A couple cannot register their baby’s French name
A couple have been told that they cannot register their newborn son with the name they have chosen for him because it includes the use of a dieresi, the parents said. Times of Malta.
A French woman and her Italian partner, who are Maltese citizens and have been living here for many years, welcomed their first child last week, a boy they decided to name Gaëtan.
However, when they went to the public registry to register their son’s birth, they were told that the name Gaëtan could not be accepted as diaeresis marks are not recognized in the English or Maltese alphabet.
While they were speaking on the condition of anonymity, the parents were upset and surprised that Malta is refusing to recognize their names spelled accurately.
“My son was born on the 13th of August and the birth did not go well and it took some time to recover,” said Gaëtan’s mother.
“When we came back to the hospital two days later to register the birth, we were told that there was a problem with the name Gaëtan. The only way it will be accepted is if we sign a form saying that we understand that the accents will not be included in our son’s name, which, of course, we did not sign.
“It’s very upsetting. No one wants to have administrative problems to register their newborn,” she continued.
“It is difficult to understand this policy, considering that Malta is part of the EU, the name is French and the character exists in several other European languages.”
The couple was told by the French Embassy that, while it would not be possible to write Gaëtan’s name in diaeresis on his Maltese birth certificate, the characters could be included on his French passport.
The civil code of Malta was amended in 2020 to allow the public registry to register a name that includes the use of Maltese diacritical letters from the Maltese alphabet.
A baby named Đanni was the first child to be registered with a name that makes use of the Maltese spelling after an update of the IT system allowed the characters to be used in identity cards, certificates and passports.
Maltese diacritical letters include the dot on the letters c, g, z, a stroke through the letter ħ and a grave accent on the vowels à, è, ì, ò, ù.
Independent journalism costs money. Times of Malta support for price of a coffee.
Support us