OSLO, Norway (AP) -- A mother of 14 was jailed this week because she refused to change the name she picked for her young son, even though that violated Norway's name law.

Kirsti Larsen, 46, told the Verdens Gang newspaper that she named her son Gesher after she dreamed the child should be named "bridge." Gesher means bridge in Hebrew.Norway has strict laws regulating names, including lists of acceptable first and last names. In 1995, Larsen tried to register her son's name as Gesher at her local county office, which rejected the choice as illegal.

Larsen, a devout Christian, lost repeated appeals. She was ordered to change the name, pay a $210 fine, or spend two days in jail.

"Many probably would have bowed to 'Big Brother' and paid the fine. On principle, I couldn't go along with such absurdity," Larsen said.

Instead, she went to prison Monday in Fredikstad, 50 miles south of Oslo, leaving her husband and 10 children at home while she served two days in jail.

It was not clear whether anyone else in Norway had ever been imprisoned for violating the name laws, or what the final outcome of the dispute will be, according to the Norwegian Justice Ministry.

For the time being, the child, now four, still is named Gesher.