A Turkish couple living in Germany who want to call their child "Osama bin Laden" have been refused permission by German officials.
Registrations officials in Cologne, where the couple live, rejected the name because it would not be allowed in Turkey, a spokeswoman for the magistrates court now dealing with the case said.
"Another reason was the obvious association of the name with the terror attacks of September 11th," she said.
Names are only accepted for registration in Germany if they fulfil certain criteria. A name must clearly identify the child's gender and must not ridicule the child or be offensive. "Hitler" is banned as a name for that reason.
The German rules on babies' names also say if the parents decide on a foreign name the name must be acceptable in the family's home country.
However, registration officials do not have the power to ban the couple from using the name of the al-Qaeda leader for their child, and the case has been referred to a judge.