Beware of Naming Your Newborn in Poland

This has to be the most amusing story that I have run across since I began reading the Polish weeklies published in English (although the drunk guy who broke wind at mention of the president's name was pretty funny too).

So, I'm reading the Warsaw Insider (http//:www.warsawinsider.pl) the other day and I run across an article about naming your baby. Like in the US, parents need to register their newborn in order to obtain a birth certificate. However, I couldn't stop laughing when I heard that the people who run this Bureau of Civil Affairs have the right to reject the baby's name. A law passed in 1986 gives these bureau employees the power to decide whether the name parents choose is offensive or potentially embarrassing to the child later in life. If you insist on a rejected name, you must petition a court of appeal.

At first, I thought this was a joke based on some rumor. However, I asked my Polish friends and they confirmed this to be true. Now that I think about it, this is probably a good idea for the US as well with all the weird names people come up with nowadays. But, it's not just the weird names. I learned that if I had wanted to name Thing 1 his given name and he was born here, they would not approve the English spelling. This means that Thing 1's name would be Rzecz 1 which is the polish name for Thing 1 (My son is not really named Thing 1, but for this blogs purpose that is his name). I'm afraid at what Thing 2's name would look like. I knew I was not crazy to have my second baby in the USA. Even if we opted for a 3rd while here, I would go back to the US to deliver.

So, celebrities beware! Courtney Cox and David Arquette's baby, Coco, would have had her name rejected for sure. Co in poland means "what." I doubt these conservative polish officials would have allowed them to name their kid "What?What?" Ditto for Gwyneth Paltrow's daughter "Apple," whose spelling would be altered to "Jabłka."