There are a lot of strange baby names around the world – Pilot Inspektor, Audio Science, Moon Unit, and Buddy Bear included – but thanks to a French court, ‘Prince William’ won’t be one of them.
A court in Perpignan, France, has reportedly banned a couple from naming their infant son ‘Prince William’ because it would lead to a “lifetime of mockery”.
Although the names ‘Prince’ and ‘William’ are both legal in France, the combination of the two has been barred under a law which “allows judges to protect a child from a potential lifetime of mockery by overruling the parents, in the interests of the child”.
Although they were banned from using the princely moniker, the couple were determined that their son should receive another fitting weird name – they tried for ‘Mini Cooper’ next, but that one was also rejected.
Luckily for the little tyke, it was back to the drawing board for his parents, who presumably chose a more traditional name that pleased the courts.
But ‘Prince William’ wasn’t the only name to be banned in the France. In 2014, a French court moved to ban a couple from naming their daughter ‘Nutella’, after the chocolate hazelnut spread, whilst in September last year, a couple was barred from naming their daughter ‘Strawberry’, on the grounds that ‘strawberry’ was a French euphemism for butt.
In 2000, new parents were forbidden from naming their daughter ‘Megane’, because their last name was ‘Renault’ (the Megane Renault is a famous car).
But although Strawberry, Nutella, Mini Cooper and Prince William didn’t pass the test, a dozen babies in France were given names inspired by the ever-popular Game of Thrones, including Khaleesi, Daenerys and Sansa.
