Dan and Mandy Sheldon were excited to register their baby’s name after offices reopened from the pandemic. But when they got to the registrar in Derbyshire, it turned into a fight. They wanted to name their son Lucifer. The registrar didn’t like it at all.
Dan said: “We were really excited to go and get him registered but the woman looked at us in utter disgust. She told us he would never be able to get a job, and that teachers wouldn’t want to teach him.”
Dan tried to explain they aren’t religious and that Lucifer means “light-bringer” in Greek. He said: “I tried to explain that we are not religious people, and Lucifer in Greek means ‘light-bringer’ and ‘morning’ but she wouldn’t listen.”
She also brought up other countries. Dan said: “She even told us that it was illegal to name a child that in New Zealand and that maybe we could name him something else but refer to him as Lucifer at home.”
Laws in the UK are different and not as strict. But the registrar still wasn’t sure what to do and asked them to wait outside.
Dan said: “We were gobsmacked with her behavior.” Eventually they were allowed to register the name, but he said: “Eventually she did it, but it was through gritted teeth.”
The story made headlines and Dan appeared on TV to talk about it. He said the registrar told him that his son would not “succeed in life” and that no one would want to hire him or teach him.
Dan said: “[It’s] very hurtful. We were absolutely gobsmacked. We didn’t know what to say, we didn’t know what response to give to her.”
He said: “We explained to her that we understand the meaning of Lucifer and we thank you for your opinion, but she just carried on and wouldn’t leave it.”
Then it got even worse. Dan said the registrar asked him: “why don’t you call your son Hitler?”
A spokesperson for Derbyshire County Council later said: “We apologize if they were offended but it is the job of our registrars to advise in these matters as sometimes people are not aware of certain meanings or associations around certain names.”
