Hey Guys,
check out this Yahoo news story about Blaer who at 15 was finally legally given the right to use a non-approved Icelandic name.
http://news.yahoo.com/icelandic-girl-wins-her-given-name-112518070.html
Thanks for the post. I was wondering how this was going to pan out.
So after reading this article I wanted to look up the Icelanding laws. However, I don’t read Icelandic or Danish, so I looked up the [name]German[/name] naming laws: (I assume that the Icelandic ones are similar).
Basically in Germany it is rather difficult to change your (first) name unless you are adopted or are/have undergone gender-reassignment. Otherwise you have to prove that your name causes undo hardship.
Because of this, parents are required to give their child a name that denotes their correct gender, that does not inherently associate it with evil ([name]Lucifer[/name], Satan are no goes -> though [name]Judas[/name] in connection with a inherently positive name is now allowed), and that does not expose the child to obvious ridicule. (Also - though there are exceptions - you cannot name your child after a trademarked company like Adidas). --> these sort of make sense to me/fit my personal naming likes. If you were to choose a unisex fn then the mn needs to denote gender for example: [name]Lior[/name] [name]Dominic[/name] or [name]Lior[/name] [name]Anna[/name] would be acceptable but [name]Lior[/name] [name]Rowan[/name] would not be.
Really unusual names, such as exotic names that a [name]Judge[/name] might not be familiar with are usually allowed provided the parents can prove it is a proper name someplace in the world. If the name is really out there a cultural/ancestry link to the origin of the name might be required. The idea is to prevent names like Hashtag. Proving that one parent named their child this in a country without similar laws does not constitute valid evidence, however, if the parent is a celebrity it might. [name]Reason[/name] being that a celebrities influence on the public is greater than that of a “normal” person and therefore more people are going to recognize an unusual name --> while this is annoying, proving that a name is legitimate really isn’t the worst fate in the world. You just have to bring proof when you register your child and the process usually goes fairly smoothly.
Some US trends that would be difficult would be: LN’s as FN’s. There are a few exceptions to this rule but in general they like LN to remain LN. Word names and trendy spellings (Also since in [name]German[/name] all nouns have a gender assignment the word would have to fit the gender assignment rule, provided you can get it approved in the first place). Also: The number of acceptable FN is around 5 per person. (There was a ruling that 15 was excessive and undo hardship since the child would have to write them out on all official paperwork for the rest of their lives).
While I really enjoy the freedom [name]America[/name] gives, some of the laws (no evil name and no names that expose the child to ridicule) make inherent sense to me. (I mean should you legally be allowed to name your child Dumbo, Satan or Latrine? Or should Child Protective Services be allowed to step in if the name would create undo hardship?)