An Israeli couple just named their daughter "Like".

Let me preface this by saying I’m six months pregnant and mildly panicking that in three months time I’ll have to come up with a suitable name for my first-born. It’s actually quite hard, especially when relatives and friends nabbed all the good ones years ago.

But I shouldn’t complain, I’ve had some really great suggestions lately. For example, the Israeli couple who named their baby,  ‘Like,’ after a Facebook button. Or I could always take cues from Alicia Silverstone, in naming her son, Bear Blu, and just pick a random animal and colour, add or subtract a few letters and mash it all together.

Another name I should consider is ‘Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii,’ although wait, that one’s already taken after a New Zealand couple named their daughter this. She had it for nine years before a judge ruled it made a ‘fool of the child’ and had the girl renamed during a custody battle. Bet she was glad her parents didn’t settle the custody dispute out of court.

In Australia we have the right to call our children whatever we like – within reason, we have a list of prohibited names where nothing offensive, contrary to the public interest or names with symbols (!,? .etc) will be accepted. However, not every country is so liberal when it comes to the names of its citizens. If you live in one of the following countries, and your chosen baby name is not on a sanctioned list, you may have to apply to the government for approval.

Here are some of the more unusual laws that exist around names around the world…

Denmark: Names have to be approved by the government. People expecting children can choose a pre-approved name from a government list of 7,000 mostly West European and English names – 3,000 for boys, 4,000 for girls. A few ethnic names, like Ali and Hassan, have recently been added. If parents want a name that’s not on the list, they have to ask permission.

France: Up until 1992, first names had to be chosen from a long list of Saints. Now immigrant children called Laurent, for example, are lodging requests for name changes since the approved name law lapsed.

Iceland: First names not previously used in Iceland must be approved by the Iceland Naming Committee.

Morocco: The government has a list of approved names.

Finland: Has a list of banned names, including numbers or letters that don’t make sense.

China: Most new babies in China are now basically required to be named based on the ability of computer scanners to read those names on national identification cards. The government recommends giving children names that are easily readable, and encourages simplified characters over traditional Chinese ones.

Portugal: If both parents are Portuguese, names have to be native with approved spellings and pronunciation. If you are from OS, you must prove the name is common there.

Sweden: Enacted in 1982, the Naming law in Sweden was originally created to prevent non-noble families from giving their children noble names, but a few changes to the law have been made since then and tax authorities must give their blessing to both first and surnames before they can be used. In 1996, a Swedish couple protesting against the strict naming laws tried to name their son, Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116, (apparently pronounced ‘Albin’), they didn’t succeed.

Germany: You must be able to tell the gender of the child from its name. Names that would ‘negatively affect the well-being of the child’ are also not allowed.

New Zealand: New Zealand’s Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act of 1995 doesn’t allow people to name their children anything that “might cause offence to a reasonable person; or […] is unreasonably long; or without adequate justification, […] is, includes, or resembles, an official title or rank.” Officials at the registrar of births have successfully talked parents out of some more embarrassing names.

Rejected names: Stallion, Yeah Detroit, Fish and Chips, Twisty Poi, Keenan Got Lucy, Sex Fruit, Satan and Adolf Hitler. Approved names: Benson and Hedges (for a set of twins), Midnight Chardonnay, Number 16 Bus Shelter and Violence.

Ultimately these laws are about protecting the child from a life of ridicule, I can’t imagine someone called Sex Fruit is going to have a particularly easy life. That said, I don’t know how Number 16 Bus Shelter is going to get on either. My Dad wanted to call me Michelle after the Beatles song. That wouldn’t have been so bad but I’m also cool with Nicole. Since “Like” is already taken.

Do you think your life would’ve turned out differently if you had another name? Were you going to be called something else?

Do you think parents should be able to call their babies whatever they like, complete with wacky spelling or is Bear Blu an unfair burden to put on a child?