BrainStuff Classics: What Can't You Name Your Baby?

The possibilities for a baby's name aren't quite as endless as they seem -- some national and local governments restrict what you can legally name your baby. Learn what some of those restrictions are (and why they exist) in this classic episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://health.howstuffworks.com/pregnancy-and-parenting/you-cant-name-your-baby-that.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
brain Stuff Lauren Boglebaum here with a classic brain Stuff episode.
In this one, we discuss the art of baby names.
The possibilities seem endless, but there actually are some legal
limits on what you can name a human child. Hey

(00:23):
brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here. Choosing a name for a
tiny human that you've never even met is a big decision.
There's evidence that your baby's name can influence her future,
and it can set her apart from the masses. Take
Magician's pen and Emily Gillette, for example. The duo named
their baby Sultan, which certainly hints at a future in

(00:43):
the family business. Then there are celebrity parents who take
baby naming to an art form. Actress Gwyneth Paltrow and
musician Chris Martin opted for Apple, and power performers Beyonce
and Jay Z, of course, named their daughter Blue Ivy.
While kids with unusual names will never under stand the
joy or annoyance of being known by first name, last initial,

(01:04):
like me and the other three Loren's in my elementary
school class, they will spend a lifetime living with their
unusual monikers. But all those unique names prompt the question
is there anything you can't name your baby? With the
breadth of choices in baby name databases, narrowing down a
selection can seem impossible. But in a smattering of states

(01:25):
and countries, the choices have been limited for you. There
are some things that you cannot name a baby. There's
no universal law governing baby names. The regulations where they
exist very greatly by country, and the laws of individual
localities in these countries don't line up cohesively. In the
United States, for example, state laws restrict parental naming rights

(01:46):
in a variety of ways. For example, there may be
restrictions on particular surnames or diacritical marks like accent marks,
and prohibitions on obscenities, numerals, or pictograms being used. We
spoke with J. R. Scrap Nick, senior counsel with the
Snell Law firm in Austin, Texas. He said, generally these
laws need to comply with the due process clause of

(02:08):
the Fourteenth Amendment in order to be constitutional, the fourteenth
Amendment being the one that prevents state laws from infringing
on citizens nationally guaranteed rights. Those state restrictions are generally
practical ones, such as requiring only letters of the alphabet
and not pictograms or symbols. We also spoke with Matt C. Pinsker,
an adjunct professor who teaches constitutional law at Virginia Commonwealth University.

(02:32):
He said, for example, in the US, a name entered
on a birth certificate must be entered in the traditional
letters of the alphabet and not in the letters or
symbols of the Chinese alphabet. Other times, names are limited
in length because of record keeping software. Some states allow
accents over names, while others do not. For example, Pinsker
says the accent over the e in Jose is actually

(02:55):
prohibited by California law. A move to overturn the law
banning diacritical mark failed in fourteen, in large part because
adding Spanish accents to birth records could cost state registrars
and estimated ten million dollars. American naming laws are different
from those on other continents. Pinsker said. In Europe, parents
are not allowed to name their children Hitler or Stalin,

(03:17):
but in America that would violate the freedom of expression.
Denmark in particular, has some of the most restrictive naming laws.
In order to abide by the country's law on personal names.
Parents may select a name from a list of seven
thousand approved names for both boys and girls, all using
traditional spellings. To give a child a moniker that is
not pre approved requires review by government officials. Of the

(03:39):
estimated one thousand, one hundred names that are scrutinized annually,
about are rejected. Among the thrown out names anus, Pluto,
and monkey on the approved list names like Benji, Molly,
and fee. In some places, names aren't officially banned until
after a parent chooses a problematic moniker for a child.

(03:59):
For example, officials in Sonora, Mexico reviewed actual names from
the states a hundred and thirty two newborn registries a
banned sixty one of those names, including Facebook, Batman, and RoboCop. Previously,
the state had no such prohibitions, which means babies legally
received names such as U. S. Navy, Hitler, and Harry

(04:21):
Potter before that ban was enacted. For many officials, it's
less about the names and more about what they represent,
a potential lifetime of put downs. Sonora State Civil Registry
Director Christina Ramirez told the Associated Press the law is
very clear because it prohibits giving children names that are
derogatory or that don't have any meaning and that can

(04:41):
lead to bullying. Aside from specific state or county restrictions,
parents still have access to a considerable variety of names,
some that are potentially objectionable for reasons ranging from historical
issues to crude, controversial, or criminal references, which perhaps means
that the real question prompted here is an A could,
but I should. Today's episode is based on the article

(05:09):
you Can't Name your Baby that on how stuff works
dot com, written by Laurel Dove and brain Stuff is
production of by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff
Works dot Com and it's produced by Tyler Klang. Four
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