> Is it illegal to name a child Adolf Hitler in Germany?

Not necessarily (from https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorname_(Deutschland)#Rechtlic... , roughly translated into English):

The law on giving names in Germany is not passed through legislation but is instead the result of customary law and legal precedent/judgements. Exceptions are for example in changing of the given name(s) involving adoption or in the application of §1 TSG ("transsexual law").

After the birth of a child its first name is decided by their parents (or the singular legal guardian) although there are certain guidelines for the naming.

The first name...

- ... has to be recognizable as a first name

- ... can be of neutral gender (had to be obviously male or female until 2008)

- ... must not be damaging to the child, for example inviting ridicule or making a connection to "Evil", e.g. "Judas" or "Kain" ("Cain" in English). The first name Adolf despite its tainting through the dictator could potentially be legal depending on the parents' motives

- ... must not be damaging to the religious feelings of other people in society, for example "Christus", in the past also "Jesus" which has since been declared legal by a court

- ... must not be a well known name for a place/town/city or a trademark

- ... must not be a family name, with some exceptions

- ... must not contain a title like "Lord" or "Princess"

- ... must be given within a month of the birth.

A person can have multiple, but has to have at least one first name. The local can also intervene in the giving of too many first names if that would otherwise come to harm the child (one ruling made it so a mother could not give her child twelve but only a maximum of five first names). When given multiple first names the one most often used to address the person is called the "Rufname" (approximate English equivalent "nickname"). The arrangement of the first names is not a ranking. Following a German supreme court decision (1959) a person is free to choose from their official first names by which they'd like to be addressed, the "nickname" is thus not set permanently.

A child's first names have to differ from their siblings', if there are multiple first names, one can be the same as a sibling's. Three first names must not be connected by dashes (e.g. "Jan-Marius-Severin").

- snip, long paragraph on the history of the requirement for an obvious gender of the first name(s), important part to follow - Following a supreme court decision in 2008, there is no such requirement in the law, the earlier "requirement" came from an official directive given to the registrar's offices ("Standesämter"). Thus the name-giving by the parents continues to only be restricted by the "no harm to the child" or if "there is no possible way for the child to identify their sex/gender [1] from the name".

In Germany, exceptions allow for the later change of one's own first name(s). For example immigrants have the option to "Germanize" their names or, if that's impossible, choose new first names. Furthermore there's the option to change one's first name(s) if the person has always been called by a different name or if they can't deal with their "exotic" first name.

In addition trans people have the option to change their first name to fall in line with their gender identity (for which on German identity documents the options are "male", "female" or "diverse").

[1]: don't know which is meant here, "Geschlecht" is (colloquially) used for both words in German