After the initial "?" reaction, I found it really fascinating that one has liberated the whole naming convention. Why limit it with borders that names may not have? Instead allow parents to give the child exactly the name they feel that represents the child.
In some cases parents have gotten really creative but then again...so did my mom, even within the limited framework Finland had at the time (read: my grand-mothers resistance to give her grand-child such a crazy name).
In Finland one has to follow a set of framework and the freedom to express the names needs to fit into the legal framework (yes, rather limited freedom here).
Name Law / Nimilaki
Finland might be very gender equal in the cultural habits but what comes to naming a child, there we have actual naming law. One thing the law looks after is that the name is lawful and will not cause problems to the person. They also control that name reflects whether one is male or female. As per that law a person can have 1-3 first names and a last name. This approach follows the German model.
You are allowed to change part of your whole name or full name after turning 16. The changed name will be checked that it fulfills the name law requirements.
There are certain first and last names, which are prohibited, as well as use of numbers, ideograms and pictograms. In reality though the detailed rules and the practice around naming vary by state. Which reminds me of the good point, I tend to forget...US is not a country. It is continent with many states. It is sometimes tough to remember that closest comparison would be EU.
The US naming law does not seem to take position whether the name should be male or female (based on what I found in internet).
Practice around Finnish First Name(s)
The first name(s) can be hyphenated but they need to be indicating clearly the sex of the person. Also, one of the names need to be identified as the "calling name". It does not need to be the first of the names. The calling name will become the name which school and other places will know to use for the person when addressing him/her.
There is a list of names, which are listed under female names and list of names under male names. The registration of a child's identity will not be accepted by the authorities (church or magistrate) if the paper states that child's sex is let's say female and yet one would wish to name the child e.g. Mika.
Interestingly enough in Finland Mika is a common male name, deriving from Michael. This seem to cause some confusion at times in US and Japan, as in both countries one would consider Mika as a female name. Finnish formula drivers got attention in Japan, not just for their excellent driving but also for their names: Mika Häkkinen and Mika Salo. As one would think they are women.
Many of the Finnish names have their roots elsewhere, they were just "Finninized" during and after the independence. For example the English name George, the Finnish versions are Yrjö or Jyri.
Finland among 20 other countries (European and Latin American) celebrates name days. Any name, who has more than 1000 bearers will be incorporated to the name day calendar. The name day will mainly be noted by family members, close friends and name sakes. As a child one may have gotten a special treat or a small gift on one's name day.
I grew up without a proper name day since my full first name is one of its kind in the whole country and the name Inna does not have over 1000 living bearers. That never stopped me to celebrate it, I decided to celebrate it on Iina's day. As an adult, after all the years abroad, I stopped celebrating or paying attention to the name day. Especially since none of the friends would anyway pay attention...as it is not in the official name day calendar. The down side of it is that I keep forgetting to pay attention to the name days of family and close friends too. (Sorry to all those dear people for that!)
Practice around Finnish Last Name(s)
Last name comes automatically from the parents unless they do not have a common last name. In that case the parents have to inform, which one of the last names will be transferred to the child. Common habit is to give the father's name. If one fails to inform which of the last name is chosen by the time limit, 2 months from birth, the child gets by law mother's last name.
You cannot either give a last name to be a first name of the child, nor can you change your last name to be one of your first names (e.g. when getting married).
In US it seems to be rather common habit that women drop their original middle name and change their maiden last name as their middle name. Which then allows one to take the husband's last name as their new last name. I like the flexibility to be able to choose the names.
Within the limits, in Finland majority tends to choose the last name of the husband. Other option is to hyphenate husbands last name after one's own last name, e.g. Smith-Meyer. Some keep their own maiden names, especially if the female's maiden last name is unique and she has created a personal brand and network related to that name already.
We have a saying in Finnish:
Ei nimi miestä pahenna, ellei mies nimeä.
The name can't make a man worse, but the man can make his name worse.
If you got interested more information in English:
Most popular names by years in Finland (female / male)
List of most popular names given in US 2014
Wikipedia on Finnish names
Finnish name day calendar
Population service to check how many people exist in Finland with certain name - check if you have name sakes in Finland :)
My family broke a few "rules". :) My sister has my great-grandparents' last name as her first: Meredith. My daughter's first name used to be considered a boy's name: Morgan (my grandmother took a long time to get over the fact that I gave my DAUGHTER a boy's name). My second daughter's name used to be considered a boy's name: Mackenzie. Both of my grandmothers dropped her middle name when she got married and changed her maiden name to her middle name...Dorotha Ann Meredith became Dorotha Meredith Wheeler. Maybe it's a generational thing....kind of like a new fad every few years. Thanks for the post! It was fun to take time and think about family names.
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