Should there be a government list of approved names

[Viviennemary]

I believe some countries have such a list. A while ago I would have thought this was a very bad idea. Now I am beginning to wonder when I see some of the outlandish names some poor children are inflicted with. Or is it none of anybody's business.

No, no, no. The government have enough sway and control already. Why would we want to select names only from a sanctioned list? There are too many variances that make me uncomfortable: who decides, how it's decided, etc.

Obviously, no-one should be naming their children obscenities or after vilified historical figures (I'm thinking 'Hitler Middlename Surname' with this).

But a list of 'approved' names? No.

MammaT

I love the sound of the Copenhagen Names Investigation Department. I think that should be the setting for the next bleak TV Scando-drama. Inspector Andersen of the NID faces the dark kernel of blankness in the depths of his soul when he in confronted with a baby called Chelsea-Shanice.

dodo perhaps not fair, but I do know an English couple who had their child in Portugal, and had to use a name from the list. The list is pretty long, and you can find a version of most names on it. It prevents the over-anglicisation of names in the country.

oaty pmsl

germany has a list as well. it is not quite as strict as some of the scandinavian lists. and if you want to name your child a name that's not on the list you can 'prove' it that it is a proper name at the registry office with old newspaper cuttings/copies from the family tree and such.

I'd love there to be an approved list in this country. Firstly, to prevent ridiculous names such as 'Aryan Hitler', 'Tallulah does the Hula in Hawaii', '1!Star' or something similarly ridiculous. Also, looking at the bitchiness on the baby names boards, with names having such strong class connotations, having an approved list might reduce this (though I accept that there may be names on an approved list that are used more commonly by various classes).

As to ex-pats living in other countries such as Portugal, surely you should just have to suck it up. You live there, you embrace the culture, surely?

Too add weight point, my DD1s name is not on the Portugese list. DD2s name is not approved.

MT

FWIW, both daughters names are not outlandish and quite ordinary. DD1s name is of Italian origin and used world-wide; DD2s name is of Spanish origin.

MT

People who are in favour of a list of approved names would probably also be in favour of government guidelines on how to wipe their backside.

Why should you have to give your child a Portugese name just because you're living in Portugal? How very boring and homogenous that sounds.

OatyBeatie I would love to see that programme! Lots of be-chiselled cheekboned beauties smoking in a darkened room scowling beautifully and striking their big fat sharpies through applications entitled 'I want to call my daughter Pie', 'Please let me call my son Buster'.

The names list doesnt prevent connotations being attached to names, in sweden for example boys names ending in "y" are considered un-posh and likely to lead to prison.. names like tommy, ronny, conny..

another thing to consider is that you can have your child called 2 different names in different countries, so if I want to I can call my baby heavenly blue banana in england and Astrid Lisbet in sweden.

Oh I didn't realise you could register different names in different countries.

Even though I am anti Approved Names List I must say that if one of those bee-yoo-tiful Danish men offered me the fruit of their loins and their beautiful mid century modern homes to share I would happily name my sons Lars, Lars and Lars (possibly).

what about lars-a for a girl? ;) the lovely danish man would ofcourse be called lars larsson!

Oh yes! I can picture it now . . . . my husband Lars Larsson, my sons Lars Larsson, Lars Larsson and Lars Larsson and my lovely daughter Larsa Larssen.

Same names as the all the neighbours kids but hey ho, it's worth it for those cheekbones!

i wonder if cheakbones can get you over any name you are "blessed" with...

I work as an Englsih teacher and in the last 2 years I have probably met around 200 kids, I have never met a child who's name isn't in the top 100 list!

Political subplot for the Danish Names Investigation Dept drama: Lars Larsen, minister for stylish furniture, is found hanged. Murdered by the secretive paramilitary wing of the Names Dept following his attempt to oust the prime minister by revealing his lovechild Nike Pearblossom.

oaty

Nike Pearlblossom has had to masquerade as Sara Larssen all her life so as not to invoke the wrath of the Copenhagen Names Investigation Department. She belongs to a deadly and secretive group called the Brotherhood Of Disgruntled Danes Who Can Only Use Their Fancy Names In Private. High ranking members include Tallulhah Baboombah and Striker Magico who by day appear as ordinary Danes and go by the names of Sara Petersen and Lars Larssen

By night however the make blood sacrifices of real life Sara Petersons and Lars Larssens over a Verner Panton chair (stylish and plastic, very apt for blood spillage).

Only 48 hours to find the next victim amongst 5 million Sara Petersens and Lars Larssens in the Danish phone book.

Despite his own private baby-name shame (or probably in some tortured way because of it), Nike Pearblossom's father the prime minister is a names-hardliner whom the Names Police are sworn to protect at all cost. Minister Lars Larssen was their natural target because he wanted a modest liberalisation of the names regime (he wanted to add "Kenneth" to the approved list so that fans of the English Wallander prog could honour their hero).

littlemissbroody26 - if you're an English teacher, shouldn't you know the difference between who's and whose?

Yes I think there should be a way of regulating names. I go on sites all the time and I see see girls saying I want to name my kid some wacky name and in my head I just want to scream at her seriously!

I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but there's now a kid called Facebook and as for these celebrity names what were they taking when they thought "Oh I know, let's name it Apple!"

Freckledleopard I only teach spoken english as I teach the little ones here and they don't start school till they are 7, my career pre living in sweden was as a photographer but they dont have the same style of family photography as in the uk and australia where i worked pre sweden. I'm dyslexic so my written english is pants, id never dream of teaching it! but i have a lovely bbc accent so thats what helped me find work :)

I feel sad that I have never actually met a person called lars.... i might put it on my baby name list!

Shocked to learn she has sprung from such hardline loins Nike Pearlblossom decides to do some digging in the state archives. People had always been suspicious the PM?s non existent cheekbones and his love of chintz but here was proof. Nike discovered that her father, Prime Minister Lars Petersen had been adopted as a baby. He was born in England and his true name was Trevor Hargreaves. Cigarettes were lit across Denmark in shock as this discovery. The Name Police turned their eyes on the PM . . . . .

I'm hooked. Somebody phone BBC Four and get it commissioned asap.

Thanks to a combination of racism and political intrigue, the murder of the PM by the Names Police is blamed on an Islamic group dedicated to the permissibility of Mohammed as a Danish name, which in fact has only two members, both of whom favour a peaceful route to naming reform.