The Swedish tax agency wants to stop the names J, L and Ford



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Photo: Christine Olsson / TT

Every new person needs a name – but not all first names are allowed by the Swedish Tax Agency The child in the photo has no link with the article .

Two parents want the son to wear J as a first name, another couple is fighting for the Ford name.

However, the Swedish Tax Agency says no with the support of the stricter name law which is currently being seriously tested by the Supreme Administrative Court.

Do you dream of renaming a single letter as a Q inventor in James Bond movies? Then a future court appearance may be the door that opens in the end – or be re-locked again with a double lock if the Swedish Tax Agency is right.

"One letter is not a name, and it's not a Swedish name to say it," says Skatteverket's lawyer Anna Ljungberg.

Same thing with a name that is reminiscent of a last name.

"You should be able to see directly whether it's a first name or a last name, there should be no confusion," she said.

Difficult with the new law

When the new law on names came into effect in the summer of 2017, the Swedish Tax Agency has been given more the right to refuse the names at the border. The old formulation of 1982 changed the fact that a name may not be "obviously inappropriate" to avoid being "inappropriate". The first two battalions between the Swedish Tax Agency and the parents were sought until the Supreme Administrative Court.

"The requirements of the law on names of people are quite general, there are very different situations under evaluation, so it is very important that we practice in this area," says Anna Ljungberg.

One case concerns two parents who want their son to receive J as one of his three first names, just like the eldest son of the couple who already bears the name. The letter has special meaning for parents and, in their opinion, the name is neither inappropriate nor offensive. Administrative law and the Court of Appeal have begun because there are already first names with a single letter in Sweden, while the Supreme Administrative Court had already approved the first names Q and AC in its two previous judgments of 2003 and 2009 .

"Can be deceiving"

But the Swedish Tax Agency says no. A similar case bearing the first name L has also been the subject of an appeal, but has not yet been judged.

"There is a risk that people perceive the single letter as an abbreviation for a longer name, and that may be misleading," says Anna Ljungberg.

The second case concerns the first name Ford, while a couple tries to give it to his son. The name is part of the Canadian branch of the family and about 30 people in Sweden already wear it as a first name. But the authority refers to the fact that this can be confusing as a last name and that it is not a traditional Swedish name.

"We did not think there were so many people with the name that this alone weighed in. They may have received it from their previous names, that they immigrated with that name, but only the fact that someone has received the name does not mean it's free, "Ljungberg says.

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