15 March 2014

Banned Names

Is your name now 'banned' in Saudi Arabia?: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/is-your-name-now-banned-in-saudi-arabia-9192298.html

Okay, so this isn't my first parade. I'd gone over articles that talked about Finland's moratorium on certain names (mostly ridiculous ones), but with Saudi Arabia it seems they're doing it more out of a sense of trying to be pious rather than being sensical. That doesn't surprise me anyway, since Saudi Arabia has always been piety central (though it doesn't always do it with the best results).
The reason this article had even come to my attention was one of my Armenian-American friends has a name which, by this list, would not be acceptable. It's always an interesting look at how the rest of the world regulates things.

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