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WORLD> Europe
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Swedish couple fight to name son 'Q'
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-07 14:31 A Swedish couple are taking their battle to name their son Q to the country's supreme court. Sweden's "Regeringsratten" will be asked if current legislation permits the use of a single letter as a first name. The parents, from Are in Northern Sweden have denied that their son is named after Q, the James Bond character famous for his spy gadgets. They argue that Q answers to the name that he was given at birth. "He is quite simply Q with half of the inhabitants of the Are area. There are stranger names in the valley," the couple claimed in their appeal. Supreme court judges will decide whether Sweden's 1982 names law allows the use of a single letter as a first name. In an attempt to win over the judges his parents have offered an alternative the name of "Q: u". Sweden introduced laws regulating the use of names in the early 20th century because of concerns that disreputable people were adopting noble names for nefarious purposes. Under the legislation, Sweden's tax authority, where names must be registered, can prohibit parental choices on the basis that it could "cause trouble" for the child later in life. Q's parents are hoping that they can benefit from a reform to the legislation last year, allowing parents to used previously banned names. The reforms followed a political row over arbitrary decisions by the authorities. In one 2007 case parents were forbidden to name their daughter Metallica after the heavy metal rock band while another couple were allowed to name their son Google, after the internet search engine. In a 1996 protest at the law a couple tried and failed to call their son "Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116" – pronounced Albin.
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