Even if in France since 1993, a great freedom exists to choose the first name of his children, the civil status officer can make a report in the name of the interest of the child.
They found that the name Hades “sounded good”. So much so that this Breton couple, who live in Saint-Malo, want to call their six-month-old son that, after the god of the dead and the underworld in Greek mythology. But the prosecutor, seized by the civil status officer, said no, indicating that this could harm the interests of the child. The case was taken to court. Tuesday, April 4, a family court judge was to render his decision.
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But what does French law say about the choice of first name? Hashtag, Hélium, Canard… these first names were given recently by parents in France and they have been accepted by the civil registry. Because in reality, there is a great freedom of choice in our country since 1993 and a major change in the law. “Before 1993, the first name of the child had to be chosen from the calendars in use or from ancient history, and the registrar could refuse to register the first nameexplains Sophie Dumas-Lavenac, lecturer in private law at the University of Lorraine. Since 1993, things have been reversed. You can choose any word as a first name, with a check from the civil registrar, but he is obliged to enter the name you are declaring.
Nutella, Titeuf, Mini-Cooper, Griezmann-Mbappe…
But in a second step, if he thinks that the interest of the child is threatened, the civil status officer can make a report to the public prosecutor who chooses him to seize or not the judge of the family affairs. “Regarding the first name, what we will look at is whether this first name can cause harm, in particular by causing ridicule, by being ridiculous-sounding or by referring to discredited people”explains Sophie Dumas-Lavenac.
And that’s how some first names were rejected by the court recently: Nutella, Titeuf, Mini-Cooper, Griezmann-Mbappé. And the twins are not spared: Joyous and Patriste or Port and Starboard, “We can see that the judge has indeed done well to protect the interests of the children”, slips Sophie Dumas-Lavenac, who specifies that these examples of prohibited first names are very rare. A drop of water when you know that each year more than 700,000 first names are assigned in France.