83 replies to this topic

[Wingnut]

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Metallica may be a cool name for a heavy metal band, but a Swedish couple is struggling to convince officials it is also suitable for a baby girl.

Michael and Karolina Tomaro are locked in a court battle with Swedish authorities, which rejected their application to name their six-month-old child after the legendary rock band.

"It suits her," Karolina Tomaro, 27, said Tuesday of the name. "She's decisive and she knows what she wants."

Although little Metallica has already been baptized, the Swedish National Tax Board refused to register the name, saying it was associated with both the rock group and the word "metal."

Tomaro said the official handling the case also called the name "ugly."

The couple was backed by the County Administrative Court in Goteborg, which ruled on March 13 that there was no reason to block the name. It also noted that there already is a woman in Sweden with Metallica as a middle name.

The tax agency appealed to a higher court, frustrating the family's foreign travel plans.

"We've had to cancel trips and can't get anywhere because we can't get her a passport without an approved name," Tomaro said.

[Mary]

Aw....they should let little Metallica be.  It isn't a name I would choose, but I guess it does sound kind of feminine, maybe because of the whole ending-in-the-letter-a thing...distinctive, at least.  :p

[TidgeyPud]

Just be thankful her parents weren't into Anthrax!

[kohoutekdriver8]

I heard about a man who legally changed his name to include all of Level 42's song titles, the band member's names, and Level 42 itself, all interspersed between the names his parents gave him.

Naming your wee one "Metallica" might have seemed cool 10 or 15 years ago, but now it would just be gauche.

Is it true that in Sweden, you have to name your child from an approved list of names if you are a citizen of that country and give birth there?  I've heard that about Germany as well, hence the controversy.

[DericksHam]

Quote

She's decisive and she knows what she wants

i don't see how you could use that to describe metallica. they acted like shameless, and then later regretful, hypocrites after they sided with the RIAA.

[TraceyBHull]

I suppose it's their right to call their daughter anything they want to. It does make me think though that parents should realize that when they give their children odd names that they are saddling them with something they will have to live with for a very long time. The parents of this little girl obviously haven't thought of whether their daughter might appreciate her name when she is older.

[isilida 32]

awwwww screw it! with a name like metallica she's bound to end up a prostitute. or least one of those groupies you hear about.

[Sweden]

kohoutekdriver8 said:

Is it true that in Sweden, you have to name your child from an approved list of names if you are a citizen of that country and give birth there?  I've heard that about Germany as well, hence the controversy.

Of course that is not true. Urban legends about "those damn commie Europeans" are still common though, I understand. :cool:

Anyway, there are of course still certain rules that apply to the naming of children.

You are obliged to name your child within three months or so after the birth. Upon doing so, you file a registration with the relevant authority. In the unlikely event that the name you have chosen for your child (mainly firstname, of course) is not acceptable, you will be issued an injunction to chose another name.

There are several reasons for a name not being accepted. It could be that you are trying to give a boy a name that is female according to Swedish cultural and naming traditions. Exceptions can of course be made if there are cultural ties to another naming traditions which differs from the Swedish one. (ie. "Maria" for men in Spanish-language tradition.)
Another reason could be that the the name is expected to bring prejudice or discomfort to the child in the future.  (ie. naming your child "Monkey" or "Hooker".) This connects to another rule that the name may not be abusive in any other way. (ie. naming your child "Nigger".)

The main point of the authorities having last say in whether a name is ok or not is of course to ensure that no child is given a name that can bring them discomfort in the future, or that is abusive to others. Sounds pretty logical to
me.

Then again, this is all of course only an issue of the official, registered name. Whatever nickname you chose to use for your child, no one can influence.

/D

[oklahoma sam]

Sweden said:

Of course that is not true. Urban legends about "those damn commie Europeans" are still common though, I understand. :cool:

Anyway, there are of course still certain rules that apply to the naming of children.

You are obliged to name your child within three months or so after the birth. Upon doing so, you file a registration with the relevant authority. In the unlikely event that the name you have chosen for your child (mainly firstname, of course) is not acceptable, you will be issued an injunction to chose another name.

There are several reasons for a name not being accepted. It could be that you are trying to give a boy a name that is female according to Swedish cultural and naming traditions. Exceptions can of course be made if there are cultural ties to another naming traditions which differs from the Swedish one. (ie. "Maria" for men in Spanish-language tradition.)
Another reason could be that the the name is expected to bring prejudice or discomfort to the child in the future.  (ie. naming your child "Monkey" or "Hooker".) This connects to another rule that the name may not be abusive in any other way. (ie. naming your child "Nigger".)

The main point of the authorities having last say in whether a name is ok or not is of course to ensure that no child is given a name that can bring them discomfort in the future, or that is abusive to others. Sounds pretty logical to
me.

Then again, this is all of course only an issue of the official, registered name. Whatever nickname you chose to use for your child, no one can influence.

/D

great post dave. you the man....

[OneArpeggioPete]

it's not true about germany either. all you have to make sure is that the child's gender is obvious and it's not abusive. all the other nonsense that occasionally happens is the result of overzealous civil servants who refuse to register a name because it doesn't scan in their own little brains.

:-)

oneArpeggiopete:cool:

[Sweet Fanny Addams]

I don't see why the state has the right to insist on  gender being obvious/"appropriate". What does that mean, anyway? I have a daughter named Lindsey. There are males with that name so would it be deemed as not a premissable name in some countries? Why should I or anyone have to adhere to a state diktat about that? A lot of English names could be either/or. Off the top of my head, Adrian, Vivian, Glyn, Kim, Hilary, Charlie, Alex, Chris and a shitload of others are both male and female. Who cares?

[Sweet Fanny Addams]

Oops. Forgot this one.
http://www.murmurs.c...03&postcount=11

[OneArpeggioPete]

hey, hold your horses! :) if the state should have a right to intervene in the naming of babies like that is quite a different ballgame anyway if you ask me, but even with the gender thing in place you can still name your kid pretty much whatever the hell you want in germany. basically, if the gender is not recognisable from the first name you intend to give your baby all you have to do is give him or her a middle name that makes things clear. german culture, btw, has very few ambiguous names, which makes it easier i guess... something tells me, btw, that you're probably not allowed to call your child. say, hitlerina or goebbels, but then that can really only be a good thing...

:-)

oneArpeggiopete:cool:

[quiet-cats]

Sweden said:

Then again, this is all of course only an issue of the official, registered name. Whatever nickname you chose to use for your child, no one can influence.

/D

Absolutely - I have a son called Kit (which btw in England can be a name for a girl or boy).   His given real name , however, is Christopher.  I can say that I cannot ever remember calling Kit Christopher ever since he was about 1 year old.

It has caused some funny minutes though such as the day he was due to take a test to go to a selective school... he must ,seriously, have been the only kid taking that test who had to be prepped on the way how to spell his real name C.h.r.i.s.t.o.p.h.e.r

I think the parents in question should be allowed to call their baby anything they want ... she'll still hate and despise them for it (whatever it is) when she's 16 :p

[OneArpeggioPete]

i've met quite a few people in my life who never actually knew their real name until they had reason to get out their birth certificate. i knew a katja whose name was actually katherina, a dieter who was really dietrich, and, weirdest of all, a julia who had actually been registered and christened iris. the one thing i don't get about naming conventions is that british thing of adding an -ina to a name and suddenly it's a girl. i mean, is there any name that says more clearly "i was supposed to be a boy" than hughina? quite apart from the mental image that conjures up in me, how do you even pronounce that? heweena? (sounds like hyena) hewjeena? (sounds like a toilet cleaner) what?

:-)

oneArpeggiopete:cool:

[quiet-cats]

As an English person I have to say I've never heard of a Hughina lol!

[OneArpeggioPete]

maybe it's more a scottish thing? anyway, after spending my entire life ignorant of that abomination of a name - and glad of it, because the mental image of hugh laurie in drag is quite seriously detrimental to his sex appeal - i suddenly happened upon two female persons of that name within the space of the past six weeks or so. so the name is definitely out there, and i'd be seriously interested to know how it's pronounced or what would drive a mother to give it to her daughter.

:-)

oneArpeggiopete:cool:

[quiet-cats]

I still think someone's pulling your leg, Astrid!  Let's ask Sheila - she's about as Scottish as they come!

[OneArpeggioPete]

quiet-cats said:

I still think someone's pulling your leg, Astrid!  Let's ask Sheila - she's about as Scottish as they come!

nope, can't have been a leg pull! the name had been bandied about in a debate i made my second post on that message board on, so nobody could have possibly known me or my celebrity crushes there (though i grant you that in a stephen fry related forum people would probably work under the general assumption that you have at least a passing interest in his comical other half).

anyway, look at google, there are loads of them out there:

http://www.google.ie...q=hughina&meta=

:-)

oneArpeggiopete:cool:

[slinky1]

eugenia is similar.  It isn't common now but from my grandparents time it pretty common.

The whole thing though of the state being able to approve or disapprove of a name is beyond anything that could ever happen here just because of the multiculturalism.  Who would decide what is a good name.  Some names from other languages would be profane in another.