You want to call your baby WHAT? : Thu Jan 31, 2013 3:47 pm  

It has taken, to me somewhat astonishingly, 15 years for an Icelandic girl to be allowed to officially use her given name, "Blaer". Although the government may yet appeal to the country's top court. Apparently, in Iceland there are very strict official rules on what you can call you baby, and "Blaer" was "not feminine enough". So till now Icelandic officialdom has stubbornly officially referred to the poor lass simply as "Girl". There are some 1,853 approved female names on the Icelandic Naming Committee's list. "Icelandic Naming Committee"?? FFS. What sort of a job is that? How much does it pay? Name your own price? Then I noted that similar restrictions apply in places like Germany and Denmark. WTF?? In this day and age, with all the problems in the world, have these people really nothing better to do? Or are they right? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21280101

It has taken, to me somewhat astonishingly, 15 years for an Icelandic girl to be allowed to officially use her given name, "Blaer". Although the government may yet appeal to the country's top court. Apparently, in Iceland there are very strict official rules on what you can call you baby, and "Blaer" was "not feminine enough". So till now Icelandic officialdom has stubbornly officially referred to the poor lass simply as "Girl". There are some 1,853 approved female names on the Icelandic Naming Committee's list. "Icelandic Naming Committee"?? FFS. What sort of a job is that? How much does it pay? Name your own price? Then I noted that similar restrictions apply in places like Germany and Denmark. WTF?? In this day and age, with all the problems in the world, have these people really nothing better to do? Or are they right? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21280101

Re: You want to call your baby WHAT? : Thu Jan 31, 2013 4:14 pm  

A friend of mine named her first two kids Tia-Sian and Maia-Shae - exotic names of Spanish, Welsh, Greek and Gaelic origin but a little eccentric when you consider she's just a bog-standard whitey Brit with no exotic connections that I know of. But she then outdid herself by appearing to choose her next daughter's profession well in advance with the glamorous title, 'Talulah-Belle". Rejecting baby names or even having a statutory list of accepted names is nothing new, though (to a non-Icelandic) Blaer seems entirely reasonable. But then most Icelandics I've met have been a bit loopy. And the Finnish. Lunatics, the lot of 'em. Anyway, Other rejections are more understandable. To me it comes down to the child - if they're likely to be ridiculed, bullied, etc, the name should be rejected. To be fair a surprising proportion of parents are complete idiots, even when the welfare of their child is at stake.

A friend of mine named her first two kids Tia-Sian and Maia-Shae - exotic names of Spanish, Welsh, Greek and Gaelic origin but a little eccentric when you consider she's just a bog-standard whitey Brit with no exotic connections that I know of. But she then outdid herself by appearing to choose her next daughter's profession well in advance with the glamorous title, 'Talulah-Belle". Rejecting baby names or even having a statutory list of accepted names is nothing new, though (to a non-Icelandic) Blaer seems entirely reasonable. But then most Icelandics I've met have been a bit loopy. And the Finnish. Lunatics, the lot of 'em. Anyway, Other rejections are more understandable. To me it comes down to the child - if they're likely to be ridiculed, bullied, etc, the name should be rejected. To be fair a surprising proportion of parents are complete idiots, even when the welfare of their child is at stake.

Re: You want to call your baby WHAT? : Thu Jan 31, 2013 6:16 pm  

Somewhere out there is a child officially named Number 16 Bus Shelter.

I'm just surprised two didn't come at once.

Re: You want to call your baby WHAT? : Thu Jan 31, 2013 6:40 pm  

When pregnant, my sister was planning to name her daughter Tamara.

How to solve this?

Walk around singing: 'The sun'll come out, Tamara ...' regularly.

Re: You want to call your baby WHAT? : Thu Jan 31, 2013 6:55 pm  

I think "Girl" is quite a good name, for a girl.

Obviously not for a boy, there would have to be rules.

Re: You want to call your baby WHAT? : Thu Jan 31, 2013 6:56 pm  

JerryChicken wrote:

I think "Girl" is quite a good name, for a girl.

Obviously not for a boy, there would have to be rules.

Re: You want to call your baby WHAT? : Thu Jan 31, 2013 6:57 pm  

And wasn't Tarzan's kid called "Boy" ?

And how the hell did that happen, what are the chances of two kids, a generation apart, being abandoned in the jungle and raised by apes ?

Re: You want to call your baby WHAT? : Thu Jan 31, 2013 7:13 pm  

JerryChicken wrote:

I think "Girl" is quite a good name, for a girl.

Obviously not for a boy, there would have to be rules.

Yeah, like JerryChicken wouldn't fall fowl of any such rules.

Re: You want to call your baby WHAT? : Thu Jan 31, 2013 7:57 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

Somewhere out there is a child officially named Number 16 Bus Shelter.

I'm just surprised two didn't come at once.

Well, if the the Shelter bit was missing they might have.

Re: You want to call your baby WHAT? : Thu Jan 31, 2013 8:02 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote: It has taken, to me somewhat astonishingly, 15 years for an Icelandic girl to be allowed to officially use her given name, "Blaer". Although the government may yet appeal to the country's top court. Apparently, in Iceland there are very strict official rules on what you can call you baby, and "Blaer" was "not feminine enough". So till now Icelandic officialdom has stubbornly officially referred to the poor lass simply as "Girl". "Icelandic Naming Committee"?? FFS. What sort of a job is that? How much does it pay? Name your own price? Then I noted that similar restrictions apply in places like Germany and Denmark. WTF?? In this day and age, with all the problems in the world, have these people really nothing better to do? Or are they right? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21280101 I feel you need to be a little more accepting FA of other country's rules. I mean, if your son gets taken away from you simply because you christened him Adolf Hitler like in the US. Where will it end? I know of a child over here called "Star of the Sea" as his first name.

Ferocious Aardvark wrote: It has taken, to me somewhat astonishingly, 15 years for an Icelandic girl to be allowed to officially use her given name, "Blaer". Although the government may yet appeal to the country's top court. Apparently, in Iceland there are very strict official rules on what you can call you baby, and "Blaer" was "not feminine enough". So till now Icelandic officialdom has stubbornly officially referred to the poor lass simply as "Girl". "Icelandic Naming Committee"?? FFS. What sort of a job is that? How much does it pay? Name your own price? Then I noted that similar restrictions apply in places like Germany and Denmark. WTF?? In this day and age, with all the problems in the world, have these people really nothing better to do? Or are they right? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21280101 I feel you need to be a little more accepting FA of other country's rules. I mean, if your son gets taken away from you simply because you christened him Adolf Hitler like in the US. Where will it end? I know of a child over here called "Star of the Sea" as his first name.