If a child was not given one of the permitted names, then they would not be allowed to hold ID cards, vote, and they would find it hard to take part in modern life. The laws were racist and did not even allow for the names of regional dialects within France such as Breton and Occitanie. In fact, you were only allowed to name your child after a Saint from the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints or for a historical person (as long as that, too, wasn’t offensive). You see, between 1803- 1966 there were very strict rules about what you were allowed to call your child in France. There is a cultural (and even legal!) reason for this, and that is baby name laws (which are often restrictive and sometimes racist). Though we’re much more used to hearing unique or rare names in the English language (such as Kim Kardashian’s daughter ‘North’ or Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter ‘Apple’), the majority of baby girl names in French are classic and find their roots in even more ancient languages such as Greek and Latin. The law in France surrounding French names
