careers

Thursday, February 21, 2008

 

Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116

‘Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116 (pronounced [‘albin’]) was a name intended for a Swedish child who was born in 1991.

The boy’s parents had planned to never legally name him at all, as a protest to the naming law of Sweden (Namnlag (1982:670)), which reads:

“First names shall not be approved if they can cause offense or can be supposed to cause discomfort for the one using it, or names which for some obvious reason are not suitable as a first name.”

Because the parents (Elisabeth Hallin and Lasse Diding) failed to register a name by the boy’s fifth birthday, a district court in Halmstad, southern Sweden, fined the parents 5,000 kronor (US$682 at the time). Responding to the fine, the parents submitted the 43-character name in May 1996, claiming that it was “a pregnant, expressionistic development that we see as an artistic creation.” The parents suggested the name be understood in the spirit of ‘pataphysics. The court rejected the name and upheld the fine.’




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