About two years old, Liam, a little girl, and Ambre, a little boy, will continue to be called that. In a judgment rendered on Monday, the Rennes Court of Appeal authorized two couples of parents to give these names to their child, while the public prosecutor’s office considered that they could generate “gender confusion”. The Rennes Court of Appeal “confirms the judgment in all its provisions” and “says there is no need to delete the first name in the civil status register”.
In January 2018, the civil status service of Lorient (Morbihan), considering that it could “be contrary to the best interests of the child”, had reported the choice of two first names to the public prosecutor: Liam for the daughter of a heterosexual couple from Lorient and Ambre for the son of a homosexual couple from Etel.
The family judge had validated the choice of these first names but the prosecution had appealed. “At two, our son finally has a first name,” reacted the mother of little Amber, saying that he learned the news “with immense relief”. Now, “my wife will finally be able to adopt her son,” she rejoiced.
Justice “passed us off as bad parents”
Parents of little Liam also got a favorable decision. Justice “made us look like bad parents,” said Liam’s mother. “We are victims and want to be recognized as such,” she added.
To invoke “gender confusion”, as did the Lorient prosecutor in the case of Ambre and Liam is “a bit new”, noted Me Julien Simonnot, interviewed by Le Parisien in November 2018. This lawyer the family at the Paris bar also stressed the unusual nature of the appeal by the prosecution, which had chosen not to side with the court’s decision.
“I did my research, observed that (Liam and Ambre) were not mixed first names”, had justified at the time the prosecutor of Lorient. According to the latest INSEE first names file, the first name Liam has however already been given 94 times to a girl since 1900. Forty-three boys named Amber have also emerged since the beginning of the 20th century.
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