names. “junior”, “the fourth” and such are not considered part of your registered name, unless you make them such, but I think you’ll have to hyphenate.
There are some restrictions, but they’re limited to protecting people adopting rare last names without good reason* and names that may be of a significant disability to the bearer. So you can change your name from Jon Viggo to Tog Viggo (Tog is Norwegian for train), but not from Jenny Marie to Chlamydia.
Naming your kid, or at least yourself, Bill Smith The Fourth, shouldn’t be a problem legally, but you might need to point out the facts of the law to the beaurocrats involved.
*For instance I share my last name with less than 30 Norwegians (the limit is 200) so a random Norwegian can’t decide to use it without having a great-great-grandparent or closer ancestor with that name or by marrying someone with that name.
Swedish authorities have become much more lax about names now than they used to.
But, IIRC, there are no problems giving them names like “Graf” or “Baron”.
In Chile we use 2 surnames. father’s first (I think the law now allows to switch order but I’m not sure).
the number of names is not limited but tradition is 2.
The law limites naming only if the name the parents want goes against the kids gender or if it goes against “moral and good customs” which is left of course to the clerks criteria.
Suri or Souri is a Persian name, so that’s not nonsensical.
Gwyneth Paltrow was also not the first person to name a child “Apple.” So, that wasn’t nonsensical or unique either.
So that’s zero-for-three.
I had meant “nonsensical” as in it appears at first glance as though the parents had not given any thought in naming the child.
I doubt Sonny and Cher were honouring their puritan pilgrim forefathers (do they even have puritan pilgrim forefathers?) when naming Chaz. Likewise, neither Tom Cruise or Katie Holmes considered any alleged Persian heritage, and at the time claimed it to be Hebrew for “princess” which was mocked soundly by all the tabloids.
Also, just because a name isn’t the first time to be used, it doesn’t mean that it suddenly makes sense as a name. We may see a host of Renesmees in the near future thanks to Stephanie Meyer, still doesn’t mean that Renesmee suddenly is a meaningful girl’s name.
As crazy as Tom Cruise might seem, I think I can give him credit for being able to access the same resources that I do. He’s relatively well educated, has ample time and resources, and surely is more aware of the wider world than the target audience of the tabloids.
As for your certainty that Cruise, Holmes, Bono, Cher, Paltrow, and Martin just have to be as dumb as you want them to be, I can only say :rolleyes:
Consider that (1) every name was once unique and then rare before it became mundane and (2) naming fashions wax and wane meaning that most names go through phases of sounding weird then normal then old-fashioned and so on. There’s really no cause for thinking that any one person’s personal feelings about a particular name has any broader implication.
What do puritan forefathers have to do with Chastity? Are you telling me someone shouldn’t be able to name their child after a Cardinal Virtue unless they have puritans in the family tree? Because in that case, about 10% of my female former-classmates need name changes… and oh my, all those Espes, Macarenas and Os in Seville, that’s got to be 1/4 of the city!
No, you are being ridiculous in thinking we can’t, by looking at the actions of these celebrities, make a broad estimate on how intelligent they are.
As for Cruise, we have very specifically the fact that he claimed Suri claimed something that it doesn’t. It doesn’t matter what sources he has, he came to a false conclusion.
And while all names were uncommon once, it is not true that all uncommon names were ridiculed by the public at large as a testament that those using them were out of touch with reality. There is a utility in making sure that your child is not made fun of country-wide for something they had no control of such as their name.
You were right in pointing out that these names were not that ridiculous–although Apple did seem so until it was compared with the far more weird–but your argument here is absurd.
The Master speaks on a related subject.
Here is what I know, although the law may have changed. My father changed his name informally (no lawyer, no judge) about when I was born (1937), but my birth certificate has the old name (which I have never used for any purpose). The same thing happened to my brother who was born nearly five years later. But when my sister was born in 1948, they gave the new name to the hospital authorities and it was so registered. They never provided any proof of their name.
I was able to get passport in the new name using some sort of affadavit. I was supposed to get two witnesses to the fact that I was the same person, two people who knew me under both names. The only two people who ever knew me that way were my parents and that worked. If I had to do it today, I have to say there is no one.
When my son was born in Switzerland, we got a book explaining what is legal in Switzerland. It depended on where you were. For example, it was common in the Engadin for parents to use family surnames as first names and that was legal there but not elsewhere. Humerous or controversial names (the example they gave was Karl Marx) were not allowed. But if you were foreign, there were no rules. But the names we gave him (Adam David) were legal anywhere in the country.
Here’s an old thread on this question. I don’t think it sheds any more light–I just like Revtim’s rather colorful choice of name.
There are streets in our city consecutively named John and Thomas.
I’ve cared for babies name King, Queeny, miricale (yes, that’s the spelling) and Vulva, so Im guessing, at least, in WA, there are no restrictions.
There was also Myshyanne. Because the mom’s aunt Anne was very shy.
A recent case from Iceland: HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost
I wonder what the law is in officially or de facto multilingual areas where the languages have more than one script. Can a Cherokee American have a name that is legally spelled in the Cherokee Syllabary and require the DMV to print the actual Cherokee characters on his driver’s license and the US passport agency to print that on his passport? Can an Israeli have a first name spelled in Hebrew characters and a last name spelled in Arabic characters?
What happens when people travel? If an ethnically Korean person from Korea with a Korean name goes to Greece, is there a civil records official waiting for them at the airport to, “Please, sir, you need to select a Greek name spelled in Greek characters which will be your legal name here.” Do Russian immigrants to the US have to file for a legal name change to spell their name in Roman characters? Does USCIS select an official Romanization for them and if you don’t like it go file for a court ordered name change?
Username post combo!
I would imagine the rule is as simple as any other translation:
We put the name down in the local script.
If there is any confusion, consult original ethnic pronuciation and estrablished rules for transcribing that in local script.
(Think Peking/Beijing. Or Mohammed / Muhomet / Mohammet… Just be glad Khadaffi/quadafi / whatsisname is long gone from the news…)
I’m remembering that John Major’s wife was named Cherry, while a news article a decade or so ago in France described a couple who were arguing with the authorities because they said “Cerise” was a valid name, and the registrar of births refused to allow it based on the law against “unusual”(?) names.
John Major’s wife is called Norma. Tony Blair’s wife is Cherie (which is a French word meaning “dearie” 
)…
BTW I loved this quote from the news story linked further up…
My suspicion is that they transliterate the names into the local script, in other words, a Greek guy who’s name is Στέφανος would be transliterated into “Stephanos” in English. I doubt they’d go the extra step and call him “Stephen” in most places.