It's illegal to name a pig Napoleon in France

The Short Answer

MYTH! Historian Sophie Muffat researched every law from the First Empire (1804-1815) and Second Empire (1852-1870) and found no such statute.

The Full Story

The Claim: French law prohibits naming pigs after Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.

Probable Origin: George Orwell's Animal Farm (1945) features a villainous pig named Napoleon. When the book was first translated into French in 1947, the publisher changed the pig's name to "César" - possibly out of respect for Napoleon, possibly for marketing reasons. The original name was restored in the 1981 Gallimard edition.

Related Real Law: France did have a law (1881-2013) making it an offense to insult the President - but it never mentioned pigs or Napoleon specifically. It was scrapped after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that fining a protester for telling President Sarkozy to "get lost, asshole" violated freedom of expression.

Irony: A French restaurant chain named their mascot pig "Napoleon" specifically to flout the nonexistent law. A change.org petition gathered 31 signatures demanding repeal of the law that doesn't exist.

Common Misconceptions

This myth likely stems from the French translation of George Orwell's Animal Farm (1945), where a pig character named Napoleon leads a revolt. When the book was published in French in 1947, the publisher changed the pig's name to "César" to avoid offending French readers — but this was a publishing decision, not a legal requirement. France did have a law against insulting the president (repealed in 2013), but it never specifically mentioned pigs or Napoleon.

Actual Legal Text

No such law exists. Naval historian Sophie Muffat researched every law from both the First and Second French Empires and confirmed no legislation prohibiting naming a pig Napoleon has ever existed in France.