Absolutely Delightful

My husband and I had a really hard time agreeing on baby names. My husband refused to even discuss names at all until we had found out the sex of the baby. Hot Guy is all about cutting the work by 50% whenever possible. Fortunately, the names we eventually thought of for our son and daughter were our #1 names for both of us. It’s a miracle that happened. I thought our firstborn would never be named! I had gotten so frustrated that I stopped suggesting names even though I continued to look. I found a name I really liked but kept it to myself for a few days and then Hot Guy came to me and said, “How about Muffin (not really Muffin, of course)?” It was the first and only name he had suggested and it was the same name I had thought of only a few days prior. We had a winner!

What does this all have to do with illegal baby names? Well, if we had been living in Germany at the time our name selection process would have been even more difficult! The German Standesamt, also known as the ‘Office of Vital Statistics’ has to approve all names! By German law, a child’s name has to meet two conditions: (1) it must reflect the sex of the child, and (2) it must not endanger the ‘well-being of the child.’ So, basically names that are unisex aren’t allowed and names that are too weird are not allowed. Half of the hollywood stars’ children’s names are illegal! I highly doubt Apple would be approved. Heck, probably even my children’s names are illegal due to condition #1!

The top 5 German baby boy names are Maximilian, Alexander, Leon, Paul, and Lucas. The top 5 German girl names are Marie, Sophie, Maria, Anna, and Lea. Hmmm, Lea could also be Lee. Maybe masculine and feminine spelling allows you to circumvent condition #2.