Once in awhile, an international story surfaces that makes our laws seem more silly than usual.
In Iceland, a 15-year-old girl won a
lawsuit yesterday giving her the right to use her given, birth name.
Blaer Bjarkardottir was officially known as “Stulka” because her first name was not on the government’s approved list of 1,853 female names.
“Blaer” is translated to “light breeze” in Icelandic, and “Stulka” means girl.
The law requires children be named within six months of birth and chosen off of the registry.
If they want a different name, an application must be filled out and then evaluated by a committee, which determines whether the name fits with Icelandic language, gender and cultural conventions.
Iceland isn’t alone in this.
Germany and Denmark are among nations with naming laws.
The committee rejected “Blaer” because it requires a masculine article.
She used it anyway, causing lots of confusion at banks, schools and other institutions.
In recent years, the committee allowed an “Elvis,” but rejected names being with “c” such as Cara, Carolina, Cesil and Christa.
The letter “c” is not part of Iceland’s alphabet.
As Americans, this seems outrageous.
We do love our rights.
Then again, maybe these nations are onto something here.
Celebrities are always making off-beat choices.
There’s Apple (Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin), Kal-El (Nicolas Cage), Pilot Inspektor (Jason Lee), Blanket (Michael Jackson) and his cousin Jermajesty (Jermaine Jackson).
But, there is plenty of blame to go around.
At
Babycenter.com, unusual names of last year include - for girls - Sesame, Thinn, Yoga and Excel and – for boys – Burger, Jedi and Tron.
Go into any U.S. school and you’ll find kids who roll their eyes when having to spell or explain their names.
Iceland may have learned a lesson here.
Not sure if all parents will though.
