Dearest Moonunit ...sweetest Dweezil ...no? How 'bout Krisis Mundial (we could call her Kris!)? No dice? How 'bout Pedro Pablo Ignacio Juan Francisco García y Gabaldón? Not allowed either? What's up with that?Won't you sign in, stranger? Welcome to the wonderful world of "approved names" in Argentina. Like many European countries, La República has a list from which you are required to select your babies' names. There are even some rules regarding some of the approved ones.
Although US citizens can sometimes be shocked by weird baby names, most of us are astonished to find that countries like Germany, Denmark, Norway and France restrict you to a state compiled list (usually of about 10,000 names.) Lots of Latin American countries have rules but I think that Argentina is the only one with a European style list.
Even if the kid's name is on the list, you might not get it approved if it doesn't meet certain qualifications.
For example, you can name your boy María ...but you have to put a masculine name in front of it. Likewise, you can name your girl José if you put a feminine name in front of it. Some other names like Cruz or Fé are non-gender enough to require a name before or after that indicates the sex of the child.
Some Japanese names get the OK ...if they are transmitted through the father. Native American names can be a hot topic sometimes ...but are generally given a lot of latitude.
The law from which all of these policies stem has 5 basic parts. First and formost, nothing embarrassing or crazy or "contrary to custom" nor anything that might confuse people as to the sex of the child.
Secondly, foreign names are either OK or not OK depending on ...whether or not they've changed the law. Argentina, with its great history of immigration has had to struggle with this many times. Currently, the law says that foreign names are prohibited except in the case of "castellano-ized" forms (e.g. Deysi ...which is on the list!) or if it's one of the names of one of the parents (as long as it's not too difficult to pronounce ...and has no Argentine equivalent on the list.)
That rule is why my wife's middle name is Ester ...when her mother's name is Esther. I think that by the time she was born, the name Ester had made it on to the list ...thereby taking away her option of using her mother's spelling of it.
Many foreign names have been incorporated in all their distinctive glory; Zbigniew is right there on the last page in perfect Polish spelling.
Children of non-citizens are, of course, not covered by the law and can be named anything they want ...as long as they are not permanently living in Argentina.
Third, no giving your kid a "last name" as his first name (something that is almost common in English, such as Stanford White, Humphrey Bogart, Jefferson Davis.) The first name Washington has, however, made it onto the list ...a name commonly associated with Uruguayos.
Number four is very straight forward: you can't name your kid the same name as any of his living brothers or sisters. Punto.
Finally, in the case of young "Pete" at the top of this post, no more than 3 first names to go along with his last name.
A lot of this stuff is up to the discretion of the judge at the Registro Civil that punches baby's first ticket. After grooving to the law for awhile, however, I think that I may have found something weird that just might fly! I don't see any rule against giving your kid the same name 3 times.
If the judge is from La Boca, "Diego Diego Diego Jones" just might make it through.
11 comments:
one of my first experiences in ba was an invitation to a baptism.
unlike the only one id been to before where there was only one baby, one ceremony. this one there were perhaps a 100 babies in line to be named. and not knowing spanish and at 40 degrees celsius i soon drifted off only to jolt awake when i heard called out Maria Juana and half the church got up to go up front. i thought now this is a progressive church, substituting a toke for a sip of communal wine. only to find out that maria juana was the most popular name of the day.
its a good thing they cant call their kids the same name more than once. i had a friend who named her 10 kids all peter. i asked her how when she wanted her dishes washed and she wanted so and so kid to do them and she said, i simply holler, peter do the dishes, and a peter or two shows up. i said again, no, how do you get a specific peter to show up when you want them? she answered, oh thats simple, i simply call them by their last name.
So I take it George Foreman would have had a difficult time if he would have had his kids in Argentina.
They were pretty cool about the whole baby naming business with me. My son is named "Stephen Alvin", but according to the book it's supposed to be "Steven Alvino"...they gave me no problems.
Greeting from Sunny Alaska,
Your old buddy Bill
I found this blog post by searching for a poem I learned in grade school for the Speech Meet and this is the only place I could find online that had a direct quote from it. How crazy is that?
I know this is a little off topic, but what can you tell me about "A Feller I Know"? Anything? (His name it is Pedro Pablo Ignacio Juan Francisco Garcia y Gabaldon, but the fellers call him Pete...) It's been driving me crazy for years not being able to find who wrote it and in 16 years you're the closest I've gotten to an answer!
HA! Behnnie!
All I can say is "me, too." At least I know the title now. I've forgotten everything about it ...but that name.
What was it about that poem/story that stuck in our minds?
I wanted to attribute it... but I couldn't find anything on it!
Behnnie! Been driving me crazy for yrs too but i remember more than you... His name is Pedro Pablo Ignacio Juan Fransesco Garcia y Gabledon but the fellas call him Pete. His folks belong to the conquistadors and he lives at the end of our street. His father's father's great-grand father was friends with the king of Spain, and his father peddled hot tamales from here to Asaquia madre lane. Evenings we go to Pedro's house where there's firelight and rain and Pedro's mother gives us cakes that are hot and spicy and sweet...don't know the rest
My son was born in BA, so that was fun going to the Registro Civil. My (argentine) husband did all the talking and talked his way into getting his middle name, which wasn't on the list, accepted. Still don't know how he did it. You can talk your way into or out of anything in Argentina. Even around the law, if you're really good, like the natives! :)
Yep. The law allows a lot of leeway for the official in charge ...especially if you claim that the strange name has a family connection.
Correction: France DOES NOT have a name list from which parents must choose. That was taken down decades ago. Names must merely be approved by an official (simple step as 99.9999% of cases are accepted on first go). Only on exceptionnally rare occasions will he pass on the case for a juge to consider (cases where parents try to name their child "trashcan" and so forth).
Ditto and +1 on "A feller I know" and I remember the poem from fifth grade here in the US and could never find out who wrote it. It is also the way I found this page.
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