Venezuelans Upset at Being Restricted to 100 Government-Sanctioned Names
El Universal AOL Latino, Posted: Sep 10, 2007
A new bill introduced last week in Venezuela could limit the names parents choose for their newborns to a list of 100 government-approved names. But the bill has only led Venezuelan commentators and bloggers to call their government bad names. In a Sept. 6 commentary in the Caracas newspaper El Universal, Jorge Sayegh writes the story of Orliuzka, “the very ugly name of a very pretty girl.” Orliuzka gets up everyday at 4:00 a.m. to take a 6:00 a.m. bus into Caracas, where she attends an English class before going to work at 8:30 a.m. If her name were Sandra, he writes, she would still have to make this daily trek because she lives in a Third World capital.
It’s true that some people name their kids horrible names, writes Venezuelan blogger Adriana P. on AOL Latino Sept 3, but “the issue is whether the government has the right to make it law and restrict us to a list.” “This is an arbitrary act,” she writes, “once again disrespecting our freedom at the hands of the dictator. It is truly the height of intervention in the lives of Venezuelan citizens.” “Speaking of extravagant names,” adds blogger Alberto Sept. 4 on AOL Latino, “where does this leave a certain Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolivar y Palacios (the full name of Latin American independence leader Simón Bolívar), or would it not be considered extravagant since he was able to liberate practically an entire continent?”
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