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

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

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.

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.

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.