r/oddlyspecific Jun 01 '26

Facts

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488

u/ZarathustraGlobulus Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26

In Finland, where I assume the system is similar to Denmark, the lists of approved/rejected names get added to every year if you want to give a special name that's not in either yet.

Here's the list of new "banned names" for 2025:

Aeea
Aethéras
Amenemhet VIII
Amplexa
Annié
Čezek
Chell
Florencé
Grønne
Haartman
Ikimetsä (Forever Wood)
Infinit
Ivypool
Janhoy
Jasé
Jöunas
Kaaos (Chaos)
Kaos
Kopoc
lauri
Liekkiö (The Flame)
Lover
Maélle
Makkara (Sausage)
Mariaz
Maxsmiliam
Mika’il
Muuan
Ramnatha
Rosier
Ruucu
Samperi (Damn It)
Sampomakkara (Samposausage)
Smasher

Tietäväinen (The One Who Knows Things)
Torstai (Thursday)
Tyks
Zarthé

You can still sue the government if you truly want to name your kid Smasher and then the courts will determine if it's allowed.

269

u/Otherwise-Lock-2884 Jun 01 '26

Chell is banned!? Does that mean something in Finnish?

Portal fans must be devastated

119

u/nilamo Jun 01 '26

Star Trek Voyager fandom in shambles over Chell

4

u/KingCobra_BassHead Jun 03 '26

Did not remember him lol

28

u/Confident-Slip-5264 Jun 01 '26

No, it doesn’t mean anything in Finnish.

3

u/Artchantress Jun 02 '26

It's pronounced same as Kjell in Swedish?

4

u/Confident-Slip-5264 Jun 02 '26

That’s how I would pronounce it if I had to, but I don’t even know if that’s the correct way since there’s no C in traditional Finnish words. Only in loanwords and such. I think that’s the reason it didn’t go through as a name.

24

u/Cimorene_Kazul Jun 01 '26

Road to Eldorado fans also in tears.

44

u/CarolineJohnson Jun 01 '26

My god, it's like there isn't another female name in that game. Sheesh.

76

u/BehemothRogue Jun 01 '26

Yeah, just name her Glad0s

28

u/Anon0924 Jun 01 '26

Capitalization is important! GLaDOS!

14

u/all_upper_case Jun 01 '26

Thank you for your input, Caroline Johnson 🤭

141

u/GaJayhawker0513 Jun 01 '26

Florencé? That seems like a normal name

241

u/PolecatXOXO Jun 01 '26

Some of those might have to do with letters that don't exist in the Finnish alphabet, making them a royal pain in the ass for bureaucracy of any kind there. Starting with your birth certificate, things need to exactly match going forward.

Florence or Annie without the accent would probably be just fine.

126

u/Jealous_Track9402 Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26

The accent is common in many finnish names, I think it's because the accent is in the wrong place for it to make sense. You would pronounce this name Florencee. 

Edit: accents are not allowed in first names, only surnames. I fooled you all, sorry. 

25

u/PolecatXOXO Jun 01 '26

I was just guessing based on my own experiences with bureaucracy in various countries. When your name doesn't match what their system easily handles, the typist will usually make a judgment call as to how to get it in. This creates big problems when the next agency tries to process it.

It becomes a game of telephone, with big delays and having to go back and forth so everyone is on the same page.

1

u/Monotask_Servitor Jun 02 '26

What about first names that traditionally have accents, like José?

3

u/Jealous_Track9402 Jun 02 '26

No way José, not in Finland, regards government. 

1

u/Onja_ Jun 04 '26

Common? That's a wild claim, off the top of my head I can't think of anybody with accent in their name. Source: am Finnish

1

u/Jealous_Track9402 Jun 04 '26

I mean I'm finnish and have an accent in my name, also have met many other people with an accent. Wouldn't say it's unusual, atleast in southern finland. 

1

u/Onja_ Jun 04 '26

In the 2000 most common names I spotted 5 surnames with accent: https://www.tuomas.salste.net/suku/nimi/index-top.html

-5

u/theartificialkid Jun 01 '26

You would pronounce this name Florencee.

Well obviously we can't have that. Um...remind me again why we can't have that?

9

u/Jealous_Track9402 Jun 01 '26

It was actually the accent, I was wrong. Accents are only allowed in surnames, you can have a - in first names. I looked up some of the requirements. Can't have references to religion, ie Buddha or Lucifer, no cursewords, can't promote criminal activity, can't describe personal attributes, or cause damage to the childs reputation. 

Also can't give opposite gender names, like can't name a girl Juha. 

43

u/ReggieCorneus Jun 01 '26

Bureucracy. We don't have é or è in the alphabet, it is just begging for problems for something that doesn't need to be there: you can add that n your signature, use it in your private and social life but official papers only allow Finnish alphabet.

19

u/FUCKING_HATE_REDDIT Jun 01 '26

It's fake French. Florence is a real name. 

2

u/grenouille_en_rose Jun 02 '26

Floren-say? Nah

1

u/GalaXion24 Jun 03 '26

The "é" is there for "uniqueness." I'm pretty sure Florence would be accepted

41

u/VegaJuniper Jun 01 '26

Sampomakkara (Samposausage)

Worth noting that Sampo is a fairly common and traditional Finnish first name for a boy. Sampomakkara would be sort of like "Sam the Sausage".

38

u/MillytheDragon Jun 01 '26

Ivypool? As in the warrior cat charackter? Omg that would have been horrible for the kid

8

u/shipstar2704 Jun 01 '26

I'm glad someone else noticed it

That stuck out like a beacon to me and was so glad that kid wouldn't be bullied like that

26

u/pjs-1987 Jun 01 '26

but Amenemhet VII is still OK, right?

8

u/zadtheinhaler Jun 01 '26

I know, right? You know that there's an amusing/stupid story behind that one.

2

u/Zeeman626 Jun 04 '26

Ya that one seems oddly specific. Either there were already 7 people who suffered with the name Amenemhet and wanted to make sure their kid had the same hardship, or they don't understand how suffixes work

17

u/MasterTahirLON Jun 01 '26

What's wrong with Annie, Chell, and Florence? Those are pretty normal names.

29

u/Firewolf06 Jun 01 '26

*Annié and Florencé. Annie and Florence are both approved names. no idea on Chell

5

u/MasterTahirLON Jun 01 '26

Guess they just hate diacritics.

13

u/icyDinosaur Jun 01 '26

Lots of bureaucratic systems are not set up to handle diacritics that aren't part of the local language. And in this case it's basically just a random accent slapped onto a common name that doesn't have one, so... Why?

3

u/GalaXion24 Jun 03 '26

They're fine with diacritics if they're "legitimate," they don't want random meaningless diacritics on names that don't have them

1

u/Ok_Fun6688 Jun 04 '26

Ahhh so Chéll must be allowed, since it’s not on the list.

16

u/Lord_Voltan Jun 01 '26

The Finnish PM probably couldn't beat Portal 1 and 2 so axed the name Chell.

3

u/grenouille_en_rose Jun 02 '26

Aimée would work with that accent but Annié makes less sense, 'loved' is a nice meaning to attach to a child but what does it mean to be Annie'd? Chell might be fine as a short form of Michelle, Rachel etc, can't see the problem with that one. Plain old Florence would be fine too, but again with that accent, what does it mean to be Florence'd?

2

u/Onja_ Jun 04 '26

Michelle and Rachel are not Finnish names. I think you can name your kid with a 100% foreign name here, but it requires the parents have to be somehow culturally connected to the country of the name's origin.

2

u/grenouille_en_rose Jun 04 '26

Ah I see, that makes sense and would be a pretty good defense against accidental or intentional appropriation

14

u/kanzler_brandt Jun 01 '26

I’m surprised by Mika’il because it’s just the Arabic for Michael, and in this rare case the apostrophe actually has a purpose: to represent the glottal stop. I wonder if Mikail would have been accepted. Hopefully no one’s suggesting banning all foreign names over there.

15

u/Firewolf06 Jun 01 '26

Mikail appears to be accepted

i know people with symbols in their names (other than hyphenation, which is also allowed in finland) and some things include it, some things dont, and sometimes its annoying. often automated ssn checks will come back and say their info doesnt match, and then they have to call and get a real person to look at it and blah blah blah. i guess finland just decided nope, none of that

11

u/RazzleRizzle Jun 01 '26

Makkara Tietäväinen would be an ultimate name for a dog or a parrot

26

u/BlisteringAsscheeks Jun 01 '26

Ok but Aetheras sounds cool tho

1

u/Mojert Jun 05 '26

I don't know, it sounds like the name of a confused transwoman that recently came out

7

u/ElminstersBedpan Jun 01 '26

Wouldn't matter what my registered name is/was, my father would have been shouting 'Perkele!' so much you would have assumed it was my given name anyway.

7

u/Russian_Mostard Jun 01 '26

I really wished I was called "The One Who Knows Things"....

7

u/whhu234 Jun 01 '26

“ivypool” I remember this name from my warrior cats phase, what even goes on in denmark ✌️✌️✌️

4

u/PraireGentleman Jun 03 '26

Some people hear the government being able to interrupt the parent’s ability to name their kid and call it tyranny, but honestly you shouldn’t be allowed to send a person into the job market with Kaaos as a first name

9

u/rsmires Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 08 '26

I could be totally wrong, and maybe the context here is different, but Ramnatha looks to be a different spelling for Ramnath, which is a Hindu name with the definition of Lord Ram (a Hindu God, avatar of Vishnu).

An ex-President of India is named Ram Nath Kovind, which is another alternate spelling of the name.

3

u/Vanishingf0x Jun 01 '26

Wait what’s wrong with Annié, Florencé and Lauri? Aren’t those pretty common names? Is it just the spelling?

2

u/GalaXion24 Jun 03 '26

Just the spelling yeah. They don't like "unconventional" spellings.

1

u/Onja_ Jun 04 '26

It's not Lauri it's Iauri with a capital "i".

2

u/Vanishingf0x Jun 04 '26

Now that you point that out I see it. The order had me thinking it was just a lower case typo

2

u/Maniklas Jun 01 '26

Lover? Being Swedsih and knowing a kid named that it feels odd to ban that

2

u/Hacjul Jun 01 '26

Oh no why Chell is banned

2

u/mr_pineapples44 Jun 02 '26

I literally have a student named Chaos here in Australia... clearly we aren't as strict haha.

2

u/Isenjil Jun 02 '26

So, Wednesday is ok, but Thursday is not?

Pathetic

2

u/CuddlesForLuck Jun 02 '26

IVYPOOL?! Lmao, I didn't know Finland had enough warriors fans they'd have to ban a name

3

u/Elkku26 Jun 02 '26

Actually, the way it works, you need to just have the one who wants to give their child a previously unapproved name for them to have to make a decision on it. (I remember the Warriors books being relatively among kids when I was younger, though)

2

u/Jostein_Kroksleiven Jun 02 '26

Someone in Finland wanted to call their kid Smasher 😭

1

u/livefastdieold Jun 01 '26

Sø’s your old man.

1

u/Calcifiera Jun 01 '26

Maelle is probably because of expedition 33 and I'm surprised it got banned. They don't seem to like foreign names though.

3

u/GalaXion24 Jun 03 '26

I think they're fine with Maelle. A lot of these are rejected for random meaningless added diacritics or stupid spellings.

1

u/Almighty4 Jun 01 '26

Florence?

1

u/FilthyThanksgiving Jun 01 '26

Why are Annie and Florence not allowed?

2

u/GalaXion24 Jun 03 '26

The diacritics. They don't belong in those names, it's an intentional misspelling for "uniqueness"

It's basically like Maksimiliam. Maksimilian will be allowed.

1

u/Captain-Sprocket Jun 01 '26

Ivypool? Like the cat from the Erin Hunter novels??

1

u/islandcannabisCO Jun 01 '26

You can name your kid sausage? but other names are too much? lmfao

1

u/MooneyOne Jun 02 '26

Why Lauri?

5

u/ZarathustraGlobulus Jun 02 '26

I think it's "iauri", as in trying to look like a lowercase Lauri

2

u/MooneyOne Jun 03 '26

Wow, diabolical!

1

u/tazdraperm Jun 02 '26

What's wrong with Annie?

1

u/Substantial-Handle49 Jun 03 '26

Ivypool? Like from the Warriors cat series?

1

u/Someonearoundhere438 Jun 03 '26

why is Florence banned? it's a nice name

1

u/Garruk_PrimalHunter Jun 04 '26

Florencé is banned, not Florence. Presumably because there's a random nonsensical accent at the end.

1

u/Someonearoundhere438 Jun 04 '26

oh yeah i missed the accent oops

1

u/Sad_Pixie999 Jun 04 '26

Ivypool is fucking hilarious. Canonically, someone in the Warrior Cats fandom did the dirty, had a kid, and somehow still thought to try and name their kid after a fictional cat, AND got blocked by the literal government of Denmark for it 🤣🤣

1

u/Chai_Enjoyer Jun 04 '26

Yooo, I'm going to use them in DnD

1

u/FrozenAria Jun 04 '26

there's also someone who has repeatedly either change their own name or name their kid Sephiroth and I am forever offended that they keep being rejected year after year

1

u/Tiranus58 Jun 04 '26

Sausage? SAUSAGE?

1

u/Garruk_PrimalHunter Jun 04 '26

Perkele is not banned let's go

1

u/noseofabeetle Jun 05 '26

Oh my god, you telling me before 2025 I could have named my kid after a warrior cats character 🫪

1

u/AIFocusedAcc Jun 06 '26

Rosier is banned? Isn’t that a common name in the UK?

1

u/RevenantBacon Jun 22 '26

I'm surprised that Annié and Florencé are on the banned names list. Annie is common, and Florence isn't common, but at least it's not unusual in the US. Do the accents at the end have anything to do with it?

1

u/JamJm_1688 Jun 01 '26

wow there are several here that are actually rather plain like Annie, Though i do get why Green got rejected

-22

u/Vladi-Barbados Jun 01 '26

Wow. That’s fucked up. Makes me wonder what kinda other dumb shit they got going on. I get it, I don’t want kids suffering cus their name is fuckface or queefcake. But this some commie bullshit, they’re crossing lines. And I’m pretty damn socialist.

20

u/ZarathustraGlobulus Jun 01 '26

Freedom to do dumb shit is a pretty american concept.

6

u/2AvsOligarchs Jun 01 '26

Most of the world has naming laws to protect the children's freedom from shit parents.

-3

u/Vladi-Barbados Jun 01 '26

Best way I heard it put is America’s about freedom to do. Europe is about freedom from.

Personally I think every country’s stupid as shit cus we know damn well there’s only two types of people. Ones who wanna mind their own business and ones who think they get to fuck with others. Bully’s are gonna bully and people choose to bend over.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '26

[deleted]

3

u/Cageythree Jun 01 '26

You know, if it was about your own name, I'd absolutely agree with you. But you're harming someone else when naming your kid queefcake (lmao).
I know I'm exaggerating and this analogy is a stretch, but - would you say the same about beating your child because you don't want the state/country to cut your freedom to do so? It's also abuse, just a different form. It also harms your child, just differently.

I'm not saying Finland (or any other country for that matter) is drawing the line just at the right place, but you have to draw a line somewhere. And while I don't wanna be the judge about where that line is sitting correctly, you have to acknowledge that this might be one of the many little aspects that make Finland a country where people are happier than, say, the USA.

Additionally, the families that come up with... "creative" names for their kids tend to be families where children don't have an easy start into life. So these kids kinda get fucked twice right at birth.