Names .... Naming pattern and the Names banned ?!?! - heard of Passau

Passau, is a town in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the Dreiflüssestadt or "City of Three Rivers," because the Danube is joined at Passau by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north.    The Danube River is an international waterway so that landlocked Austria, Hungary, Serbia, and Slovakia can have secure access to the Black Sea….. read about this place in a different context though ..

Have seen English pace bowler Bob Willis bowl at Chepauk (he was one hit for 6 fours in an over by Sandip Patil) …. a search on him would reveal the name as ‘Robert George Dylan Willis MBE’ – initially could not identify the tall Bob with this long name…… then understood that in England there are some common abbreviations -   Jon (Jonathon), Rob (Robert), Will (William), Mike (Michael), Dave (David), Tom (Thomas), Doug (Douglas), Chris (Christoper), Alex (Alexander), Sue (Susan), Chris (Christine), Meg (Meghan), Nance (Nancy) and some times Cindy (Cynthia), Becky (Rebecca), and some oddity like -  Bob (Robert), Bill (William), Jim (James), Maggie (Margeret) ……………..

Names, Naming and more …. Mankind’s desire know no limits…. You study to earn and become rich; you aspire to get married ~ have kids – bring them up – save or keep wealth that would last for few more generations and in between you keep re-revising your earlier targets as ambitions [unbridled wishes] keep growing. When a child is born or much earlier to that, parents start thinking of naming the child.  The Naming ceremony is celebrated on different days in different fashion ~ many have religious significance.   In Hinduism, naming is considered sacred ~ called Namakaran, it is an elaborate festivity.  It is usually done on the 10th day. In Vaishnava tradition, naming is mostly after the presiding deity of the famous temples……… thus you have so many Balajis, Srinivasans, Parthasarathis, Narasimhans, Devarajans and after Acharyars like Ramanujan……

Now with people’s increasing faith in many faith, including Nameology, a particular alphabet is chosen as considered to be lucky depending on the birth star, the month, and more.  For many, picking the right name for the child is a daunting task. Some adopt fancy names, which the children might find a tad difficult as they grow.. some students would claim that names starting with alphabet ‘a’ places them in some disadvantage as their name would be called first in many forums, tests by the teachers at school. The common Indian names for Girls  are : Sneha; Aditi; Priyanka; Kavitha; Anjali …. And for boys Raj, Ram, Dhruv, Rakesh, Aditya …. Now read elsewhere that there are babies named in more strange fashions including naming after ‘cartoon characters’, famous sportspersons and more… the hot flick ‘finding nemo’ has inspired some to name their child ‘Nemo’ ~ some other bizaree male names include :  Sailor, Buzz-Bee, Zed and Blade.  Out-of-the-ordinary girls’ names included Tinkerbell, Buttercup and Bliss.  Now this post is not exactly on ‘Naming’ but the opposite – that of ‘some banned names’ !!

Blaer - Earlier this year a 15-year-old Icelandic girl won the right to keep her name, after overturning a ban. In Icelandic it means "light breeze". 

Recently, Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry made an announcement: Saudi parents could no longer name their child Sandi. Or, for that matter, Basmala or Binyameen. In fact, according to English-language newspaper Saudi Gazette, there are  now 51 names "banned" by the Saudi state. The Civil Status Department reportedly said that some of the names were banned because they were not in line with "social traditions." Others were apparently banned because of religious connotations or because of their foreign origin. However, Gulf News,a newspaper based out of Dubai, writes that not all of these names fit that pattern. Abdul Nasser, for example, appears to have been chosen due to its links with Gamal Abdel Nasser, the famous nationalist leader in Egypt.

Saudi Arabia is far from the first place to ban names. Last year New Zealand shared a list of names with CNN that its government had refused to improve. Among those names: "Lucifer," "4Real" and "Majesty." In Sweden, the names "Ikea," "Veranda" and "Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116" (pronounced Albin) have all been rejected under Sweden's naming law.  Now comes the news that parents in Passau, Bavaria, are  banned from naming child 'Wikileaks'

A set of parents have been banned from naming their son Wikileaks by a registry office, for fear that it could endanger the child's welfare. Hajar Hamalaw, 28, from southern Germany, originally from Iraq, wanted to name his newborn child after the online whistle-blowing platform because of his admiration for the site. However, authorities in Passau, Bavaria vetoed his choice of name, and have banned him from legally naming his son after the site.

Mr Hamalaw said: "The registrar said that this was not a first name. A spokesperson for the town of Passau said the decision by the registry office was based on legal rulings. The rulings state a child’s name should not be granted if it could endanger their welfare. Eventually, Hamalaw named his son Dako on the birth certificate instead, according to the Passauer Neue Presse.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar