A lesbian couple in France was blocked from naming their son Ambre.
According to French news source The Local, a lesbian couple from Brittany region’s Morbihan department was upset in January when the government banned them from naming their baby boy “Ambre.”
Ambre is the feminine version of the French word Ambroise meaning mortal. Despite the gender of the word being recognized as female, very few women are given this name in France. Due to this, the couple thought it right to give their son the name.
Unfortunately for them, the registrar reported them to a prosecutor who didn’t agree with their decision, according to Telegraph. This prosecutor said that naming the boy Ambre could confuse and harm the child. The reasoning being that it’s a girl’s name.
In France, names are often changed and altered to be gender-specific. For instance, a girl will be named Jean and a boy will be named Jeanne. In addition, French parents used to pick names for their children from a government approved list of “prenoms,” according to the Local.
While that original list has since been thrown away, the government still interferes if they think the name chosen by parents is potentially harmful to their children.
Back to the two mothers, they sued the government, with the help of the gay parents association Les Enfants d'Arc-en-Ciel, and initially won the case with the judge saying there were no ground for rejecting the name. Then in July, the decision was appealed. The retrial is now set for next year.
"Society is very unfair, it lets ridiculous first names pass," said one of the mothers to French news sources.
The retrial is set for April, 2019, and the baby’s name is legally in limbo until then.
h/t: The Local, Telegraph
” For instance, a girl will
" For instance, a girl will be named Jean and a boy will be named Jeanne."
That's backwards. "Jean" is a boy's name (e.g. Jean Valjean) and "Jeanne" is a girl's name (e.g. Jeanne d'Arc).