Girl sues for right to use her given name
Source: Agencies |
January 4, 2013, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
CALL her the girl with no name.
A 15-year-old is suing the Icelandic state for the right to legally use the name given to her by her mother. The problem? Blaer, which means "light breeze" in Icelandic, is not on a list approved by the government.
Like a handful of other countries, including Germany and Denmark, Iceland has official rules about what a baby can be named.
In a country comfortable with a firm state role, most people don't question the Personal Names Register, a list of 1,712 male names and 1,853 female names that fit Icelandic grammar and pronunciation rules and that officials maintain will protect children from embarrassment. Parents can take from the list or apply to a special committee that has the power to say yea or nay.
In Blaer's case, her mother said she learned the name wasn't on the register only after the priest who baptized the child informed her he had mistakenly allowed it.
"I had no idea that the name wasn't on the list, the famous list of names that you can choose from," said Bjork Eidsdottir, adding she knew a Blaer whose name was accepted in 1973. This time, the panel turned it down on the grounds the word Blaer takes a masculine article, despite the fact it was used for a female character in a novel by Iceland's revered Nobel Prize-winning author Halldor Laxness.
Blaer is identified as "Stulka" - or "girl" - on all her official documents, which has led to years of frustration as she has had to explain the whole story when dealing with the country's bureaucracy.
Eidsdottir said: "It seems like a basic human right to be able to name your child what you want, especially if it doesn't harm your child in any way."
A 15-year-old is suing the Icelandic state for the right to legally use the name given to her by her mother. The problem? Blaer, which means "light breeze" in Icelandic, is not on a list approved by the government.
Like a handful of other countries, including Germany and Denmark, Iceland has official rules about what a baby can be named.
In a country comfortable with a firm state role, most people don't question the Personal Names Register, a list of 1,712 male names and 1,853 female names that fit Icelandic grammar and pronunciation rules and that officials maintain will protect children from embarrassment. Parents can take from the list or apply to a special committee that has the power to say yea or nay.
In Blaer's case, her mother said she learned the name wasn't on the register only after the priest who baptized the child informed her he had mistakenly allowed it.
"I had no idea that the name wasn't on the list, the famous list of names that you can choose from," said Bjork Eidsdottir, adding she knew a Blaer whose name was accepted in 1973. This time, the panel turned it down on the grounds the word Blaer takes a masculine article, despite the fact it was used for a female character in a novel by Iceland's revered Nobel Prize-winning author Halldor Laxness.
Blaer is identified as "Stulka" - or "girl" - on all her official documents, which has led to years of frustration as she has had to explain the whole story when dealing with the country's bureaucracy.
Eidsdottir said: "It seems like a basic human right to be able to name your child what you want, especially if it doesn't harm your child in any way."
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