Illegal Baby Names
Believe it or not, there are places in this world where the naming of a child is strictly prescribed by the government. In America we can call our kids most anything, but in some places it would be illegal to name your children One Million, Two Million, and so forth, as the Million family is said to have done in early Skagit County, Washington. It’s said that Ten Million was quite successful, so maybe the name can make a man after all…
The following examples are excerpted and heavily abbreviated in hopes that you’ll go 
check out the details at the CNN Living website:
1. Sweden
… “First names shall not be approved if they can cause offense or can be supposed to cause discomfort for the one using it, or names which for some obvious reason are not suitable as a first name.”
Rejected names: “Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb111163 (pronounced Albin, naturally) was submitted by a child’s parents in protest of the Naming law. It was rejected. The parents later submitted “A” (also pronounced Albin) as the child’s name. It, too, was rejected…
2. Germany
In Germany, you must be able to tell the gender of the child by the first name, and the name chosen must not be negatively affect the well being of the child. Also, you can not use last names or the names of objects or products as first names.
Rejected names: Matti was rejected for a boy because it didn’t indicate gender.
…
3. New Zealand
New Zealand’s Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act of 1995 doesn’t allow people to name their children anything that “might cause offence to a reasonable person;…
Rejected names: Stallion, Yeah Detroit, Fish and Chips…
Approved names: Benson and Hedges (for a set of twins)…
4. Japan
In Japan, one given name and one surname are chosen for babies, except for the imperial family, who only receive given names… The Japanese also restrict names that might be deemed inappropriate…
Rejected names: Akuma, meaning “devil.”
…
5. Denmark
Denmark’s very strict Law on Personal Names is in place to protect children from having odd names that suit their parents’ fancy. To do this, parents can choose from a list of 7,000 pre-approved names, some for girls, some for boys…
Rejected names: … Pluto and Monkey…
Check out the full article at the CNN Living website.
Thanks to my friend, Ernie Thode, for putting me onto the piece at the CNN website.
January 14th, 2011 at 9:41 pm
Well, it’s a shame that the US doesn’t care about their children enough to protect them from nut job parents who give their children ridiculous names, many of which I find offensive.
Reading the above, Germany has got it right with their policies of what should be allowed.
October 22nd, 2011 at 9:36 am
Well, it’s the parents’ prerogative to name their kid anything they want. SO, I fully intend on naming my kids mary jane, doobie nug, and quickbeam lightfoot.
November 16th, 2011 at 7:12 pm
I agree. I think Germany has it right. I also think that we could stand to have a few more restrictions here in America. The Freedom to name children Shantileema could stand to become a bit more refined now that we are an established country that requires a higher standard of education and order, to operate at peak performance.
November 18th, 2011 at 8:22 am
My son is a 3rd grade teacher and in his class this year alone he has 3 children with strange names…
La-sha (pronounced LaDasha),
Jailintheend (pronounced Gel-in-the-end -guess predicting this boy’s future since he had 9 people in his family serving jail sentence at the time of his birth) and a Magnum (means great, or a size of bottle of alcohol, but no, the mother said it refers to a name of a condom).
I think to have restrictions on names would be a good thing, in light of some of the names we see today.
December 24th, 2011 at 8:12 pm
Last I checked America was a free country and I think that people can name their kids anything they want. I myself love weird names but would not name them something after a condom or drugs. I don’t see anything wrong with unique names. It would make the child their own individual person. Are we supposed to name all the kids Elizabeth and Mathew. Names that people already have? I know I named my kids names I hadn’t really ever heard before. My oldest sons name is Malachi, I got it from children of the corn….my middle sons name is Korbyn, its not really a unique name but I spelled it different for it to be unique….and my youngests name is Braxton, got it from the braxton hicks I had all through the pregnancy.
December 29th, 2011 at 3:36 pm
Unfortunately, there are people who don’t think about the consequences of choosing a unique/oddball name for their child.
I think I have to agree with Germany on this one.
Yes, this is a free country and you’re free to have as many kids as you want, even if you can’t afford to support them. Hmm. I’m kind of thinking we should make everyone take an IQ test before they are allowed to have kids. Some of these people are too stupid to take care of them.
December 29th, 2011 at 5:40 pm
And to think I was ashamed of my name as a child, I thought I was the only one, til I was 18 years old. I am over 50 now, and still reluctant to tell anyone. When Ronnie was elected president, that was a small consolation. Folks should give a little thought to how and where a child grows up. Although my name is not that bad, it was in the time and place where I grew up.
December 29th, 2011 at 6:18 pm
Who cares who likes or dislikes a name as long as its not your name or your child’s name its just not your business.Where is the freedom in America if our names are government business.
January 5th, 2012 at 8:37 pm
Today some of these names might seem odd and weird. But I ask you would you name your child after the meaning “he will enlarge” or “desires a helmet” or “bitter”………sure you would. Because what could be so wrong with Joseph, William and Mary.
January 6th, 2012 at 9:08 am
If the govt needs to save a child from parents that give “remarkable” names, then the child will need saving from a lot worse. I have a friend named Ocean, which I really like, and she’s really pretty so it fits her, but I don’t think it would have passed Germany’s censures.
January 20th, 2012 at 12:00 pm
I think there should be laws so stop people from naming there kids things like ‘lunch box’ or ‘suit case.’ No one really thinks about the child and whats going to happen when they wanna meet people
‘oh hi my names lunch box’
they are going to laugh in there face
January 30th, 2012 at 2:36 pm
It’s not the government’s job to approve or disapprove of names. Who are they to say what you can name your child? If you favor such laws, you do not favor a free society. We should not impose a monopoly of name giving with the force of government behind it. Society has managed itself on this issue for all of human history, we don’t need the threat of legal violence (which is the government) to impose naming restrictions. Parents who bestow ridiculous are already given scorn by their fellow man and are already disincentivized. As evidenced by the 99.9% of people with “normal” names. Don’t resort to fascist tendencies so readily people!
February 9th, 2012 at 8:15 am
People need to think if they would like to be named the name they’re giving their kid. People just don’t care and it’s a shame. I’m only 15 but I understand that it’s not right to name a kid something crazy like Magnum or Jailintheend.
March 2nd, 2012 at 1:43 am
I was given the name Bryan when I was born. I didn’t like it. Thought it made me sound like I should be an accountant. I changed it when I was in my teens and I’m glad I did. I truly believe that a child should be allowed to change their name at least once in their life. Have a little input into what they’ll be called for the rest of their life.
March 12th, 2012 at 4:04 pm
You probably assume I am a guy, wrong! Until the 1940′s females were usually spelled ‘Gene’ and males ‘Jean’ (French for John) then it changed. So according to German law I could not have my name nor could a man have the French spelling.
I also do genealogy and would not like the name Mehitible, Thankful, Eurana or several names that have meanings with different conotations today.
Glad I live in the USA and am free to pick any name I want or change it if I don’t
March 12th, 2012 at 11:36 pm
To those who think we shouldnt give our children unique names. I say your crazy me and my best friends grew up with very common names, its extremely irritating to have 4 or 5 other children in your class, grade, or school with the exact same name. I now work with children and embrace the fact that sevral of them have unique names such as taia (pronounced tay-uh) because its also quiet frustrating when your the adult and confusing the children because there all named jessica, cody, and brittany.
March 18th, 2012 at 12:29 pm
well my name is Zoey, does that make me a freak?
Especially to you Lynn Morton. Shame on you.
Yeah you may not like the odd names and sometimes the just ‘down-right’ ridiculous names, but that is not your call nor the governments.
And with Germany… “because it doesn’t specify a gender.” WOW! That is sexist and discriminatory,but the Germans have a way with that as we have seen from history.
What a boring world it would be if we were all the same. As far as other kids teasing; they will always find something to tease other kids about. That can be solved with raising your children to have open diverse minds. Time to catch up world, it is after all 2012.
March 18th, 2012 at 12:41 pm
I think that people can be named any way that they want.
Names like Brittany, Emily, Anna, anyone that thinks that names can be any thing except for cuss words put thumbs up!! Thanx!! Go names!!!
March 18th, 2012 at 9:30 pm
Personally, my name drives me crazy because I know so many people with that name and at the same time I love it because its a family name. I have 5 yr old daughter named Kara Grace, which is kind of a popular name. But I almost named her Ada. Personally I feel like if its not a cuss word like “shithead” (sha-thed) or “magnum” then name your child as you see fit. Putting laws on what you name your child is the craziest and most stupid thing I have ever heard in my life and its sad that we still have that many narrow minded people left in this world to not be open to a unique name.
March 18th, 2012 at 9:35 pm
My son’s name is Jaiden-proficy … does that make me a bad parent?
March 19th, 2012 at 8:04 pm
I like “unsual” names for the simple fact that my first name is Jennifer. It was really aggravating to hear someone call the name “Jennifer” and 15 people look or when I was in school the teacher would call the name and 3 different girls would answer . That’s Why I go by my middle name, which outside my family. I have only heard once so I am all for naming your kids what you want.
March 20th, 2012 at 12:25 pm
My husband was born and raised in the US and was given the name Jose Cruz with no middle name or initial…do you realize how easily it is to steal his identity? Especially with the same number of people with that name and similar social security number…really..because of simple data entering errors in the state of New York(we don’t even live in NY) he is constantly having someone else’s child support being deducted from his pay check…always have to send in photo identification proving his indentity every time. Give your child a unique name:) but don’t go over board!
March 20th, 2012 at 9:19 pm
There are actually people suggesting we should have “laws” as to what we can name our kids? Who determines what is okay and what is not? Who determines what is a “normal” name? Here is a suggestion – mind your own business. It’s these idiotic people that make me want to name my kid “@” or “1″.
April 11th, 2012 at 4:41 pm
I don’t mind when people give their children unique names. It’s creative! But, I think that there should be some laws in Canada and the United States that prevent couples from giving their children names such as “Apple” or “Toenail” or something silly like that.
May 2nd, 2012 at 10:38 pm
I love different names. My name is very common and annoying i no like 20 other crystals. i have 3 kids. Lana pronounced (lahn-na), Zack no its not short for anything just Zack, and Skyla which i love and havent heard in my life. i do agree people shouldnt be able to name there children just anything like f*ck or born-dumb but anything that wont harm the child any more then any other name is fair game. i think apple is a fine name. i no i was call crystal the pistal when i was young, so any name gets made fun of.
July 15th, 2012 at 10:46 am
I think as part of my and our freedom in America we should be able to name our children without government rule! Having said that, I do not agree with some of the names. Our government is in our lives more than they should be as it is!
July 15th, 2012 at 10:48 am
I think as part of my and our freedom in America we should be able to name our children without government rule! Having said that, I do not agree with some of the names. Our government is in our lifes more than they should be as it is!!!!
November 8th, 2012 at 3:09 pm
It’s a sad fact that, here in Canada, a person needs to have a license to carry a gun, get married, or even to drive a car, and yet, ANYONE ( This includes: the “stupid people” who seem to unfortunately manage to creep out of their genetic mud bog; those people who, had they been born in the wild, would’ve been eaten at birth; politicians; etc) can breed without any condition! Freedom can be a good thing at times, however, excessive freedom in the wrong hands… not so much!