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Mother of 14 jailed for violating Norway's baby-name law

December 23, 1998 Web posted at: 9:52 AM EST (1452 GMT)

OSLO, Norway (AP) -- A mother of 14 was jailed this week because she refused to change the name she picked for her young son, even though that violated Norway's name law.

Kirsti Larsen, 46, told the Verdens Gang newspaper that she named her son Gesher after she dreamed the child should be named "bridge." Gesher means bridge in Hebrew.

Norway has strict laws regulating names, including lists of acceptable first and last names. In 1995, Larsen tried to register her son's name as Gesher at her local county office, which rejected the choice as illegal.

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