Sunday, May 10, 2009
Karl-Theodor Maria Nikolaus Noddy Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg
In Germany, the government is still allowed by law to regulate its citizens’ names. This right was recently challenged by a couple from Munich. A dentist, Frieda Rosemarie Thalheim, wanted to add to her name the last name of her husband, Hans Peter Kunz-Hallstein. She would thus have been known as Frieda Rosemarie Thalheim-Kunz-Hallstein, but double hyphenates were banned by a 1993 German Constitutional Court ruling. Frieda and Peter challenged the law on the grounds that it infringed on personal expression, but the Constitutional Court ruled against them five to three.
On top of limiting hyphenations, parents in Germany must also seek final approval from local authorities for the names they choose for their children. These authorities are guided by a reference work called the International Handbook of Forenames, which lists names deemed to be legitimate. The government’s power was further expanded in 2004 when the Constitutional Court ruled that a person can have a maximum of five first names. This ruling was prompted by a Dusseldorf mother’s attempt in 1998 to name her son Chenekwahow Migiskau Nikapi-Hun-Nizeo Alessandro Majim Chayara Inti Ernesto Prithibi Kioma Pathar Henrike, using twelve names of different origin to demonstrate that “people’s hearts know no borders.” She was forced to settle for Chenekwahow Migiskau Kioma Ernesto Tecumseh.
Supporters of the government’s power to regulate names claim that the “state has a responsibility to protect people from idiotic forenames.”
Opponents feel the government has gone too far into the personal decisions of its citizens and that it should have no power in this area of their lives. They cite a 2003 appellate court decision that a boy could not be named Anderson because this was deemed to be a last name in Germany.
Apparently the long-name rule is not retroactive, or else it doesn’t apply to the nobility, because the current German minister of economics and technology is a baron named Karl-Theodor Maria Nikolaus Noddy Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg.
-David Wallechinsky, Kyle Kuersten
German Court Upholds Ban on Extra-Long Names (by Stephanie Kirchner, Time)
High Court in Germany Pops Names That Balloon (by Nicholas Kulish, New York Times)
Call It Like It Is (Deutsche Welle)
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