Sweden ruled against naming baby 'Metallica' 10 years ago

Hetfield
James Hetfield of Metallica.
Meredith Westin for MPR file

Today's Morning Edition music is from Metallica.

It was 10 years ago that Sweden's National Tax Authority ruled that Michael and Karolina Tomaro could not name their baby Metallica.

Under Swedish law, both first names and last names need to be approved by the government. Officials determined that Metallica was "inappropriate" because it's the name of a heavy metal band and is too closely related to the word "metal."

After an international outcry, Swedish officials reversed their decision two weeks later.

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