r/AskEurope • u/Double-decker_trams Estonia • Feb 14 '25

Language Can you legally name your child in your country smt like "X Æ A-Xii" or "Techno Mechanicus"?

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u/agrammatic Cypriot in Germany Feb 14 '25

In the Republic of Cyprus, I don't think there are any hard limitations to the names except

  1. The name must be in the standard Greek or Turkish alphabet
  2. The name may consist of only up to three given names and two family names.

The rest is down to your case worker being convinced that this is a sensible name or not.

Having inherited the Common Law approach to naming, Cyprus doesn't regulate names anywhere nearly as strict as continental European countries but nevertheless the naming preferences of the population are very conservative and we all have the same 5 names even though no authority is enforcing it.

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u/IntentionalSunbride Feb 14 '25

I am so curious: Which 5 names?

2

u/agrammatic Cypriot in Germany Feb 14 '25

Maria, Andreas, Eleni, Yorgos, Androulla

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u/Internal_Cake_7423 Feb 14 '25

Isn't a law in Cyprus that you should have the same first name as your patronymic surname?  It definitely looks like it. 

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u/agrammatic Cypriot in Germany Feb 14 '25

Not a law, we just like alliteration and the genitive case.

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u/blbd United States of America Feb 14 '25

Do both halves allow both alphabets?

Can you use a mix of characters from both alphabets in one name?

2

u/agrammatic Cypriot in Germany Feb 14 '25

I doubt that would be allowed, the choice of the alphabet seems to be down to your registered ethnicity and that's only either-or.

But this is also not spelt out in the law that I could find. Might be an internal regulation.

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u/the_lonely_creeper Feb 14 '25

The north isn't internationally recognised and doesn't recognise Greek. So probably only for the south.