Baby name rules for a baby born abroad

brdst3r

If a baby is born outside Ireland to Irish (naturalised) parents I understand it's possible to claim Irish citizenship.
Since the child is entitled to Irish nationality would Irish naming rules apply when registering the birth with local authorities?

Peregrinus

As the parents are naturalised Irish citizens, I assume neither of them was born in Ireland.

Their child born outside Ireland will be an Irish citizen by descent, but his or her citizenship will date only from the date the child's birth is registered in the foreign births register.

As for the child's name, there are no "Irish naming rules". As far as Irish law is concerned you can call your baby (or indeed yourself) anything you like. It's a convention that everyone has a surname/family name which is inherited from one or both of their parents, plus one or more personal names/forenames/Christian names, but there are no actual laws requiring this.

Victor

While there are no rules specific to naming children, there are some rules relating to names and there are also practicalities.

Calling your child "Bank of Cork" or "Acme Limited" will fall foul of banking and company legislation.

Regarding practicalities, two first names and up to two surnames is usual. More than that becomes unwieldy. Sharing the surname with one or both of the parents reduces confusion when it comes to schools and the like - "Why are Mr. & Mrs. Smith collecting Joe Bloggs?"

Avoiding names (and variations of that name) that draw derision or abuse on the child will keep the social workers away, although I have never heard of such a case. Some children are given names that only turn out to have unkind connotations years later.

As 12 year olds, we found it hilarious that the guy we knew as Val, had the full name Valentine.

If using a foreign name, use one that Irish people can pronounce and won't draw undue attention to the child - no Adolf and be very aware of ones like Osama.

Someone here on boards named their son Samím, with an Irish twist, based on the Arabic name Sameem.

Fred Swanson

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brdst3r

Fred Swanson wrote: »

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So if a baby is born to Irish parents in Sweden would local authorities require compliance with the local naming rules?

Peregrinus

brdst3r wrote: »

So if a baby is born to Irish parents in Sweden would local authorities require compliance with the local naming rules?

Depends. In some countries which have naming laws the laws have specific exemptions or accommodations for people from a foreign country. I have no idea whether this is the case under the Swedish law. Even if there are no exemptions, Sweden doesn't have a list of approved names; just a rule banning names which would cause offence, are likely to cause the child discomfort, or are otherwise unsuitable. So, hypothetically, if the parents wanted to give their child an Irish name which was otherwise unknown in Sweden, I don't think that would be a problem, unless by coincidence the name sounded offensive or inappropriate to Swedish ears.

(I came across a case in the US of parents from India whose child had the name ****head - pronounced "shih-thayd". I imagine if you wanted to call your child, say, Cormac, and this happened to be a rude word in Swedish, you might have a problem.)

Finally, as far as I can find out, the Swedish law is operated by the tax authorities, at the point where you register the child for social security and other purposes. If the parents are only temporarily in Sweden, and in due course they return to Ireland bringing their child with them, the question of registering the child with the Swedish tax authorities may in practice never arise.

Skedaddle

If the baby is getting a Swedish Birth Certificate, probably.

You then need to register a foreign birth in Ireland to claim Irish citizenship for the baby.

A lot depends on how the country you are in treats citizenship by birth on the territory and so on. But as an EU national living in another EU country this really isn't a very complex situation.

As for Irish naming conventions, there simply isn't one.

Ireland also has a fairly simple process to change your name if you're known as something else. In law here you are really the name you're known by and to officialise that, there's a fairly straightforward legal process.

You've also got certain rights to be known by your name in either official language where a translation exists.

The Irish and British systems aren't quite as caught up in bureaucratic and documentation around names as civil law jurisdictions in Europe tend to be.