REYKJAVIK, Iceland – 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 later informed her he had mistakenly allowed it.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/01/03/.../#ixzz2GvSzZSpg

While I disagree with parents doing dumb things and saddling their children with awkward spellings and pronunciations that will make their lives more difficult, I do believe that once a child has become attached to their name, no state should force them to change it.

What do the Icelander's do about immigrants to their nation? Do they make them change their names?

I found it interesting that you had state approved names--this was news to me

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.


So why did I add this seemingly insignifcant story? Because of the next line: Blaer, which means "light breeze" in Icelandic, is not on a list approved by the government.

List of names approved by the government? WTH?

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.

Such are the conditions in the "progressive" countries of Europe.

I wonder if Obama will consider this policy for adoption here. He could even appoint a Czar to run the bureaucracy which enforces it.