Judge orders baby name change based on her Christian beliefs

I don't know of any countries with legally acceptable names you must choose. Usually, if you want to pick a name not on the list, you can do so, but you need permission from some sort of registrar or magistrate. That's why there are plenty of Germans with names like Bùi, Khanh and Mesut - I doubt these are on list of acceptable German names.A friend trying to register his child with a foreign name here in the Czech Republic was asked to get a letter signed by the British embassy confirming that it was a normal, inoffensive name in English, but once he had that he was fine.

My point was not that they don't have lists, but that you can call your child a name not on the list. You just have to go through some approval process. In Denmark, for example, which has some of the strictest rules, you apply at your local church to use an unapproved name (or, in South Jutland, at the civil registrar). This begins an investigation by a department of the Copenhagen University specially dedicated to the task. They advise the government, and some civil servant or other is given the dubious honour of deciding whether the name is a proper first name, suitable for use in Denmark, and is not inappropriate or offensive.Edited by caffeine, : No reason given.