Register office is the official term, as I opined in a comment in an earlier entry. I don’t really have a problem with registry office, but some people clearly do – so watch out, translators into English!

John Bolch’s rant in Family Lore.
His smug post today on a petition that was rejected by the court, in part because it contained the term registry office.

Surely something like this must have happened in Germany too?

LATER NOTE: comments closed for the second time on August 3, after I deleted ten spam comments, each containing a different set of a few dozen URLs in China.

Comments can always be sent by email, or put on a newer entry with a request to me to move them.