WHAT'S IN A NOM?

Abstract

The French, who sometimes claim to have invented civil rights, are free at last to decide what first names they may give their children. No longer will their choice be subject to the whims of a junior official in the local mairie of the commune in which their child is born and registered, who until now has been able to reject any name deemed "contrary to the interests of the child." Under a law dating from the 11th Germinal of the year XI of the French Revolution (in fact, April 1st 1803, but not intended as an April fool's joke), parents were obliged to choose their child's name from one of the various authorised calendars of names of Catholic saints, revolutionaries or historical figures who were real, not mythical, and had lived before the Middle Ages. Achille, Nestor and Vercingetorix were all right; Jupiter and Juno were not. The law was supposed to ensure that French babies were given French names and to protect them from ridiculous or obscene ones. Yet, as so often when bureaucrats know better, the ridiculous is what appeared. For boys, Chien (dog), Injurieux (insulting) and Fou (mad) were acceptable. Ordinary Breton and Basque names were, until relatively recently, forbidden. Girls could be called Porcaire (piggy), but not Sue-Ellen.