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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Babies called Braxlee, Blayde, Bleu, Tayzia, Tybee, Tyce, Stryker, Stonker, Spartacus, Maysun, Majesty and Mox

39 replies

MollyHuaCha · 16/06/2017 13:12

BearIn Germany, you must be able to tell a child's gender from their first name. You cannot use a surname or the name of an object as a first name.

BearIn Sweden the Naming Law exists to check first names to ensure they do not cause offence or discomfort to the one using it.

BearIn Japan, 'inappropriate' names are banned.

BearDenmark produces a list of around 7000 approved names. Creative spellings are not allowed.

BearIceland rejects baby names that might embarrass the child. Names also need to fit in with Icelandic traditions.

BearIs it time for all countries to give more guidance to parents naming their children?

OP posts:
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TheFirstMrsDV · 26/06/2017 10:11

What is wrong with that statement Chardonnay?
Unless you are making a joke.

People are free to dislike names but they should learn to understand that its not about what they like and stop hiding behind faux concern for The Children

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 26/06/2017 09:33

Indeed. I dislike names like Peregrine as much as I dislike Chardonnay but free choice isn't it?

Nice....

corythatwas · 26/06/2017 09:33

When I was a child a child named Oskar in Sweden would have been bullied to shreds. Absolutely. We would have howled with laughter at the thought. 40 years later and it's one of the most popular names out there. So the name-registering people clearly passed the first Oskar and let him take his chances. No reason to assume they wouldn't have done the same with Spartacus. Both genuine historical names.

lizzieoak, Kathryn is a very old and recognised variant of Katherine. Goes back to the Middle Ages and has been in consistent use since.

corythatwas · 26/06/2017 09:26

The Swedish rules are about parents not naming their children White Supremacy Adolf Hitler, not about slightly creative spellings. Or, as mentioned above, random numbers.

The Icelandic name rules are a special case, as user above points out, and strictly to do with Icelandic grammar, nothing to do with the names themselves. Icelandic is the only Germanic language which has retained its full system of noun endings. If you start introducing lots of names which don't fit into the system, the whole grammar will collapse and Icelandic will become like English or Swedish with no noun endings. They don't want that as it would cut off their ties with the old literature and culture which is very much part of their identity.

The English are in a different situation as their great literature (Shakespeare onwards) came at a time when the grammatical shift had already happened. Otoh the English are hanging on to their difficult and archaic spelling for pretty similar reasons: if we started spelling phonetically nobody would be able to read Jane Austen anymore.

lizzieoak · 25/06/2017 19:22

I've noticed a tendency for people to miss out vowels in names and I'm not sure what to make of that.
Do people not hear the
missing vowels? For example Arn (Aaron), Kathryn, Alexnder, Emlee (Emily), etc.

FreeNiki · 25/06/2017 19:11

Majesty probably would be rejected here as you aren't allowed to use a name that bestows a title such as Lord etc.

I watched a documentary about pregnant women behind bars in.the usa. One had daughters named Jayla Chardonnay and Dazzling Gayle.

Remember the child Tallulah Does the Hula and the court case?

user1497991256 · 25/06/2017 14:41

In my experience, people who criticise naming laws usually don't understand them or even have accurate knowledge of them.

In reality, every country has naming laws and restricts the choices that parents can make. In the UK you would not be able to name your child K8 or Влади́мир for example, for very practical reasons.

In other countries naming laws are also in large part practical, not ideological. It is just that what is practical in English is not always practical for another language.

I'll only speak concerning the laws I am familiar with, but I can let you all know that plenty of legal names in Iceland could embarrass a child (e.g. Ljótur which was fine in Old Norse but in the modern language means Ugly) and names must fit in with Icelandic GRAMMAR and ORTHOGRAPHY, not traditions per se (although tradition is important with regards to last names). There are hundreds of given names that are not at all traditional, taken from all sorts of other languages/cultures. If a name can be made grammatical and spelt in a way that makes sense for Icelandic orthography (which is highly phonetic) then you're good to go.
In addition, the laws do not apply to immigrants in the same way so people with different backgrounds are completely free to name in accordance with their cultures.

LiveLongAndProspero · 24/06/2017 20:08

In theory I think we should all be free to choose our childrens names, but then I think of what monstrosities wankers inflict on their poor kids and I think someone should probably intervene for their sakes.

RedPeppers · 24/06/2017 20:06

Same in France. You have rules about how yu cannot give a child a name that will him/her uncomfortable later in in life (so some totally acceptable names might be rejected because they WILL be a cause of laughter when associated with their family name).
You also cannot use a family name as a first name. So my friend who wanted to use her maiden name as a second name for her dc was rejected.

To make things even more complicated, you can have a child with names 'approved' in the uk, born in the uk so their birth certificate is British. But being born from french parents, they will need to be registered too at the french embassy. That will reject some names and will register them with a different set of name Confused

OrgyofSausages · 24/06/2017 20:01

Maysun?? Really?

RhythmStix · 18/06/2017 22:34

Wankmaster bumbandit is my name of choice.

SvartePetter · 18/06/2017 19:03

Swede here. The names that are not acceptable are names that are considered to cause hardship later in life, for example there was a case of a child named a random selection of 25 numbers. I'm pretty certain all the examples in the title would be accepted.

PhoenixJasmine · 18/06/2017 18:45

In the U.K., registrars can refuse a name if they deem it inappropriate can't they?

FatLittleWombat · 18/06/2017 18:39

I think things are okay the way they are in the UK. Limiting the choice of names to those considered traditional is a bad idea imo because names naturally evolve. If that rule were the case in the UK, we'd all still be called Pippin and Aethelred, wouldn't we?

FizzyGreenWater · 18/06/2017 18:25

I'm going to apply for TeddyBullet to go on the approved list.

BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 17/06/2017 16:37

A requirement to have gender specific names would be particularly difficult in English speaking countries where there is a long history of gender drift. Names like Hilary, Shirley, Jocelyn, Lindsay, Sidney and Lynne were all male names that drifted into being used for girls.

zeeboo · 17/06/2017 16:18

Oh dear Lord the bears Hmm
I am very glad that we aren't limited in names. My daughters have unusual names but neither are crazy or offensive.
As for it being easy to pin point their gender, with gender fluidity being more and more acceptable nowadays except on Mumsnet
It can be a comfort and advantage to trans youth and their family that they can seek their true identity without having to seek a new name. I've just finished a fantastic memoir by the mother of a ftm trans son and he expressed to her, as did his grandparents that he/they were so pleased he didn't have to change his name.

PelvicFloorClenchReminder · 17/06/2017 15:55

Don't worry OP, I'm sure it won't be long before the law is passed that all female babies must be named Theresa and all male babies must be named Boris.

BendydickCuminsnatch · 17/06/2017 14:54

Grin loving the bears OP Grin

LoisWilkersonsLastNerve · 17/06/2017 12:23

Imagine the uproar if Ava, Oscar, Finn, Aoife, Eve and Lily were on the forbidden list

Indeed. I dislike names like Peregrine as much as I dislike Chardonnay but free choice isn't it?

AngelaTwerkel · 17/06/2017 12:20

Those rules are ridiculous. You must be able to tell a child's gender? So no Sam or Jamie.

Is this another thread about children not becoming high court judges because they're called Staycee?

UsernameInvalid66 · 17/06/2017 12:11

BlackAmericano (nice choice of drink by the way) - I worked in a school where there were two boys with exactly the same name, let's call them Connor Brown. "Big" Connor Brown was in year 5 and was aggressive, noisy and often in trouble. "Little" Connor Brown was in year R, tiny for his age, cried most days and wouldn't say boo to a goose. One day in assembly Big Connor must have been doing something silly because the deputy head suddenly shouted "CONNOR BROWN STOP THAT IMMEDIATELY!" And Little Connor shot about three feet up into the air and burst into loud wails.

TheFirstMrsDV · 16/06/2017 16:45

People only like the idea of these laws because they don't think they will affect them.

Imagine the uproar if Ava, Oscar, Finn, Aoife, Eve and Lily were on the forbidden list.

People should mind their own business about what others call their kids.
No one in the UK has called their child Hitler or Poobucket or if they have they haven't got away with it.

So harmful names are not an issue.
The issue is with names others think are common.

Daisy and Archie used to be common. If you called out those names in a naice London park nowadays you would get killed in the stampede.

harderandharder2breathe · 16/06/2017 16:37

As much as I dislike the names in the OP, I'm glad we have the right to choose freely

The only time the state should step in is if a name is offensive or will cause significant harm to the child e.g. Hitler, Penis, Fuckoff.

MikeUniformMike · 16/06/2017 16:32

I like Spartacus, Ninja and Panda.

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