4.0809 French Naming Law (2/38)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Tue, 4 Dec 90 20:17:07 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 0809. Tuesday, 4 Dec 1990.
(1) Date: Tue, 4 Dec 90 07:49 EDT (15 lines)
From: "Leslie Z. Morgan" <MORGAN@LOYVAX>
Subject: RE: 4.0806 Qs: Kowalski-Wierusz; French Naming Law
(2) Date: Tue, 4 Dec 90 08:48:00 EST (23 lines)
From: Michael_Kessler.Hum@mailgate.sfsu.edu
Subject: French Naming Law
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Dec 90 07:49 EDT
From: "Leslie Z. Morgan" <MORGAN@LOYVAX>
Subject: RE: 4.0806 Qs: Kowalski-Wierusz; French Naming Law
I remember reading in *Time* (?) magazine some time ago that
there were problems with French names; someone whose last name
was the equivalent of "butt" was not permitted to name his/her
child with that same last name. The upshot was that there was
even more speculation about the child whose last name was not
the same as that of the family! (This must have been in the 60's
or 70's when I read the article; I too would like to know more
about French naming law-- was this information correct? Is it
still true?)
Leslie Morgan (MORGAN@LOYVAX1.BITNET)
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------33----
Date: Tue, 4 Dec 90 08:48:00 EST
From: Michael_Kessler.Hum@mailgate.sfsu.edu
Subject: French Naming Law (2/22)
Until the mid-sixties, names of the French-born had to come from the
French Christian calendar, although the local registry could exercise a
local option in accepting names. A friend told me the story that when
she arrived at the hospital to give birth, she had to give the name of
the child before she would be admitted, to avoid (illegal) delays in
registering the name in case the parents disagreed on the name of the
child. (One of the Truffaut movies has exactly such a disagreement
between Ghislain and Alfonse--I am unsure about the latter name). She
gave Sonia as the name, and was told that she was lucky, because not all
localities accepted that name. The case of the Breton names came up in
the mid-sixties. The man was a Breton nationalist who refused to
compromise by giving his children Christian middle names, so that none
of his children had any civil status (no child payments, no
identification, no military service). They were non-existent as
concerned anything that required legal identification. The law was
changed shortly after that, allowing any name within reason, with the
proviso that no child could be given de Gaulle as a first name. My
suspicion is that names such as god, Chastity, Tasaday, Blessing (all
names that I know of) would still not be acceptable.