Why Sweden Government Reject’s Child’s Name

The naming law in Sweden is a Swedish law which requires the approval of the government agency for names to be given to Swedish children.

The parents must submit the proposed name of a child within three months of birth. The current law was enacted in 2017, replacing a 1982 law.

The Swedish Tax agency administers the registration of names in Sweden. The law has been revised since originally enacted; in 1983, it was made possible for a man to adopt his wife’s or partner’s name, as well as for a woman to adopt her husband’s name.

The first real national legislation on family names was the Name Ordinance of December 5, 1901, primarily meant to prevent non-noble families from giving their children the names of Noble families.

The part of the law referencing first names reads: “First names shall not be approved if they can cause offense or can be supposed to cause discomfort for the one using it, or names which for some obvious reason are not suitable as a first name.”

If you later change your name, you must keep at least one of the names that you were originally given, and you can only change your name once.

There has been some controversy surrounding Sweden’s naming laws since they have been enacted. Aside from significant commentary in the press, many parents have attempted to give their children unusual names.

Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116, ostensibly pronounced  Albin, is a name intended for a Swedish child who was born in 1991. Parents Elisabeth Hallin and Lasse Diding gave their child this name to protest a fine, imposed in accordance with the naming law in Sweden.

Because the parents had failed to register a name by the boy’s fifth birthday, a district court in Halmstad southern Sweden fined them 5,000 kronor which is roughly $740 US dollar at the time and equivalent to $1,221 in 2020.

Responding to the fine, the parents submitted the 43-character name in May 1996, claiming that it was “a pregnant, expressionistic development that we see as an artistic creation”. The parents suggested that the name be understood in the spirit of ‘pataphysics. The court rejected the name and upheld the fine.