Wondering which baby names are illegal in Portugal? (Sure you are!) The Portuguese government maintains an 80-page list of baby names — a mix of the permitted and the forbidden. Here are some of the names (and weirdly specific name combinations) Portuguese parents are not allowed to give their babies:
- Aidan
- Albuquerque
- Allan Brett
- Anouchka
- Antoinette
- Argo Demetrius
- Ashanti
- Ashley
- Babilónia
- Ben-Hur
- Brunei
- Bruce
- Bryan
- Charlotte
- Cheyenne
- Claret
- Claude
- Coltrane (jazz musician)
- Brilhante (Portuguese for “brilliant”)
- Britta Nórdica
- Chianda Kady
- Dmitri, Dmitriy, Dmitro
- Do Sorriso
- Douglas
- Dylan
- Farley
- Faruk
- Fraternidade
- Giana Lai
- Heidi
- Hendrix
- Imperatriz
- Ivanhoe (19th-century novel)
- Jaiantcumar
- Jenny
- Jimmy
- Jivago (form of Zhivago)
- Kathleen
- Kennedy
- Leeyang
- Loïc
- Logan
- Mabel
- Magnifica
- Mar e Sol (Portuguese for “sea and sun”)
- Marx
- Mary Ann
- Melbournia
- Nazareth Fernandes
- Nirvana
- Olaf
- Pablo
- Piombina (Italian town Piombino)
- Portugal
- Rihanna
- Rosa Luxemburgo
- Samora Machel
- Sandokan (fictional pirate Sandokan)
- Satélite
- Sayonara (Japanese for “goodbye”)
- Tamagnini (Italian surname)
- Trebaruna (Lusitanian deity)
- Vasconcelos (Portuguese surname)
- Viking
- Virtuosa
- Viterbo (Italian town)
- Zingara (Italian for “gypsy”)
Some are foreign names/words, some are locations, some refer to pop culture, and so forth.
Many of the no-no names are simply in the wrong form (according to the government). For instance, parents can use…
- Aarão, but not Aaron
- Agata, but not Agatha
- Baltasar, but not Baltazar
- Daisi, but not Daisy
- Dulce do Amparo, but not Dulce Amparo
- Kévim, but not Kevin
- Hervé, but not Hervê or Herve (reminds me of the Zöé controversy)
- Maria de Lurdes, but not Maria de Lourdes
- Martina, but not Martine
- Mónica, but not Monique
- Nuno, or Nuno de Santa Maria, or Nuno do Carmo (Carmelite), but not Nuno Álvares.
To see all the names for yourself, download the Lista de Nomes from the Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado.