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Preschool abandons 3-year-old in woods

Staff at a preschool in Nyköping south of Stockholm on Wednesday left a 3-year-old child alone in the forest for 45 minutes after failing to count him when they were returning to the school.

Preschool abandons 3-year-old in woods

“It wasn’t until the children and the staff returned to the preschool that they discovered Harry wasn’t with them,” said mother Rebecka Liljegren to the local Södermanlands Nyheter.

Harry had been missing for almost an hour when two people in the wood discovered him. Liljegren received a call around 1.30pm from the preschool head asking her to come to the school to talk “about Harry”.

“They wanted to talk about something that had happened to Harry. They didn’t want to say what it was over the phone,” Liljegren told the paper.

“The teacher left me in the forest,” was the first thing that Harry told his mother when she arrived at the preschool, she told the paper.

The parents were shocked to hear that their child had been left alone in the wood.

More disturbing to them, however, was the fact that no one had counted the children prior to returning to school and that the school failed to call the parents or police when they discovered Harry was missing.

“This kind of thing should not be possible and it is a mystery how it happened as the staff that were present are very experienced,” said preschool head Erik Rudholm to Sveriges Radio (SR).

All the area preschool heads and principals attended a crisis meeting on Thursday to get to the bottom of how a child could have been left and a committee has been appointed to create an action plan to prevent anything similar from happening again.

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CHILDREN

What names do foreign nationals give their babies in Switzerland?

Each year for more than three decades, the Federal Statistical Office has been publishing the first names of infants born in Switzerland the previous year. It seems that foreigners favour names that are typical of their national background.

What names do foreign nationals give their babies in Switzerland?
Foreigners give their babies names that reflect their nationality. Photo by Keira Burton from Pexels

As The Local reported on Wednesday, the most popular names for newborn girls born in Switzerland in 2020 were Mia, Emma, and Mila.

For boys, Noah took the top spot, ahead of Liam and Matteo.

REVEALED: The most popular baby name in each Swiss canton

But what about the most popular names among various nationalities living in Switzerland?

The answers come from the same study.

Italy

The top name for boys of Italian parents is Giuseppe, followed by Antonio and Francesco. For girls, Maria is in the first place, Anna in the second, and Francesca in the third.

Portugal

There are many Portuguese immigrants living in Switzerland and, like their Italian counterparts, they like to give their children traditional names: José, Carlos and Manuel for boys, and Maria, Ana, and Sandra for girls.

Spain

Spanish names are similar to those of Portuguese babies.

José, Juan and Jose are most popular boy names, while Maria, Ana and Laura are in the top three spots for the girls.

Turkey

Most boys of Turkish descent are named Mehmet, Ali, and Mustafa. Among girls, Fatma, Ayse, and Elif dominate.

Kosovo

Arben, Vallon, and Bekim are top names for boys, and Fatime, Shquipe, and Merite for girls.

Macedonia

Bekim is in the first place for boys, followed by Muhamed and Fatmir. Among girls, Fatimr is in the lead, Sara in the second place, and Emine in the third.

Serbia

Aleksandar, Dragan and Nicola take the first three spots. For the girls, Jelena, Maria and Snezana are at the top.

Can you give your baby any name you want?

Not in Switzerland, you can’t. It’s important to keep in mind that the cantonal registry offices, where new births must be announced, don’t have to accept very unusual names.

Several years ago, for instance, a Zurich court ruled that parents can’t name their infant daughter ‘J’.

In another case, a couple in the canton of Bern were ordered to change the name of their newborn son because their choice – Jessico – was considered too feminine. 

Several names have been forbidden in Switzerland, including Judas, Chanel, Paris and Mercedes. 

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