the German authorities refuse and forbid them

the German authorities refuse and forbid them

They wanted to name their boy “Lucifer”. The Rostock court strongly opposed this, arousing the anger of the parents.

Originality has its limits. And the court in Rostock, Germany, recalled them. As reported by the German daily The Bildif there are no very clear guidelines regarding the first name authorized to name your child, the courts can sometimes oppose the parents’ choice. This is the case of this couple who wanted to name their son “Lucifer”. A first name which may be surprising in France where the name of the fallen angel, often associated with the devil, is well known to everyone, but which does not exist across the Rhine under this precise spelling.

Indeed, in German, “Lucifer” is written “Luzifer”. An argument which, however, did not convince the civil registry. While the child’s parents tried to register their newborn with this first name, it was refused on the grounds that “it endangered the well-being of the child”, explains Ulrich Kunze, door -speak for the city located in northern Germany. A decision not accepted by the parents, who therefore went to court, hoping to win their case. But it was ultimately at the registry office that justice ruled in favor at the start of the year. According to The Bildthis is not the first time that parents have tried to call their child “Lucifer” in Germany. In 2017, the court in Cassel, in the center of the country, also refused to allow parents to give this first name to their son.

As in France (since the law of January 8, 1993), German parents are rather free in their choice of first names. On the other hand, faced with the excesses of creativity of some, it has since been clarified that common names cannot, for example, constitute a first name. “Telefon”, telephone in French, “Eisenbahn”, railway, were thus refused by the civil registry, as were names likely to harm the child, who could be mocked. This is the case of the first name “Popcorn”, already popular across the Rhine. In France, the first name Lucifer has also been submitted to civil registration. As in Germany, it was refused.

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