São Paulo registry office rejects choice of music star Seu Jorge for newborn son, despite acceptance of many more names
As a country that has produced footballers Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira and Élvis Vieira Araújo, Brazil is no stranger to unconventional, albeit colloquial, names.
An investigation into the names of far-right vandals who were arrested for storming government buildings in Brasilia earlier this month confirms Brazil’s penchant for catchy nicknames. The list includes a Bach and a Mozart, such as Ditter Marx and artistic twists in more traditional names. , as Marileide (Mary Lady), Rosemeire (Rosemary) and Dawydy (David).
However, famed artist Seu Jorge reportedly wouldn’t have been able to give his newborn son the sober sober so-called Samba, after a workplace in the São Paulo registry deemed it too strange.
World-renowned singer and actor Jorge Mário da Silva and his wife Karina Barbieri, an herbal therapist, had their first child on Sunday. But according to local media, the parents were met with a challenge when a registry refused to sign the birth under call of their choice.
“Samba is [a] uncommon [name],” an official at the São Paulo registry office told local news site G1, unaware of the irony that Brazilians have been registered under much more eccentric names in the past, adding Petroswickonicovick Wandeckerkof da Silva Santos and Wonarllevyston Garlan Marllon Branddon Bruno Paullynelly Mell Oliveira Pereira.
José Miguel Porfirio, a minor musician from the city of Recife, found no stumbles when he named his 3 young people Xerox, Autenticada (Notarize) and Fotocópia (Photocopy).
Seu Jorge spoke last year of his preference to call his son – his fourth child – for the musical genre synonymous with Brazilian culture and that has strongly influenced the vast musical repertoire of the black singer-songwriter. With roots in Angola and Democratic Republic. of the Congo, the African slave trade, samba music speaks of the African influences, once persecuted, that permeate Brazilian culture today.
Unlike some countries, Brazil does not establish how parents can or cannot call their children. However, a 1973 law allows registrars to veto a call if they deem it too strange or likely to ridicule the child.
Representatives of the press of Seu Jorge assured that the couple would not pronounce on the news that the selected call had been rejected. According to G1, parents will have to argue their choice before a judge.
On Twitter, singer-songwriter Carlinhos Brown recalled that before being a Brazilian musical genre, samba was a call of Senegalese origin. “Great men have been called Samba,” he tweeted, mentioning Senegalese musicians Mokhtar Samba and Hadj Samba Diabaré Samb.
“So Samba is also a charming calling for people, especially those with African roots. Brazilian miscegenation is particular in samba [music], but its origins are clear,” he writes.