pic: joylangenburg,com
J and Ford. These are the names that are currently before the supreme administrative court (Högsta förvaltningsdomstolen). Two pairs of Swedish parents wanted to name their respective child these names, but were denied.
The name law (and oh yes, there’s not only a name law but a new name law as of 2017), lists the following reasons for denying parents permission to name a child what they want:
- The name can cause offence (väcka anstöt)
- The name can be uncomfortable for the child to bear (leda till obehag)
- The name can, for some other reason, be inappropriate as a first name ( av någon annan anledning vara olämpligt som förnamn) (Riksdagen.se/namelaw)
In the name law from 1982, a name couldn’t be “clearly inappropriate” (uppenbarligt olämpligt). In 2017, it was changed to just “inappropriate” – much more stringent, but also much more vague.
In one case up before the court, the parents want one of their son’s three first names to be J. They argue that their older son already has that name, and that the letter J has a special significance for them. Two earlier judgments gave the parents the OK, in particular because names with single letters already exist in Sweden, and because the administrative court (förvaltningsdomstolen) had earlier gone along with both “Q” and “A-C” as names. However, the Swedish Tax Agency (skatteverket) said no. According to Anna Ljungberg, a legal expert at skatteverket, there is a risk that people think the one initial is short for a longer name, and that therefore just “J” is misleading.
In the second case up before the court, the parents want to name their child Ford – as in Harrison, or the car maker. Apparently, the name comes from their Canadian side of the family, and there are already 30-odd people in Sweden that have that name. But, again, the Swedish Tax Agency is saying no – arguing that it’s confusingly similar to a last name, plus, it’s not a traditional Swedish name (Svd.se/namelaw).
According to SvD, someone apparently tried at one time to name their kid “Superfastjellyfish” but also got a no (Svd.se/namelaw).
It’s possible that might have been pushing it a bit. The new law did lighten up on some things however. Among other things, it made it easier to change one’s name, to change your name more than once, and to have a double last name (DN.se/namelaw).
This more modern law indicated that perhaps rules and traditions about names could stand loosening up, but skatteverket has decided perhaps, that enough is enough, and wants a decision from the court to clarify things. The decision on both these names is due very soon.