Automatically translated from Basque, translation may contain errors. More information here. Elhuyarren itzultzaile automatikoaren logoa

Justice Cristina Rodríguez Ruiz has not allowed the child to name her parents in Basque

  • Some Alavese parents wanted to give their child the name of Hazia, but a judge has not left them by unilateral decision. She has given them the foreign name of Zia and registered them like this, arguing that Hazia also means Spanish and Latin "zia" in "hazia". Cristina Rodríguez Ruiz is the judge. Euskaltzaindia reports that he is prepared to write a report that will help to register the child Hazia with his name. The prohibition of names in Euskera has been common practice for centuries in the Basque Country, although in these times it has been, at least so clearly.

03 November 2022 - 13:24
Last updated: 15:41
Epai euskarafoboa. (Argazkia: ElDiario.es/Euskadi)

One family reports that the child born on 22 October has not been allowed to name him in Basque. They say that parents tried to register their name in the register "as with all children". At first they were told that it was not on the Euskaltzaindia list and that they could not put it. The parents went to Euskaltzaindia and answered that there was no problem – it has also been ratified by Euskaltzaindia – after which Judge Rodríguez Ruiz continued to reject, that they could not put the child the name of Hazia.

Judge Rodríguez Ruiz's argument was: That Euskaltzaindia does not have the name "Hazia", which is not listed in any Spanish civil registry and that it has not been demonstrated that there is such a name in any language other than the Basque language. In addition, he says that naming Hazia a person would be "anti-dignity," because the word seed also makes sexual sense. "Hazia has sexual connotation and is a noun that is usually linked to the bota verb," the judge said, as reporter El Diarion Iker Rioja, one of the few journalists who has reported the judge's name.

The parents did not step back or sign any documents. Thus, if the girl is not registered in a few hours that were threatened by the administration, the judge will decide her name. Thus, judge Rodríguez Ruiz, instead of his name in Euskera, has put "Zia", according to his words, which is phonetically and semantically equivalent to "Hazia", "has no negative connotation" and is registered in some places as his own name.

Parents have decided to get angry and have spread in the press what is happening to them. They make it clear that the name of the child is Hazia and that they will continue to fight. The decision has been appealed.

Attacks on Basques

The ban on names in Basque is not yesterday morning. As Berria journalist Amagoia Gurrutxaga rescued, there are many testimonies that show that Basque names have been persecuted, with behaviors against language and speakers.

Judge Rodríguez Ruiz’s ban has come full time on the anniversary day of Gernika’s decision. In November 1949, in that 2, 73 years ago, as can be seen in the inferior document, the Francoist mayor not only banned the names in Basque, but, if they were written on tombstones, he came to order the change of stones.

Letter from the Francoist Mayor of Gernika to a citizen ordering the withdrawal of names in Basque from the cemetery.

As can be seen in the Wikipedia article, The Basque Prohibition, the use of Basque names in the Middle Ages is documented, but after the conquest of Castile in Navarra, Christianity was imposed on the Basques and the erdal names of the saints were imposed, prohibiting other names and controlling it through the parish registers.

In 1871, it was collected in the Spanish state, by law, through the Civil Registry Act, that all surnames of Basque origin should be written in Spanish and that the Basque names were totally prohibited. Decades later, Sabino Arana on the one hand and Luis Eleizalde on the other, made a great effort to create the Basque onomastic. However, these Basque names were immediately banned by the Catholic Church and, after the 1936 war, the Basque names were completely banned. The use of Basque names on the street could also be a motive for punishment, as one witness points out in this background video.

In the French republic names have been banned for centuries in Basque, and today in Iparralde you cannot change the surnames of the French to the Basque spelling.

Euskaltzaindia disposition for Hazi

On Thursday afternoon Euskaltzaindia sent a note to the media. It details that the Basque Language Academy gave explanations to the family about the name of Hazia and was told that it was not inconvenient in the language to give the child the name of Hazia, as with other names derived from a common name (Amets, Haizea, Lizar, Nahia, Zeru, Zuhaitz…).

In addition, Euskaltzaindia has announced that in the coming days he is ready to draft a report and make it available to the family to use it in dealing with the issue.


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