Miscellaneous

Don't be cruel...

Those Swedish authorities just have no sense of fun. The tax authorities over there have told a Stockholm couple that they can't name their daughter what they want. Because, apparently, the Swedes frown upon girls named Elvis.

"We talked about lots of names and then Elvis popped up. We thought it was a name that was both pretty and gender-neutral. We're not Elvis Presley fans at all," the infant's mother, Linda, told the newspaper.

The most important factor for the couple, who do not own any of The King's records, was for the name to be "gender-neutral".

Now I can totally get behind naming your kid Elvis. Even if the kid is a "she." But arguing that "Elvis" isn't gender-neutral? Not sure I buy that one. Neither did the National Tax Board:

It is the National Tax Board's view that Elvis is a first name of a masculine type and as such may, in light of standard practice, be considered clearly inappropriate as a first name for a woman.

The kicker of this story, meanwhile, is that another Swedish family eventually won a fight to name their daughter Metallica. Here's hoping that one day we live in a world where little Metallica's and Elvis's can grow up to be the best of friends.

Full post as published by Quiz Law on June 13, 2008 (boomark / email).