Heavy-handed Old-Europe Big-Government-style it might be, but I sort of wish the Danish baby-name restrictions applied elsewhere too. Is it really that much of a burden to be restricted to a choice of 3,000 names (4,000 if you're a girl), with an 80-85% chance that your alternative selection will be approved in any case? Greg Nagan and Trine Kammer were presumably chosen as the anecdotal victims for this piece, but the fact that they wanted to saddle their poor child with the name Molli Malou because it sounded 'cute' is precisely the reason why they shouldn't be allowed to ... (they got away with it in the end anyway). UPDATE (10/12/04): Greg and Trine strike back ...
Posted by Alan Allport at October 8, 2004 04:03 AMYou don't have all the information.
Posted by: Greg Nagan at October 12, 2004 08:28 AMWhew, there you go - on the Internet you never know when reality's going to catch up on you, do you? Thanks to Greg for his comment and the lengthy retort available on his site (see link above). I should say that this particular posting of mine wasn't meant all that seriously, and inasmuch as I wasn't really out to offend anyone I do apologize if I upset Greg and Trine - who are, after all, real people, and not simply fodder for my jokes (which is easy to forget when one is blogging). I don't really care that much what they called their daughter. On the other hand, however, I don't think the Danish regulations are a great imposition on personal liberty, and I still think there's a case for trying to limit frivolous name-changes in defense of philological tradition. In answer to your question, Greg and Trine: I don't have a middle name. And I think Molli is very cute, however her name is spelled.
Posted by: Alan Allport at October 12, 2004 08:41 AMBTW, if it is any consolation to Greg and Trine and Molli, my own modest excursion into non-standard naming has already smacked me in the face. Thomas Allport's middle name is Jan - about as plain-vanilla as you can get in the Netherlands, but unfortunately not so familiar to the UK passport agency, which spelled it wrong on his documentation.
Posted by: Alan Allport at October 12, 2004 09:20 AMAnother thing people don't think much about yet but certainly will in the future is how much easier a name like Molli Malou will make it for people to track down references to her on the internet. QED.
Posted by: Alan Hogue at October 12, 2004 02:28 PM