Photo: Brazilian officials refuse to register a baby’s Yoruba & Ethiopian names, said it could cause “future suffering”

A couple has been told by Brazilian officials to change their
newborn daughter’s Yoruba & Ethiopian names because
they made “no sense at all” and could cause “possible
future suffering”. However, the couple, Cizinho Afreeka and
Jéssica Juliana insist the real reason their daughter’s
chosen name, Makeda Foluke, was denied is racism.
When the new parents found out they were expecting a
baby girl, they wanted to give her an African name. So they
picked Makeda (after the Ethiopian Queen of Sheba) and
Foluke, a Yoruba name. But after baby Makeda Foluke was
born, Brazilian officials in Rio de Janeiro, where Afreeka
and Juliana live, refused to register the baby, citing
concerns with her name.
According to the blog Black Women In Brazil, anytime a
baby is born in the South American nation the baby’s name
must be registered with officials. Although it seems like a
simple process, when the parents tried to register their
newborn daughter’s name, they were turned down.
Officials at the registration office said the baby girl’s name
made “no sense at all” when pronounced in Portuguese and
“could provide possible future suffering for the person in
social life.”
The couple think the decision is based on racism.
“It’s a form of racism that takes place in Brazil: the racism
of subtleties,” Afreeka said. “It should be very natural a
man and a black woman adopting an African name, as the
country is made up of three races. It is difficult to prove.
Only those in this skin is knows.”
Registration officials insisted racism wasn’t the problem, it
was the name. Apparently, whenever a child is named,
officials have to assess whether or not the name can affect
the child later in life, which leads many parents to choose
European-sounding names. Luiz Fernando, a civil
registration official, said:
“The procedure is necessary with any name that can be
used to leave the child in a vexatious situation or bullying.
You have to filter. These procedures are normal, no one
refused to do the registration. It is not the name, not the
meaning. It’s pronunciation, diction. Racism is rarely in
people’s minds.”
Brazil officials suggested the couple give Makeda a more
European-sounding first name and use the African-
sounding one as her middle name. The couple refused.
“It’s not a name phonetically alien to Portuguese, we
thought about it. There are African names that change the
pronunciation and cause greater estrangement,” Juliana
said.
“We decided together quite in early in the pregnancy and
we came to call her Makeda. Family and friends already
speak naturally because we were inserting this. What’s the
problem with naming her Makeda if they register so many
European names?”
Clutch magazine reports that the parents will have to
appeal to a judge to see if they can officially give her an
African name. But if things don’t turn out in their favour,
Makeda’s parents said they’re still not changing their mind.
“I will keep on until the end,” Afreeka vowed. “Either it will
be Makeda Foluke or she’ll be with no registration.”
Source: Black Women in Brazil/The Voice Newspaper

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