Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.
LessMore
Last reviewed Sources & creditsMedia creditsMethodology
Quick answers
What does a naming law usually regulate?
Allowed characters, length, offensive strings, sex-marking, surname transmission after marriage, and the procedure for change.
Why is Iceland famous?
Mannanafnanefnd reviews given names for grammatical fitness and list compatibility. Patronymics are the normal last element. High friction, small population, big headlines.
What is Namensrecht?
German civil-status rules on given names and family names, including child-welfare refusals and detailed marriage/child surname options.
What is the koseki?
Japan’s family register — the legal source of a person’s name. Given-name characters generally must come from approved sets (jōyō/jinmeiyō). Married couples have been required to share one surname.
Can the U.S. ban a baby name?
States can refuse numerals, obscenity or confusing strings, and courts handle adult changes. Friction is lower than Iceland, not zero.
Do SSA and ONS enforce names?
No. They count what was registered. The veto, if any, sat with the registrar earlier.
Put Iceland, Germany, Japan, Spain, Korea and a U.S. state on one table. The columns are inventory, surname logic, change path.
That table is the worldwide view. A blended “strictness score” is less useful than the columns.
Regions
- United States — State patchwork
Lower birth-name friction, uneven change friction.
- Iceland — Committee + patronymics
Highest-profile given-name inventory; last element usually not a frozen surname.
- Germany — Namensrecht
Welfare tests and detailed family-name options.
- Japan — Koseki + jinmeiyō
Household file and character inventory; married surname unity.
- Spain & much of LATAM — Two surnames
Transmission rules as naming law.
- Korea — Court change + family register
Adult petitions exist; 돌림자 is social design, not a luck statute.
Laws
- Icelandic personal names act + committee Iceland — The emblematic list regime.
- German Namensrecht Germany — The emblematic standard-and-welfare regime.
- Japanese Family Register Act + jinmeiyō Japan — The emblematic household-and-character regime.
- Spanish civil-code surname articles Spain — The emblematic two-surname regime.
Legal friction is local. The atlas’s job is to name the local veto.