Benjamin Preisler Herbst cannot be a superhero, according to the state administration in Denmark. Well, he can't be one according to his name anyway.

Herbst, who owns a toy shop in Denmark, had his heart set on changing his name to Superhero as a nod to his love of figures like Batman.

He submitted an application to officially change his Christian name, but has been left reeling after his country's killjoy government rejected it outright.

“The word superhero is the name of a fictional/non-existent figure who perform heroic deeds.” according to a spokesman of Denmark government, “We do not believe that “Superhero” meets the criteria for accreditation as a Christian name."

Benjamin who says his home is so full of models of comic book characters that it resembles a "doll's house", feels hard done by.

"I fully understand that people under 18 should be protected from being named silly names by their parents," the 26-year-old said. "But I think it should be up to adults to change their own name to whatever they want."

 "It would give people a smile when I came into the bank and said, 'Hi, my name is Superhero'. There is nobody who doesn’t like superheroes.” he added.

Besides, this is the same government recently gave the green light to name changes, including Ninja and Lord of the Rings characters, Gandalf and Legolas.