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A young couple in France is currently fighting a legal battle for the right to name their baby “Hades,” who was the god of the underworld in Greek mythology.
Kristina Desgres and Rodrigo Velasquez, a young couple from the French port city of Saint-Malo, had their first baby in September of last year. However, they still don’t have their baby’s birth certificate because the public officials of Saint-Malo refuse to accept the baby’s name.
Baby Hades is a little angel, but to anyone familiar with Greek mythology, his name is synonymous with the god-king of the underworld, the kingdom of the dead.
“Nobody makes that connection. In the maternity ward, it did not shock anyone. On the contrary, people liked it,” Kristina, the baby’s mother, said. “We chose this name simply because we thought it was pretty. “Hades Velasquez Desgres” sounds good.”
In France, as in many other developed countries around the world, parents cannot just name their babies whatever they want. If authorities consider that a baby name may be a problem for the child, they have the power to ask the parents to change it. In this case, city officials decided that the negative connection of “Hades” with the god of the underworld—whose task is to prevent the dead from leaving—was inappropriate.
“We do not understand this decision. We do not believe that we have chosen a first name that is harmful to him,” Kristina added. “We did not call him “Lucifer” or “Satan.” We are not stupid. We just wanted an original first name, which sounds good. When Rodrigo suggested “Hades” to me, I immediately liked it.”
The couple has hired a lawyer and is determined to fight tooth and nail for the right to keep the name chosen for their baby.
They have already identified several other parents who previously chose this same baby name – 12 of them in 2020 alone -without any complaint. The couple has even contacted those other parents to confirm that their children grew up ok and without being teased because of their names.
“It is an old first name which is not ridiculous, and we really don’t see why the Saint-Malo officials have decided to fight the name while the other public officials throughout France have had no objections to this first name,” the couple’s lawyer said.
The court is scheduled to give its decision in this case on April 4. Should it agree with the city’s objection, the French couple may have to opt for another name, but the parents have already stated their intention to fight on at a higher level, in case the court rules against them.
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