A friend from school named Michael, married a woman named Aleta. They named their daughter a combination of their names, Miceta. Without seeing it spelled I assumed the kid was named after the tool company.
I knew a girl named Mercedes...
Well, the car company is named after a girl.
Well I sure can get behind that, but naming a girl after a car company is not the same my friend.
I remember reading a long time ago about a study where a group of artists were individually taken on a ride in a car and then asked to draw a specific thing after they finished the drive. The experimental group was taken along a route that secretly had images planted on the side of the road related to what they would eventually be asked to draw. They found that while those artists didn’t remember seeing the images, what they drew was clearly influenced by them.
I feel this could be a similar phenomenon. Maybe they’d heard the name Thalia in the past and kinda absorbed it without recognizing it as a normal name because they didn’t know anyone with that name.
Germany has strict laws on what you can name a child?
Yes, basically it has to be a real name. If you choose a name that isn't common you have to prove that it's a name and not a made up word. That can be for example by providing examples of people with that name or historical documents that show it's a person's name.
Also, you can't name your child something that could lead to ridicule or otherwise harm the child. So even if "Penis" is a perfectly normal name in your language, you wouldn't be allowed to register a child with that name here.
providing examples of people with that name or historical documents
Does this mean that Germany is totally reliant on importing new names from other countries, as there would be no domestic production?
Fascinating. I've never heard of a law like this. Thanks for explaining!
But all names are made up words.
Hey buddy, I didn't make the rules, take it up with the Bundesamt für Justiz!
I know you meant "all words are made up" but I'm struggling to think of a name that's not based (either translated, transliterated, corrupted, ellided or borrowed) on a word in a pre-existing language.
Some words are more made up than others
Are the Germans aware that all words are made up?
Have you ever heard German? Half their words are just other words smashed together to make new ones.
A lot of countries do. Denmark famously has a list of 7000 pre-approved names and if you want to use something else you need to file forms.
Wow! I've never heard of that. Why did that come about?
My personal theory is that every piece of name related legislation was introduced by a backbench politician named Hitler Slobodan bin Laden or something but I don't actually know that.
X Æ A-12 Musk
Oh yeah, syntax error. Poor child.
Too many dumb people trying to name their kids Khaleesi.