Swedish authorities pull plug on female Elvis

'Inappropriate' name for a girl, couple told

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 5th June 2008 11:42 GMT

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A Stockholm couple is battling the tax authorities for the right to call their five-month-old daughter Elvis, The Local reports.

The girl's mum, Linda, explained: "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 powers that be are having none of it, though. They declared: "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 unfortunate nipper's mother has vowed to battle on and to "continue calling her daughter Elvis whatever the eventual outcome" of an appeal.

The Local notes that another Swedish couple, who last year locked horns with the tax authority over their daughter's proposed name, eventually prevailed and will now have to answer to young Metallica when she's old enough to realise just how daft her mum and dad are.

Regular readers will, of course, know that silly name syndrome is not restricted to Sweden. We last year noted the case of NZ sprog "4Real", and the Belgian authorities' clampdown on "Megane".

In Venezuela, meanwhile, inventive parents are doubtless awaiting the outcome of a proposed bill aimed at protecting young 'uns from "names that expose them to ridicule, are extravagant or difficult to pronounce".

A trawl of the country's electoral rolls revealed titles such as Edigaith, Hersony, Nohemar, Mileidy and Leomar, as well as two Supermen. ®

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