What’s in a name? Plenty, I say

Maltese citizens seeking to renew or to apply for a Maltese passport globally are faced with new strict regulations. The same will apply to the revised ID cards when they come into force.

Passports issued before March 1, 1990 were issued according to details as appearing on the previous passports. After that date, only new applications were registered according to the Public Registry’s birth certificate.

As from October 1, 2008, when the biometric passports were introduced, the Department of Civic Registration (Malta) decided that applicant’s details as appearing on the passport’s data page must be identical to the applicants’ original birth certificate as registered at the Public Registry, whether it is a new application or a renewed one. Not many people would have taken much notice of this change, as passports are not required very often.

When your turn will come, as it did in my case, you will be taken aback faced with a regulation that is very unreasonable and, in many cases, unjust. Birth certificates in Malta issued 50, 60 and 70 years were written mostly in Italian or italianised. Many were mis-spelled or written in bad, grammatically incorrect Maltese. In most cases, the names were written as Giuseppe, Lorenzo, Antonio, Luigi etc.

This is what appears on your birth certificate and your next ID card and your next passport will have that very name clearly written on it. Many people will be happy with their original name as written on their birth certificate but many others like me are uneasy.

I first left Malta when I was only 18 years old on an official British/Maltese ID card-cum-passport (I left as a migrant) bearing my christian name Lawrence. I have since been issued with three Maltese passports all bearing the name Lawrence. I also had a diplomatic passport issued to me as Lawrence.

I have migrated to an English-speaking country and, on arrival, I was faced with discrimination to any name that does not sound Anglo-Saxon. From day one, the Australian authorities recognised me as Lawrence. My children and grandchildren know me as Lawrence but the Department of Civic Registration and its head, Carmel Abela, is telling me my name is Lorenzo. That is the name I have on my original birth certificate. Forget all the Maltese passports issued to me legally since 1969.

Why, in the name of reason, should I have to apply to the law courts at the Court of Revision of Notarial Acts to change my name? Mine is not a change. It is a translation from Lorenzo to Lawrence. I do not see it as a change of name at all. It is common sense, yet, the Maltese authorities insist in forcing hundreds, if not thousands, of Maltese citizens like me to have to fork out many euros in court fees.

I am not changing my name from Emmanuel to Bill or William or from Joseph to Albert. I am simply asking for my name to be translated in one of the authorised languages of my country of birth.

I am expecting a raging storm of protest when the Maltese in Malta will start reapplying for their new biometric ID cards and new passports. Yes, indeed, they will require your fingerprints but get your birth certificate ready as well.