Couple had to battle to give son name they wanted after registrar tried to stop them
Topics: Parenting, Jobs, This Morning
Kya Buller
Featured Image Credit: ITV
Topics: Parenting, Jobs, This Morning
In a world that has normalised names like North, True and whatever Elon Musk and Grimes called their kids, it's all the rage right now to choose an unusual name for your little one.
But one family from Derbyshire ended up going to court to legally their son a particular name.
Choosing a baby name is a huge responsibility, and personally I'm not sure how I'd ever choose.
I'm sure I'd be frantically leafing through baby books - although I doubt the name Dan and Mandy Sheldon landed on would be featured in any of them.
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It turns out names can be rejected, but this didn't stop the new parents from fighting for it.
The parents were allegedly told that their newborn son would not succeed in life if they were to go ahead with the controversial name.
The name in question? None other than Lucifer.
Yep, as in Satan - so you can see why people would take offence.
It transpires that Dan and Mandy are atheists who chose the name Lucifer in their search for a ‘nice, strong’ name, following a struggle to find one.
Back in 2020, the pair went on This Morning and spoke to hosts Rochelle Humes and Ore Oduba about the decision.
They took their son, who was four months old at the time.
Dan said the registrar told him that Lucifer would 'never succeed in life, no teacher would want to teach him and no employer would want to hire him’.
He explained: "It should have been a joyous day and it was very hurtful. We didn’t know what to say, we didn’t know what response to give to her.”
He added that some people have suggested it's akin to naming a baby Hitler.
The registrar declined to name Lucifer so the parents lodged an official complaint with the council and their request was granted.
The UK does not have laws banning certain names, but registrars can reject some with obscenities or numerals.
However, 'Lucifer’ is banned in places such as New Zealand. And in 2013, they added the name to it's prohibited moniker list, alongside 'Christ', 'King', 'Prince' and 'Princess'.
All's well that end's well for Dan and Mandy as their son is now legally named Lucifer.
Derbyshire County Council released a statement that said: "We apologise if they were offended but it is the job of our registrars to advise in these matters as sometimes people are not aware of certain meanings or associations around certain names."
We're not sure it'll catch on.