[Snickersnee]

A lot of countries do this. I don't know if it's still the case, but in France you couldn't register a birth unless the given name came from a rather narrow list of saints and historic figures. No "Moon Units" or "Dweezils" in La belle France.

[Katya]

It's the case in many european countries that the registry office looks over the name you have chosen. My cousin is married to a Turk in germany, and they actually assessed whether the names would translate well if their family ever went back to Turkey. They were then given "other" choices for the middle names. Yup, Americans are always surprised at how involved govts are in their "subjects" lives in other countries.