Registering a name not on govt list

[Celia]

I managed to get the paternal grandfather's name allowed for my son, by showing my husband's birth certificate, but had to persuade them at length...not sure it will work for the uncle's name...and want to get it done asap as leaving the country. It's not for any outlandish names, most common non-spanish names are on the list.

 

[darmanad]

My votes for Shite, Butt and Doody, these people certainly have been laughed at and made fun of their entire lives because of their last names, and my opinion is life is tough enough, so why add stuff that just makes it tougher, just my personal opinion not the law by any means.

Those names may cause a problem, but one can always adopt a new name or even go to court to formally change it. In most US jurisdictions name change petitions are a simple, routine matter. A court may question and ultimately disapprove a name change request on a case by case basis if it appears to be troublesome, eg. violating a trademark or other protected name, copying a unique famous person, etc.
I prefer that the govt not define what names are "legal" to the exclusion of all others than to avoid the consequences of the occasional zany parent who may saddle a kid with a difficult moniker.

 

[Celia]

There's no use changing a name after, you need the argentine birth certificate to apply for the uk or us passport to leave the country. All the child's documentation will have the argentine-approved name on it...

 

[syngirl]

Hi Celia -- you're going to have to go to the Registro Civil and talk to a judge there -- you can appeal to have a name put on the list, and you are indeed allowed to use any name OFF the list, BUT you have to get it registered on the list before you can use it, ridiculous I know.

I'm not sure how quickly this moves etc -- so I would go to the registro civil closest to you as soon as possible to speak to them. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of up to date info -- I just know it is possible because my mother in law was the first Gladys on the registro de nombres for Capital, but that was 63 years ago!

LaNacion had a few articles on names in the past few weeks (end of year is usually when they do round ups of popular names) -- you might want to do a search on their site and see if anything comes up about the subject.

Good luck -- I'll ask my argentine friends/family if they have any more recent info, but considering most of them stuck to the most highly unoriginal names in Spanish these days (Isabella and Valentina) I don't think they're going to be much of a source.

 

[syngirl]

There's no use changing a name after, you need the argentine birth certificate to apply for the uk or us passport to leave the country. All the child's documentation will have the argentine-approved name on it...

Yes in fact YOU cannot change the name after -- the child has to wait until it is 18 and then appeal for a name change...

 

[syngirl]

Those names may cause a problem, but one can always adopt a new name or even go to court to formally change it. In most US jurisdictions name change petitions are a simple, routine matter. A court may question and ultimately disapprove a name change request on a case by case basis if it appears to be troublesome, eg. violating a trademark or other protected name, copying a unique famous person, etc.
I prefer that the govt not define what names are "legal" to the exclusion of all others than to avoid the consequences of the occasional zany parent who may saddle a kid with a difficult moniker.

The registro de nombres for Capital Federal is actually pretty extensive, there's a lot of foreign names on it (especially English, French, some Asian names in "castellanized" formats, some African names etc)

http://www.buenosaires.gov.ar/registrocivil/nombres/busqueda/buscador_nombres.php

On the first page alone you have Abby, Abdullah, Adventor, Africa (or Afrika if you prefer), Aileen, aiden, Ainslie, Aisha etc -- there are tonnes of english names and quite a few silly sounding names on the list so it's not AS restricting as in some European countries -- some countries basically restrict you to "if it's not in the Bible, it's not a name..."

 

[ghost]

OK, this is no joke. There was a kid in my senior class named Dick Head. [not Richard]. How would you like to deal with that all of your life. Oh, yeah, his brother was named Harry. [not Harold] Some parents are sadistic.

 

[jp]

The registro de nombres for Capital Federal is actually pretty extensive, there's a lot of foreign names on it (especially English, French, some Asian names in "castellanized" formats, some African names etc)

Woohoo! Both names cleared, that's a headache I wasn't looking forward to.

Hope you sort your naming situation out Celia, not much fun being told what you can and can't name your child...

 

[Celia]

Thanks Syngirl, yes I did the registro civil thing last time, I appealed to a couple of women, don't think they were judges! They allowed my son's name but it never appeared on the online list...I will have to just play to their heartstrings again!

 

[syngirl]

Hey celia -- sorry but is the name a modern trendy name, or is it one firmly established in other countries? If it's a well-used name in other countries maybe you can appeal by showing how popular it is in other countries? ranking on baby list? phone books? notable people with the name etc? If it's trendy or "out there" like some of the celebrity names (pilot inspector comes to mind) -- you're going to have a difficult case to plea! (especially in a situation like that where not only is it in english, it also goes against their decree that objects not be used as names!)

Good luck! Let us know what happens -- beso