I have been thinking a lot about names recently. It has struck me due to several conversations that I have had with friends and colleagues. For one Germany has very strict laws about what you can call children and the other thing is the way that people here casually assume that you can tell something about someone from their name. I think there are two things going on here.
1) In Germany people seem to still expect a name to reflect certain characteristics of the person - for example gender or ethnic background. It is almost a case of Adamic naming (after Benjamin): Adam saw the animals and knew them and gave them their names. It seems perfectly normal to most Germans to assume that you should be able to tell someone's gender from their name. I assume that you can't and that's not just because I have a name that you might not expect a woman to have. It is very interesting having conversations with people, because I am finding it very difficult to convince them that it is a bad thing. But surely it must be better to assume nothing about someone until you see them. It is the whole concept of a level playing field.
2) The second thing is unfortunately the classic case of over engineering. Because the German constitution protects the dignity of the individual, the state decided it was necessary to protect the dignity of children from strange or weird names. So they made laws which meant you can't call a child something which is degrading or provoking (like Hitler) . I can't disagree with this, but I do question whether you really need a law for it. I have been looking but I can't seem to find any other country that is quite so restrictive.
(even on this long and detailed page on names, Germany is highlighted as having very strict laws. ) Most parents don't seem to want to make their children into figures of fun.
I can possibly forgive the assumption that because someone is called Methe, they have a Turkish background, because Germany does not have as long a history of immigration as other countries. I find it difficult to forgive the question where someone comes from, because the underlying assumption is that if you have a German name, you are German (probably because you have German blood) but if you don't you are not. I meant at one point do you become German?
(PS. I know that I get a bit aggressive about this. I am sure if you look back, things weren't much better in the UK 50 years ago. But at least you could call your kids what you wanted.)
