VENEZUELA:
Adiós Lenin…and Other
‘Exotic’ Names
By
Humberto Márquez
CARACAS, (IPS) -
While Stalin led
hundreds of students on
a march in solidarity
with Nixon, authorities
in Venezuela were
drawing up a law to
prevent parents from
giving their children
names that are invented,
difficult to pronounce
in Spanish, or exotic.
It was pure coincidence
that Stalin González,
president of the
students’ federation at
the Central University
of Venezuela (UCV) in
Caracas, led the protest
this year in support of
Nixon Moreno, the
University of the Andes
(ULA) student president
and an opponent of the
government who has spent
months in asylum at the
Apostolic Nunciature
(the papal diplomatic
mission).
Politics aside,
Venezuela has been
overrun in recent
decades by people called
Max Donald, Engelbert,
Cleiderman, Eisenhower,
Kennedy, Edison and even
Supermán and Hitler,
along with Yesaidú (Yes,
I do), Yusnavy (U.S.
Navy) and Yusleidy (U.S.
Lady), or Taj-Mahal,
Temutchin and Hochiminh.
Combinations of parents’
names are common, such
as Yolimar (Yolanda and
Mario), Ramcel (Ramón
and Celeste), Ligimat (Ligia
and Mateo) and Johenry
(Josefina and Henry).
Then there are the
merely inexplicable,
like Derbinson, Naily,
Udemixon and Hemeyer, or
combinations like Hitler
Adonis and William del
Espíritu Santo.
The National Electoral
Council (CNE), given the
job of reorganising
Venezuela’s civil
register, prepared a
draft law stating that
babies may not be
registered with names
"that expose them to
ridicule, are
extravagant, or
difficult to pronounce
in the official language
(Spanish)."
Neither can names be
given that are variants
of other names within a
family, "or colloquial
variants that may lead
to confusion in
identification, or that
generate doubts about
the person’s gender."
To help them choose
alternative names, the
registrar will offer
parents a list of the
most common names, taken
from the national civil
register, to serve as a
reference point.
The draft law makes
exceptions for the names
given to their children
by indigenous peoples,
and by foreigners, who
can use names suited to
their own cultures.
"I don’t see the point
or the need to pester
people with laws that
undermine their right to
give their children any
name they want," Stalin
González told IPS, as he
prepared for assemblies
to discuss the draft
constitutional reform
proposed by Venezuelan
President Hugo Chávez.
González, a law student,
said that instead of the
law on names, there
should be new
legislation to allow
people to change their
name if they so wish.
This has been prohibited
in Venezuela ever since
the civil and religious
registers were
separated, more than 130
years ago.
Benito Bello, a driver
along the shores of Lake
Maracaibo in the west of
the country, is the
father of Edison, Edinxo
and Edicso. He told IPS
that "their mother and I
have the right to name
our own children. No
registrar is going to
have better judgement
than I."
The area surrounding
Lake Maracaibo is
Venezuela’s main source
of names that sound
strange in Spanish. The
local people are
extroverted by nature,
speak loudly, use the
familiar "vos" instead
of the informal but
correct "tú" or formal "usted,"
for "you", and are plain
and direct in approach.
Fascinated by Greek and
Latin names for boys,
they have registered
thousands of children as
Virgil, Eurípides,
Euclides, Cástor,
Apolonio, Demetrio, Numa
and Aristóteles since
the 19th century.
But it was the oil
industry there in the
late 20th century that
popularised English
names like John,
William, Marilyn,
Richard, Anna, Roland,
Grace and Margaret, and
then their combinations,
derivations and
diminutives.
"This isn’t about
parents’ right to give
their child the name of
their choice. Of course,
that’s basic. But it
should be within certain
parameters. Some names
confuse the sex of the
child, or allude to
genital organs, which is
unacceptable," said Juan
Carlos Pinto, the head
of the civil register,
when he presented the
draft law.
The press and civil
society organisations
have so far shown
limited interest in the
draft law on civil
registration, but
several international
media outlets have
published articles that
have been less than
gracious to the
proponents of the new
law.
"To present the draft
law as an attempt to
limit parents’ right to
freely choose the names
of their children is a
distortion and
oversimplification of
the effort to modernise
the register," the head
of the CNE, Tibisay
Lucena, told IPS.
Lucena’s first name is
that of the woman loved
by Murachí, an
indigenous leader who
fought the Spanish
conquistadors in the
Andes, in the southwest
of the country,
according to a legend
recorded and popularised
in the 19th century by
the writer Tulio Febres
Cordero.
The new register "will
provide each person with
a single identity
number, which will
facilitate registration
of vital events such as
marriage, adoption,
divorce and so on. It
will computerise
information so that
citizens can access
their registered details
anywhere in the country,
and it will allow names
to be changed by an
administrative
procedure," said Lucena.
"The controversial
article in the law, just
one out of 190, appears
to override parents’
individual freedom, but
in fact it guarantees
the right to an identity
from birth, and aims to
preserve the right to
dignity and physical,
psychological and moral
integrity of children,"
she said.
Furthermore, Lucena
said, the lists of names
will be adapted to
regional peculiarities
and will be gradually
extended. And besides,
the draft law is only a
proposal, which does not
rule out exchanging it
for an educational
campaign, like those
undertaken by the
Catholic Church to urge
the faithful to baptise
their children with
saints’ names.
The CNE released a
comparative study of
even stricter naming
laws in countries like
Argentina, Chile,
Ecuador, France, Panama,
Peru, Spain and
Switzerland.
The proposal has led to
atypical reactions from
columnists in this
politically polarised
country. Ignacio Ávalos,
often benevolent towards
the government, called
it a form of
authoritarian
suffocation. "I find it
hard to swallow that a
bureaucrat should know
better than I what name
my child should bear in
life," he said.
In contrast, government
opponent Alonso Moleiro
said he agrees with the
government, "for once in
my life, because the
names of people we come
across daily paint a
picture of a society
with a disposable
culture, a country
without identity or
reference points."
The draft law is pending
approval by members of
parliament -- all of
whom are government
supporters, because the
opposition boycotted the
parliamentary elections
in 2005 -- who have
names like Iroshima (no
"H"), Earle, Desirée,
Owee, Nagarith, Briccio
and Aristalco.
It will then be signed
into law by ministers
named Willian (with an
"N") Lara, of
Communication and
Information, Yuvirí
Ortega, of the
Environment, and Jesse
Chacón, of
Telecommunications and
Information Technology. |
