But if you don't allow parents to assign stupid names to their children, how can you decide just from their names that they're the underclass and shouldn't get a job interview? Or is that just England?
I find your Dutch buddy's opinion extremely weird, actually, even if he's a naturalized US citizen. Certainly as compared to my corner of Yurp. Anything related to universities (whether immigrant or non), tax returns, INS stuff (natch), anything bank-related as an immgrant, changing names when getting married (well that one's not me), and the HMO nightmare - all are experiences I've found to be much more time consuming and frustrating here. I'm sure I could think of many more.
He was speaking pretty narrowly: he's a university researcher, and had found that he was much more able to do his research the way he wanted here, as opposed to the Netherlands where there were bureaucratic and institutional barriers to original work. He didn't say anything about government bureaucracy, so perhaps there's no disagreement.
most european countries seem to have some sort of naming politics, I believe Denmark's is less restrictive than Iceland's. that said in my experience Denmark is freer than most places i've lived in the U.S.
I don't know about last names ... but Gemany has a list of allowable first names. Having lived in Japan ... I can't imagine the government not thinking of controling this. Can't imagine that they allow married women to legally use their own names either.
Re government bureaucracy ... I think Europe would beat the US hands down. Think of how business people (not necesarily American)complain about all the extra hurdles in Europe. Dealing with French government bureaucracy is one of the sub-themes of Adam Gopnick's From Paris to the Moon. He compares the simple act of registering his new baby's birth in New York vs Paris. A US friend who lived in France had this explanation: the government never thinks of getting rid of an old law--there's just one on top of another then another. When she got married, she had to provide a baptismal certificate ... what if you've never been baptized?
This is apparently also the case in Brazil.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 10- 8-04 9:37 AM
But if you don't allow parents to assign stupid names to their children, how can you decide just from their names that they're the underclass and shouldn't get a job interview? Or is that just England?
Posted by dave heasman | Link to this comment | 10- 8-04 10:02 AM
I find your Dutch buddy's opinion extremely weird, actually, even if he's a naturalized US citizen. Certainly as compared to my corner of Yurp. Anything related to universities (whether immigrant or non), tax returns, INS stuff (natch), anything bank-related as an immgrant, changing names when getting married (well that one's not me), and the HMO nightmare - all are experiences I've found to be much more time consuming and frustrating here. I'm sure I could think of many more.
Posted by billyfrombelfast | Link to this comment | 10- 8-04 10:51 AM
He was speaking pretty narrowly: he's a university researcher, and had found that he was much more able to do his research the way he wanted here, as opposed to the Netherlands where there were bureaucratic and institutional barriers to original work. He didn't say anything about government bureaucracy, so perhaps there's no disagreement.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 10- 8-04 10:56 AM
A scholar of law in Spain told me that it's the same there. Judges can throw out names that aren't sufficiently Spanish.
Posted by Frolic | Link to this comment | 10- 8-04 11:51 AM
France and Japan both allow registrars to reject names. I think in France's case there's a government-approved list; I'm not sure about Japan.
Posted by AkiZ | Link to this comment | 10- 9-04 7:25 AM
most european countries seem to have some sort of naming politics, I believe Denmark's is less restrictive than Iceland's. that said in my experience Denmark is freer than most places i've lived in the U.S.
Posted by bryan | Link to this comment | 10- 9-04 10:10 AM
In France it used to be imperialistic - they prevented people from having, for example, traditional Breton names. I think it's eased now.
Posted by dave heasman | Link to this comment | 10-12-04 7:25 AM
I don't know about last names ... but Gemany has a list of allowable first names. Having lived in Japan ... I can't imagine the government not thinking of controling this. Can't imagine that they allow married women to legally use their own names either.
Re government bureaucracy ... I think Europe would beat the US hands down. Think of how business people (not necesarily American)complain about all the extra hurdles in Europe. Dealing with French government bureaucracy is one of the sub-themes of Adam Gopnick's From Paris to the Moon. He compares the simple act of registering his new baby's birth in New York vs Paris. A US friend who lived in France had this explanation: the government never thinks of getting rid of an old law--there's just one on top of another then another. When she got married, she had to provide a baptismal certificate ... what if you've never been baptized?
Posted by O | Link to this comment | 10-26-04 8:40 AM