Ms Thalheim wanted to combine her own name with her husband's double-barrelled name to create a triple-barrelled moniker and argued that failure to allow her to do so infringed her personal rights.
But the Constitutional Court ruled 5-3 against, referring to a 1993 law passed to curb a trend in "name chains". The court said a triple-barrelled name "lessened the impact of a name to do what it was supposed to do, namely to identify".
The couple's lawyer, Ruediger Zuck, said his clients had no comment on the ruling, but added, with what sounded like a note of resignation, "The Germans are old-fashioned."
Germany takes a highly regimented approach to naming. Children's names must be approved by local authorities and there is a reference work, the International Handbook of Forenames, to guide them.
The head of the centre at Leipzig University that provides certificates of approval for names that have not yet made the official list, Professor Juergen Udolph, said: "The state has a responsibility to protect people from idiotic forenames."
That responsibility is often tested in court. In 2003, a court ruled that a boy could not be named "Anderson" because it was a surname in Germany.
And the Constitutional Court ruled in 2004 to limit the number of forenames a child could have, capping at five the number a mother could give her son - to whom she had attempted to bequeath the 12-part "Chenekwahow Tecumseh Migiskau Kioma Ernesto Inti Prithibi Pathar Chajara Majim Henriko Alessandro" - to protect the child.
Germany's Economics Minister found professional success despite bearing the name Karl-Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg. However, when he was appointed, a practical joker sneaked the name "Wilhelm" into his Wikipedia entry, an error which spread to numerous media reports, including on the front page of the country's largest newspaper.
I cannot see where the problem is with Frieda Rosemarie Thalheim-Kunz-Hallstein. After all it is a strong German name of rather short proportions when you consider that the Guinness World Record for Longest Name in the world belongs to a Mr. Adolph Blaine Charles David Earl Frederick Gerald Hubert Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor William Xerxes Yancy Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorffwelchevoralternwarengewissenschaftschafeswessenschafewarenwohlgepflegeundsorgfaltigkeitbeschutzenvonangreifeudurchihrraubgierigfeindewelchevoralternzwolftausendjahresvorandieerscheinenerscheinenvanderersteerdemenschderraumschiffgebrauchlichtalsseinursprungvonkraftgestartseinlangefahrthinzwischensternaitigraumaufdersuchenachdiesternwelchegehabtbewohnbarplanetenkreisedrehensichundwohinderneurassevonverstandigmenschlichkeitkonntefortpflanzenundsicherfeuenanlebenslanglichfreudeundruhemitnicheinfurchtvorangreifenvonandererintelligentgeschopfsvonhinzwischenternart Zeus igraum Senior, who was born in Munich in 1904 and lived in Philadelphia for most of his life. Apparently he shortened his name to Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff, and subsequently went by Hubert Blaine Wolfe, but the "Senior" indicates that he passed some form of his name to his son. The most amazing thing about this name is the translation of the content after "Wolfe Schlegel Steinhausen-Bergedorf," ("wolf" "mallet" "Steinhausen (a common placename)" and "Bergedorf (a borough of Hamburg)") which translates to "...who before ages were conscientious shepherds whose sheep were well tended and diligently protected against attackers who by their rapacity were enemies who 12,000 years ago appeared from the stars to the humans by spaceships with light as an origin of power, started a long voyage within starlike space in search for the star which has habitable planets orbiting and whither the new race of reasonable humanity could thrive and enjoy lifelong happiness and tranquility without fear of attack from other intelligent creatures from within starlike space. On printed forms he uses only his eighth and second Christian names and the first 35 letters of his surname. The full version of the name of 590 letters appeared in the 12th edition of The Guinness Book of Records. He now lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., and has shortened his surname to Mr. Wolfe + 585, Senior.
