'He'll never get a job': Parents win battle to give son a very unusual name
A couple has managed to name their son Lucifer after a register initially tried to stop them.
Mandy and Dan Sheldon visited their local register office in Chesterfield, Derbyshire last week to name their four-month-old son.
When the couple tried to register the name, they were told by an offical their son “wouldn’t succeed in life” if he was named Lucifer, The Sun reported.
The parents told The Sun they were excited to register their baby boy after waiting for the office to reopen but the woman who served them “looked at us in utter disgust”.
The name Lucifer was first seen in the King James Bible in 1611 and refers to the devil’s name.
“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,” Mr Sheldon said.
The parents said they were asked to leave the room while the official checked if it was legal to register the child with the name.
Mr and Mrs Sheldon said the official told them that it was illegal to name a child Lucifer In New Zealand in an attempt to deter them.
The father said he was “gobsmacked” by the behaviour and although the official eventually agreed to register the name of their son, she did so “through gritted teeth”.
“Honestly, we just thought it was a nice name . . . a unique one. We didn’t expect to get so much grief about it,” Mr Sheldon said.
Derbyshire County Council apologised to the parents and said it was the role of registrars to advise of meanings or associations around certain names that can be seen as offensive.
In 2017, a German couple attempted to name their child Lucifer citing the same reasons as Mr and Mrs Sheldon.
The case eventually went to court, where the couple were convinced to choose another name and decided on Lucian, according to USA Today.
In 1994, a Japan court ruled against naming a child Akuma, which in Japanese translates to Devil.
The Los Angeles Times reported that while the name was originally approved, two months later higher officials overruled the judgement and requested the parents chose another name, describing it as “an abuse of the right of parents to name a child” and said the earlier decision to allow it ran against “healthy social concepts”.
Other biblical names that have been banned around the world include Judas and Cain, which have been banned in Switzerland due to it potentially harming a child’s wellbeing.
A baby named Sanitiser
The parents are not the only ones in recent times to raise eyebrows over the name of their child.
In April, parents in India named their child Sanitiser because his father said it is synonymous with protecting people against COVID-19.
"Whenever people will talk of corona, they will remember that it was sanitiser that saved them," Omvir Singh told the Deccan Herald.
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
