Court rules 'Q' unacceptable as boy's name

OSTERSUND, Sweden, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- The letter Q may identify James Bond and "Star Trek" characters, but it may not be used as a boy's name, a Swedish administrative appeals court ruled.

The parents of a boy in northwestern Sweden's Jamtland province, where the actress Ann-Margret was born, had argued they'd been calling their son Q since he was born.

The unidentified couple said that their son responds to the name and that no matter what official records say, everyone knows him as Q, the Lanstidningen newspaper reported.

The parents said that since this is what they consider his name, what he considers himself and what he is known as, he should be allowed to keep Q as his name.

However, the Kammarratten appeals court, like the Lansratten administrative court before it, rejected the argument.

The lower court had ruled the name failed to satisfy basic linguistic requirements.

The higher court said Q is a letter of the alphabet not typically used as a first name, so it should not be allowed.

It cited "relevant case law" that holds that letters are not considered appropriate for names if the letters aren't already considered a name.