"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" so says William Shakespeare, but depending where you are in the world, this may not be the case. We attribute a lot of our identity to our names, and it would be hard for us to picture having another one. That's why it's important to name your kids something they can be proud of telling people.
These parents clearly didn't get the memo.
Germany
Germany has long been known as a fairly strict country, however many would be surprised at the attempts citizens make to name their children what they want. Recently, German parents tried to name their newborn son as Lucifer, the name of the devil before they were cast out of heaven. The Association for the German Language oversees the naming of children in the country, and were not going to let that happen.
"At the center of decisions like this is the well-being of the child," says spokesperson Frauke Rí¼debusch. The child was eventually renamed to Lucian.
Other zany names that were banned in Germany have included Vespa, Dracula, and Westend. However, Gandalf has been allowed.
New Zealand
Sometimes it can be unbelievable what parents will try and get away with. New Zealand had now actually released a list of "77 officially banned names" due to the high number of requests for them.
The list includes names like; "Queen Victoria", "Justice", "4Real", "V8", and even ".", pronounced 'full stop'.
In 2008 a family court had to order a family to change the name of a nine-year-old girl called "Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii".
But these aren't even the strangest attempts at naming children...
Iceland
Sometimes, banning names has less to do with the weirdness and more to do with the language. In Iceland, there is in fact a list of approved names for children for parents to make a choice from. It requires that they have letters from the Icelandic alphabet and be capable of being conjugated.
The list is roughly 1,850 for female names, and 1,700 for males. 'Banned' names include Duncan, Camilla, and Harriet.
Sweden
Perhaps the strangest name to come across was from parents in Sweden who wanted to protest the naming laws by calling their child Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116. And before you ask, it's pronounced 'Albin'.
Other names that have cropped up include "Metallica", "Ikea", and "Q".
