German Court Upholds Ban on Extra-Long Names

In a country whose Economics Minister is named Karl-Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Freiherr zu Guttenberg, the verdict seems illogical. But on Tuesday, Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court rejected a woman’s appeal to go by her new married name, Frieda Rosemarie Thalheim-Kunz-Hallstein, arguing that the name is too long. The court was upholding a law introduced in 1993, which banned multiple surnames in Germany

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