Date: Fri, 25 Dec 1998 10:02:25 +1030 From: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com> To: Mark Ovens <marko@uk.radan.com> Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Regulated names (was: Crazy Laws) Message-ID: <19981225100225.H12346@freebie.lemis.com> In-Reply-To: <36822D20.DCF23B22@uk.radan.com>; from Mark Ovens on Thu, Dec 24, 1998 at 12:01:36PM %2B0000 References: <368102F5.C90B94D5@uk.radan.com> <19981224102628.S12346@freebie.lemis.com> <36822D20.DCF23B22@uk.radan.com>
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On Thursday, 24 December 1998 at 12:01:36 +0000, Mark Ovens wrote: > Greg Lehey wrote: >> On Wednesday, 23 December 1998 at 14:49:25 +0000, Mark Ovens wrote: >>> I always thought Scandinavia was a free and easy-going place. >>> I'm not so sure after I spotted this on Teletext... >>> >>> MOTHER JAILED OVER SON'S NAME >>> >>> "A mother of 14 children was jailed for 2 days >>> because she refused to change the name she picked >>> for her young son. >>> >>> Norway has strict laws regulating names, including >>> lists of acceptable first and last names. >>> >>> Kirsti Larsen, 46, said she named her son Gesher >>> after she dreamed the child should be named Bridge >>> - gesher means bridge in Hebrew." >> >> Germany has strict laws on this, too. They also have strict laws on >> surnames, and refused to allow my wife (French) to adopt my surname >> when we married, claiming that the French would not allow it. My wife >> got an official statement to the contrary from the French Embassy, but >> they didn't accept that. > > That is unbelievable. To impose such restrictions on their own citizens > seems authoritarian enough, but to extend it to foreign nationals (I > assume neither of you have dual nationality), My daughter does (French and Australian). > and on the grounds that another country might object, is really OTT. Right. The way they see it, they are interpreting the French laws, which state (after translation through German into English) that a woman does not gain possession of the surname of her husband, but that by universal agreement, she uses it (presumably for the duration of the marriage). As a result, my wife is Yvonne Koedderitzsch (good French name, that) épouse Lehey. In English, she's Yvonne Lehey née Koedderitzsch. In Germany, she was Yvonne Ködderitzsch (they can spell that, sort of). > Anyway, is your surname not of French origin (Le Hey)?. No, it's Irish. County Tipperary, a variant on Leahy. Greg -- See complete headers for address, home page and phone numbers finger grog@lemis.com for PGP public key To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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