The name Adolf

[Marshy]

Someone once told me that it's illegal to name your child Adolf in Germany. Any Germans out there care to verify this?

 

[bathsheba666]

I do know that in Germany, there is an approved list of names for when children are registered.

A friend needed to demonstrate that his choice was valid in his home country.

So it's not hard to imagine that Adolf may have been dropped from the list.

 

[Scratcher]

I worked with an Irishman who was called Adolphus, or Dolphi for short.

 

[Eukaryote]

Haha yeah, what an @sshole.

I actually apparently had someone in my family tree a long time ago, at the turn of the century back in Switzerland with Adolf as his first name.

The name is sort of like Jesus. You never give your kid either of those names, but for VERY different reasons.

I think theres like a grade 2 guy at my, (soon to not be) school named Jesus.

 

[7ronin]

Adolph Hitler's closest living relatives are (and were during his lifetime) Americans. They eventually ended up changing their last name. Hitler's nephew served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

 

[The Last Conformist]

IIRC, there's an Austrian branch of the family that retains the name.

 

[IglooDame]

I do know that in Germany, there is an approved list of names for when children are registered.

A friend needed to demonstrate that his choice was valid in his home country.

So it's not hard to imagine that Adolf may have been dropped from the list.

Holy friggin crap, are you kidding me? I've never heard about that.

Edit: a quick googling confirms that this is true, the German government must approve all baby names.

 

[Perfection]

And the problem is?

I implied the existance of one?

I'd like to be called Adolf.

Will do.

 

[Grisu]

Holy friggin crap, are you kidding me? I've never heard about that.

Edit: a quick googling confirms that this is true, the German government must approve all baby names.

well, Adolf most certainly is allowed.

and AFAIK the government doesn't have to approve names, but some are forbidden. the law states that a name has do identify the sex and must have "surname-character" (so you can't name your child Schröder for instance, since it's a last name). Names that lead to associations (Berlin, Whiskey, Borussia, etc) aren't allowed either.

while this seems like a lot of ridiculous bureoucracy it does have a point in some cases, otherwise people could, for instance, call their kid dimwit or similar...

 

[Sidhe]

Well, Jesus is quite popular in Latin America.

Yeah but they pronounce it heyZues which is blasphemous I wonder if they pronounce Jesus different just to distinguish who they're talking about you know like:


alejandro: I was walking down the streeet the other day and I was overwelmed by heyzeuss, when I came back to myself I found I was disorientated and groggy and carefully found my way home.

Officer Sanchez: isn't it wonderfull when that happens sir




In bottom one of the Characters is called Eddie Hitler.

In that it's used for comedy effect which is a tad different though.

Eddie Hitler?! Any relation?

Yes probably.

 

[greekguy]

And yet I can still name my kid Joseph

The world knew him as Stalin, and there are probably a good deal of people out there right now who don't even know his first name was Joseph.

 

[Perfection]

Yeah but they pronounce it heyZuess which is blasphemous I wonder if they pronounce Jesus different just to distinguish who they're talking about you know like

they don't. Often they refer to him as the Christ instead (I think it's Cristo or something)

 

[soul_warrior]

they don't. Often they refer to him as the Christ instead (I think it's Cristo or something)

so when you see a HeyZeuss with a broken leg, walking along with the aid fo crutches.
do you call out: Christ On A Crutch - is that blasphemous or just politely identifing the person?

BTW - post 3000

 

[IglooDame]

well, Adolf most certainly is allowed.

and AFAIK the government doesn't have to approve names, but some are forbidden. the law states that a name has do identify the sex and must have "surname-character" (so you can't name your child Schröder for instance, since it's a last name). Names that lead to associations (Berlin, Whiskey, Borussia, etc) aren't allowed either.

while this seems like a lot of ridiculous bureoucracy it does have a point in some cases, otherwise people could, for instance, call their kid dimwit or similar...

They certainly could. It's a good thing the German government charges them for the privilege of making sure they don't give their child an androgynous name. The horrors!!

 

[Yuri2356]

They certainly could. It's a good thing the German government charges them for the privilege of making sure they don't give their child an androgynous name. The horrors!!

I'd think that Gender-Neutral names would be allowed to go both ways, so this law would only prevent a parent from giving their child a name that's distictly of the opposite sex.

 

[Paradigne]

I STILL don't see a lot of kids running around with the name Judas.

But maybe time will make Adolf 'acceptable' again

 

[Sidhe]

they don't. Often they refer to him as the Christ instead (I think it's Cristo or something)

K then my career of as a stand up comedian has been killed by literal intepritation, thanks for ruining the joke

 

[IglooDame]

I'd think that Gender-Neutral names would be allowed to go both ways, so this law would only prevent a parent from giving their child a name that's distictly of the opposite sex.

Everything I'm seeing (and I don't read German, so no doubt the truly authoritative links are beyond me) is that your assumption is incorrect, the name must be distinctly masculine or feminine as appropriate, no androgeny.

 

[Masquerouge]

In France, some poor girls were given a feminized version of the famous marechals in WWI: Joffre becae Joffrette, stuff like that.
So avoiding a great villain's name is good, but using a great hero's name is not necessarily good.

 

[puglover]

And yet I can still name my kid Joseph

But what about Josef?