That super-cute baby name you love? It could be illegal in several countries.

Don’t believe us? A little girl was refused a passport for being called… Harriet.

Australians can name our children any name we like, from Ocean, to Apple, to Ember. Yet this isn’t the case in all countries. Countries like… Iceland.

In Iceland, the name “Harriet” can get you into a world of trouble. In fact, a 10-year-old girl named Harriet Cardew was denied a passport renewal because it didn’t comply with Icelandic baby naming laws.

Yes, you read that correctly. Baby naming LAWS. Apparently in Iceland, there is a list of 1,853 approved girls names and 1,712 approved boys names. Names like Fritz, Hulda or or Britta? They’re all safe. But if you want to live in Iceland and call your baby a name that’s not on the list? Ta-ta, bye,-bye, see you later passport.

And if you didn’t think that was controlling enough, there’s more. If both parents are foreign to the country, they need to submit their baby name to the National Registry to have it approved within 6 months of birth.

According to the Sun Herald “the reasons for refusal vary widely from country to country. Sometimes the cause is genealogical, sometimes grammatical.”

While the whole “baby naming ban” topic might seem foreign to us in Australia, it’s actually quite common. Have a look at the restrictions in these countries:

Italy:

Will not allow common American names such as Tom and Sarah.

Germany:

Does not  allow names that aren’t gender specific. Boys names need to sound like boys and girls names need to be girly.

Sweden:

Names that might cause the child to be embarrassed are prohibited. So names such as Metallica and Ikea. But Google and Lego made the cut. Go figure.

China:

Names can only contain letters from the 13,000 letters recognised by their computer system. This can cause a bit of a predicament considering there are 70,000 Chinese characters that exist.

So if you’re planning on having a baby in a country other than Australia, you might need to check is your baby name is on that country’s approved list.

What names would you like to see banned in Australia?

CLICK THROUGH the gallery for baby names that are gender neutral…(just don’t have your baby in Germany…)

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