IIRc there was a news item a dcade or two ago about the parent in France who wanted to name their child “Cerise” (Cherry). This was not on the “approved list” and teh government refused to register the name. Not sure whether they have a list of approved names for immigrants.
As to the OP, I would imagine at a certain point the child would be removed by child and family services for child abuse with the wrong name. Of course, if it was a valid ethnic name, that would be unlikely to happen. However, doing something that would cause problems throughout life would certainly be an indication of inadequate parenting skills. (There was a case in Canada somewhere of a parent who lost custody because her 5-yo went to school with swastikas drawn on her arm.
In “Freakonomics” the author spends a lot of time discussing names and their impact - mainly “do black-sounding names hinder a person’s ability to succeed in life?” I guess literacy is an important requirement - he mentions one unfortunate young offender whose name was “Temptress”; apparently the mother had meant to call her “Tempest” but lacked the vocabulary skills or spelling skills. The judge observed that the name seemed appropriate.
I went to college with a girl named ‘9’, although that was her middle name if I recall correctly. She went by 9 most of the time although her first name was Wendy. Her brother’s middle name was ‘7’ I think.
I recall reading a memoir by Marshall something-or-other who was an American diplomat during the cold war. He was attending a big state dinner in Moscow, and during the dinner chat realized all his table companions were high ranking red army people. They asked him how many men he had commanded during the war and he had to explain “Marshall” was a name not a rank. teh seating arrangements had been made so he would be outranked by his dinner companions… He says the Russians chuckled and made some comments about incompetent KGB people, then they had a nice conversation about other things.
There is currently a case in NJ in which 3 kids have been removed from their home in part due to their names.
Other articles I have read indicate that the parents are mentally unstable and that was why the kids were removed, but the names were what flagged the case to the authorities.
Also, Costco refused to make little Adolf Hitler Campbell a birthday cake with his name on it.
Concerning France, not exactly, and besides the law has changed years ago.
Originally, only first names appearing on the calendar of saints and names of famous people from the antiquity (allowing Jewish names and some others already in use like Cesar) were allowed.
This evolved into allowing any name you could show existed (necessary in particular for immigrants using names from their country of origin).
This control fell on the shoulders of the clerck keeping the birth registers who could or could not be anal about it ( this happened to one of my brothers, who had two first names refused in a row for his daughter). If you disagreed, you had to go to court, and the judges would decide to allow the name or not.
Nowadays, it works the other way around. The clerck must petition the court if he thinks the given name is innapropriate for whatever reason, but you can make up names as long as it’s unlikely to be harmful for the kid.
Sort of. Although this story broke while I was in Iraq I followed it closely because the family involved lived in the next town over and the store that was involved was the supermarket I used. The story came out cause the father made a stink when the Shoprite (Greenwich NJ) refused to make the birthday cake. He was able to get the cake made at a Walmart in Easton PA. The father somehow thought he would get sympathy in the press. Or he is an attention whore. DYFS received multiple complaints of child abuse. They are obligated to follow up on all complaints. When they did they did not like what they saw. Last I had heard the children have not been returned to the parents. They were not removed because of their names.