New Post
Search
Help[Facts] Names in South Africa
The article below appeared in our local newspaper this week. I've included the URL, but my experience is that this type of article is unlikely to be accessible for long, so for those who are interested, I'll paste the whole thing.
Just one thing: I don't know what the Department of Home Affairs (they are responsible for the registration of births, marriages and deaths, and they issue passports and identity documents) means by "Roman numerals". There are plenty of South Africans called Una, Unity, Tertius and Tertia, Quartus and Quintus and Quentin etc, and I'd be surprised to find Una being OK and One being vetoed. Maybe One is out but First is in? Eersteling (First One) used to be used for a cow's first calf, for instance. And Two-Rand is clearly fine. But I can also see that IV or Iv, VI or Vi and especially LIX could be awkward, so perhaps they actually mean what they say.
Pretoria News Monday 4 February 2013
With Roman numerals the only exclusion for a name, the sky is the limit for South African names, the Department of Home affairs has said.
While some parents prefer to name their children in traditional African fashion such as Onkgopotse, Dineo, Tebogo and Sipho, others prefer names a little more on the adventurous side such as Holiday, Matric Examsion, Victor Don’t-Worry and Two-Rand.
Names with meaning such as Precious, Goodness, Gift and Remembrance are also favourites.
African names show no specific trend but when it comes to Afrikaans names, Jacoba Wilhelmina and Johannes Jacobus seem to be top of the pops among the older generation.
In some cases, names such as Johannes Jacobus would be abbreviated to JJ and Jacobus Christiaan to JC and so on.
It seems as if the younger generation prefer non-traditional combination names such as Chadré (Charlene and André) and single names such as Melissa, Amia and Elaine.
Jacoba Susanna Wilhelmina de Villiers, a Centurion resident, said she would never burden her children with traditional family names.
De Villiers, known to everyone as Wilma, said her names were a waste of space. “It takes me ages to fill out a form. My children have single names only. The names do not have any specific meaning, I just liked them at the time,” she said.
De Villiers’s daughter is named Anel and her son Jacques.
Departmental spokeswoman Manusha Pillai said first names were limited to 50 characters which included spacing, meaning Jacoba Susanna Wilhemina Gertruida would be an acceptable name.
Pillai said initials such as JJ and JC could be registered as a name and need not be registered as Johannes Jacobus.
http://www.iol.co.za/lifestyle/family/baby-toddler/pick-a-name-any-name-1.1463407#.UReL1_VK73U
Just one thing: I don't know what the Department of Home Affairs (they are responsible for the registration of births, marriages and deaths, and they issue passports and identity documents) means by "Roman numerals". There are plenty of South Africans called Una, Unity, Tertius and Tertia, Quartus and Quintus and Quentin etc, and I'd be surprised to find Una being OK and One being vetoed. Maybe One is out but First is in? Eersteling (First One) used to be used for a cow's first calf, for instance. And Two-Rand is clearly fine. But I can also see that IV or Iv, VI or Vi and especially LIX could be awkward, so perhaps they actually mean what they say.
Pretoria News Monday 4 February 2013
With Roman numerals the only exclusion for a name, the sky is the limit for South African names, the Department of Home affairs has said.
While some parents prefer to name their children in traditional African fashion such as Onkgopotse, Dineo, Tebogo and Sipho, others prefer names a little more on the adventurous side such as Holiday, Matric Examsion, Victor Don’t-Worry and Two-Rand.
Names with meaning such as Precious, Goodness, Gift and Remembrance are also favourites.
African names show no specific trend but when it comes to Afrikaans names, Jacoba Wilhelmina and Johannes Jacobus seem to be top of the pops among the older generation.
In some cases, names such as Johannes Jacobus would be abbreviated to JJ and Jacobus Christiaan to JC and so on.
It seems as if the younger generation prefer non-traditional combination names such as Chadré (Charlene and André) and single names such as Melissa, Amia and Elaine.
Jacoba Susanna Wilhelmina de Villiers, a Centurion resident, said she would never burden her children with traditional family names.
De Villiers, known to everyone as Wilma, said her names were a waste of space. “It takes me ages to fill out a form. My children have single names only. The names do not have any specific meaning, I just liked them at the time,” she said.
De Villiers’s daughter is named Anel and her son Jacques.
Departmental spokeswoman Manusha Pillai said first names were limited to 50 characters which included spacing, meaning Jacoba Susanna Wilhemina Gertruida would be an acceptable name.
Pillai said initials such as JJ and JC could be registered as a name and need not be registered as Johannes Jacobus.
http://www.iol.co.za/lifestyle/family/baby-toddler/pick-a-name-any-name-1.1463407#.UReL1_VK73U
1