Lawrence Dimech (Talking Point, What’s in a name? Plenty, I Say, November 6) is right. The process for changing the consituent letters of a name and thus one’s own name needs to be facilitated.

I personally have had cases where a Maltese-Australian chap called Charlie has had his name written down as “Charels” (with the wrong spelling and all) or a Maltese lady in Sydney called Josephine having her name written down as Ġuża. This fact, and the lack of an expedite way in which a person may change the consituent letters of his or her own name, caused them immense hardship when tighter passport laws were made in Australia, as will be made in Malta in a few months’ time. I had asked, some months ago, a parliamentary question on the possibility of facilitating the change of one’s own name. Some, including some sections of the English language media, had tried to ridicule this proposal.

This is definitely no laughing matter. But very serious, as Lorenzo (Lawrence) Dimech would immediately confirm!