ionigeria.com Nigerian Newspaper
The UK couple had a hellish time naming their four-month-old and were told he “wouldn’t succeed in life” with their controversial choice.
A UK couple have won a battle to name their son Lucifer, revealing the hellish time they had trying to use the banned name.
Dan and Mandy Sheldon tried to register their four-month-old son’s name at their local council office in Derbyshire last week, which had reopened to the public after being shut due to coronavirus.
But they were dismayed when a council official told them they could not use the name, with Mr Sheldon lodging an official complaint over their treatment.
He told The Sun the council employee had said their son “wouldn’t succeed in life” with the name Lucifer, the name given to the devil when he is an angel before his fall from grace, according to Christianity.
“We were really excited to go and get him registered but the woman looked at us in utter disgust,” Mr Sheldon said.
“She told us he would never be able to get a job, and that teachers wouldn’t want to teach him.
“I tried to explain that we are not religious people, and Lucifer in Greek means ‘light-bringer’ and ‘morning’ but she wouldn’t listen.”
Eventually “through gritted teeth” the official agreed to let them register their son’s name as Lucifer, Mr Sheldon said.
“Honestly, we just thought it was a nice name … a unique one. We didn’t expect to get so much grief about it,” he said.
In response to their complaint Derbyshire Country Council apologised but said it was the job of registrars “to advise” on the meaning of names.
“Sometimes people are not aware of certain meanings or associations around certain names,” a spokesperson said.
BANNED NAMES
Rules on what you can and can’t call your baby vary from country to country.
In Australia, parents cannot name their children anything that could be deemed offensive, creates confusion, contains an official title or rank, contains symbols, is an acronym, could insult, confuse or offend a person or group.
Names previously banned in Australia include Anzac, Australia, Dame, God, Messiah and Satan — but Lucifer isn’t on the list.
In the UK there are less rules, however, if they are considered obscene, too long or contain numbers they are likely to be rejected.
New Zealand’s rules are stricter, with a couple banned from naming their son Lucifer in 2013.
