BrianGarst.com

This edition of overgovernment comes with an international flavor. Did you know that before you can name a child in Denmark, you must first get permission from the government? They have approximately 7,000 officially sanctioned baby names to choose from. If you wish to use a name not on the approved list, you must get the permission of no less than the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs and the Ministry of Family and Consumer Affairs. And yes, those do sound like organizations taken right out of 1984.

The busybodies claim they are protecting children from names that will single them out for special and unwanted treatment by their peers. Give me a break. While we all feel sorry for the occasional child with an outlandish name (I’m looking at you, Hollywood), this law is not going to protect them from the root of their problem: having idiots for parents. What they are really attempting to do is stop the cultural march of time with legislation, an effort doomed to failure. Just law reflects its culture, it does not attempt to steer it.

Denmark Overgovernment