瑞典夫婦：女兒起名“重金屬” Couple fights to name baby 'Metallica'

MetAllica may work as a name for a heavy metal band, but a Swedish couple is struggling to convince authorities it's also suitable for a baby girl.

Sweden's tax agency rejected Michael and Karolina Tomaro's application to name their 6-month-old daughter after the legendary rock band.

"It suits her," Karolina Tomaro, 27, said Tuesday of the name. "She's decisive and she knows what she wants."

Although little Metallica has already been baptized, the Swedish National Tax Board refused to register the name, saying it was associated with both the rock group and the word "metal" and not suitable for a girl.

In Sweden, parents must get the names of their children approved by the tax authority, which is in charge of the population registry and issues personal identification numbers, similar to Social Security numbers in the United States.

Karolina said the official handling the case also called the name "ugly."

The couple was backed by the County Administrative Court in Goteborg, which ruled on March 13 that there was no reason to block the name. It also noted that there already is a woman in Sweden with Metallica as a middle name.

The tax agency appealed to a higher court, frustrating the family's foreign travel plans.

"We've had to cancel trips and can't get anywhere because we can't get her a passport without an approved name," Karolina said.

Metallica（重金屬） 一詞用作重金屬樂隊的名字倒還可以，可瑞典一對夫婦硬是要說服當局，將這個詞用作女兒的名字。

邁克爾和卡羅麗娜·託瑪洛夫婦向瑞典稅務局申請給他們六個月大的女兒取名爲傳奇搖滾樂隊Metallica，但遭到了拒絕。

27歲的卡羅麗娜於本週二說：“這個名字很適合她。她很有主見，知道自己想要什麼。”

雖然小Metallica已經接受了洗禮，但瑞典全國稅務局拒絕註冊這一姓名，稱這個名字與搖滾樂隊和metal（金屬）一詞有關，不適合女孩。

在瑞典，父母們給孩子起的名字都須經過稅務局的批准，瑞典的稅務局主要負責人口的註冊和頒發同美國社會保障編號相類似的個人身份編號。

卡羅麗娜說，處理此事的官員還說這個名字“很難聽”。

哥德堡地方行政法院對這對夫婦給予了支持，並於3月13日做出裁決：稅務局沒有理由拒絕註冊這個名字。此外，法院指出，瑞典曾有一位女性的中間名就是Metallica。

稅務局則向上一級法院提出了上訴，使得這一家的國外旅遊計劃受阻。

卡羅麗娜說：“由於名字沒被批准，女兒的護照辦不下來，所以我們只好取消了旅行計劃，哪兒也去不了。”