Just a couple of days ago, I wrote about a couple who was ordered by a judge to change their son's name from Messiah to Martin because only Jesus Christ deserves that title. I found the judge's decision completely outrageous, but little did I know then that several countries around the world have actual laws that dictate what you can and cannot name your children.
Check some of them out:
Read more ¿Qué más?: 20 Unique Latino baby names
The first five names on the list are all from New Zealand, which recently released a list of the outrageous names it has banned since 2001. According to that country's government, offensive names, unreasonably long ones and any that resemble an official title or rank won't be accepted.
- Justice
- Lucifer
- 4Real
- Anal
- Stallion
Next, we have Sweden where parents have to choose from a list of 7,000 names pre-aproved by the government. If they can't find anything they like, they can try to get permission to use something else. Check out the ones that didn't make it:
- Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116 — This comes from Sweden
- Anus
- Metallica
- Superman
The next two names are from Asia, the first one from China and the second one from Japan:
- @
- Akuma (devil in Japanese)
In Portugal, there's an 80-page document that includes the strict country's acceptable and prohibited names such as these:
- Satélite
- Portugal
- Sayonara
- Kennedy
- Ben-Hur
Finally, although the following names are not banned, a politician did try to pass a law in the Dominica Republican trying to prevent parents from using crazy names like the following ones for their kids:
- Querida Piña
- Totón Ruíz
- Mazda Altagracia
- Winston Churchill
Image via Thinkstock
