Parents are free to choose their child's first name… up to a certain point.
The German court in Rostock refused the request of a couple name your newborn baby Lucifersays the newspaper Ostsee-Zeitung on January 15.
Whether it is a reference to the first fallen angel, according to Christian tradition, or to the eponymous series broadcast on Netflix between 2016 and 2021, this was not to the taste of the authorities.
“The name was rejected because the registrar felt it endangered the well-being of the child“Ulrich Kunze, city spokesperson, told the media.
No Lucifer in France either
In France, parents can choose the first name freely, provided that it is not “contrary to the best interests of the child”, “ridiculous or rude”, “the last name of a famous person” or “the name of the other parent”, recalls the Public Service website.
There is no list of authorized… or prohibited first names. It is possible to use a first name already in use, via the INSEE census, or to create a new one.
-Note that diacritic letters and ligatures in the French language are prohibited, with the exception of à – â – ä- é – è – ê – ë – ï – î – ô -ö – ù – û – ü – ÿ – ç, specifies the circular of July 23, 2014 relating to civil status.
The case of ñ
The Breton first name Fañch has provoked several legal proceedings in recent years for this legally prohibited tilde.
Justice has already validated the use of this sign, which “is not unknown to the French language” as highlighted in November 2018 by the Rennes Court of Appeal.
Despite recurring promises, the 2014 ministerial circular listing the signs authorized on certain letters has never been modified and the problem remains.
Breton first names are not the only ones potentially affected. A parliamentary report detailed a list of diacritics used in many regional languages of Francelike the ā, ē, ī, ō, ū in Tahitian, the sign ò in Catalan, Creole and Occitan or the sign ì in Alsatian and Corsican.
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