What's In A Name? Victory!

From Yahoo:
"Icelandic teen triumphs in court in bid to use her given name, which authorities had rejected"

A 15-year-old Icelandic girl has been granted the right to legally use the name given to her by her mother, despite the opposition of authorities and Iceland's strict law on names. Reykjavik District Court ruled Thursday that the name "Blaer" can be used. It means "light breeze." The decision overturns an earlier rejection by Icelandic authorities who declared it was not a proper feminine name. Until now, Blaer Bjarkardottir had been identified simply as "Girl" in communications with officials. "I'm very happy," she said after the ruling. "I'm glad this is over. Now I expect I'll have to get new identity papers. Finally I'll have the name Blaer in my passport." Like a handful of other countries, including Germany and Denmark, Iceland has official rules about what a baby can be named. Names are supposed to fit Icelandic grammar and pronunciation rules — choices like Carolina and Christa are not allowed because the letter "c'' is not part of Iceland's alphabet. Blaer's mother, Bjork Eidsdottir, had fought for the right for the name to be recognized. The court ruling means that other girls will be also allowed to use the name in Iceland. In an interview earlier this year, Eidsdottir said she did not know the name "Blaer" was not on the list of accepted female names when she gave it to her daughter. The name was rejected because the panel viewed it as a masculine name that was inappropriate for a girl. The court found that based on testimony and other evidence, that the name could be used by both males and females and that Blaer had a right to her own name under Iceland's constitution and Europe's human rights conventions. It rejected the government's argument that her request should be denied to protect the Icelandic language. Blaer had told the court she was very happy with her name and only had problems with it when she was dealing with state authorities who rejected it. The court did not grant her any damages. The government has not indicated whether it will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

^ I'm glad that the Icelandic Court overturned the original decision and will allow this girl to have and use her name legally. I do not think any country should be allowed to restrict someone's name as long as it is not a swear word or praises something horrible - like Hitler, Stalin, etc. It seems all these so called liberal countries restrict their citizens in many ways. Iceland allows gay people to marry yet refuses a someone to have a name like Christina - that doesn't seem right. Hopefully, this decision will stand and will open up many more names for other Icelanders. These language/name rules may have been needed when Denmark ruled Iceland so the Icelandic language would not disapperar, but Iceland has been independent since 1944 and there is no longer a cause of concern with Icelandic to disappear. I was in Iceland and if anything the authorities should make people have real last names instead of ones that say: Eid's daughter or Eid's son. ^

http://news.yahoo.com/icelandic-teen-triumphs-court-bid-her-given-name-192103098.html