What’s In A Name?

I’ve never thought about this, but I recently discovered that there are countries where the government maintains an official list of first names. If you want to pick a name for your baby boy or girl, you have to choose a name from the official list. If you’re an adult and you want to change your name to a name that’s not on the official list, you can’t. The government simply won’t recognize the name. You’ll be nameless, which as you might imagine, will prove to be very inconvenient.

I learned about his while reading about a 15 year old Icelandic girl named Blaer Bjarkardottir. She just learned that her first name, Blaer (an Icelandic word meaning “light breeze”), is not on the list. On official documents she is now identified as “girl.” Her mother is suing the government to get her daughter’s name back.

Blaer seems like a perfectly good name – pretty, even – and I don’t understand how a government can say “Bjarkardottir” is fine but “Blaer” is unacceptable. You can’t even pronounce Bjarkardottir. 

Germany and Denmark also maintain an official list of names for their citizens. Swedish names must meet approval of the tax authorities. China has rules about what you can name a child, and until the 1960s French children had to be named after Catholic saints. Well, that’s what the Internet says.

Once in a fit of puckishness I decided to change my name to

(pronounced: The Engineer Formerly Known as Wayne.)

Later I changed it back. I would have been okay with the government banning my new name. But a government that bans “Blaer”? Words fail me. What is wrong with you, Mannanafnanefnd?

Not familiar with the Mannanafnanefnd? That’s the Icelandic Naming Committee whose purpose is to ensure that personal names are sensible. I’m talking to you, Mannanafnanefnd. What’s up with your name?