Saudi Arabia Bans Blasphemous and Inappropriate Baby Names Alice, Sandy and Elaine

Ludovica Iaccino
International Business Times
March 14, 2014

source

Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry has banned 50 given names that “contradict the culture or religion of the kingdom” or are” foreign” and “inappropriate”.

According to the list of forbidden names, Saudis will no longer be able to call their children Linda, Alice, Malaak (angel) or Basmala (utterance of the name of God), to name just a few.

The ministry justified the ban by saying that the names offend perceived religious sensibilities, are affiliated to royalty and some are of non-Arabic or non-Islamic origin.

Read more