Jordanians could no longer name their newborns after Bin Laden

By Tareq Delwani, IOL Correspondent

AMMAN, October 13 (IslamOnline.net) – Fearing a wave of new Bin Ladens, Isaac Rabins and sheriffs, Jordan began Sunday, October 12, implementing a law banning citizens from naming their babies after such controversial characters.

“The move is mainly aimed to prevent all names causing us embarrassment or come against our habits and customs,” Awni Yerfas, the head of the passport and civil affairs office, told IslamOnline.net.

Yerfas said among the names banned are those of former Israeli Prime Ministers Golda Meir, Isaac Rabin and Binyamin Netanyahu.

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, blamed by the United States for the hijack attacks in Washington and New York and now the number one on the U.S. wanted list, is also banned under the new amended law approved by the Jordanian Parliament Thursday, October 9.

The civil affairs law 17/2002 was amended after a number of Jordanians rushed to name their children after Bin Laden following the September 11 attacks and the U.S.-led war on Afghanistan.

“These incidents were circulated by Arab satellite channels against the country’s interests, and (causing) embarrassment with other countries,” said Yerfas.

The amended law conditioned that all names should “not violate religious or social values, nor disturb the public order in the country”.

Such-multi-syllabic names beginning with prince or Sheriff, will also be put on the blacklist in an effort to end confusion with those of the Royal Family, said Yerfas.

According to Jordanian civil registry records, scores of people named their newborns Bin Laden and former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, also on the U.S. manhunt.

Only two cases were named after Rabin and Netanyahu after the Israeli-Jordanian peace agreement was inked in 1994.

The law turns away from people already named after these characters. 

Saddam Not Banned

Precariously, the name of Saddam is not banned under the new amendment, but those seeking to call babies the same name of the former Iraqi leader told IslamOnline.net they had faced official bureaucratic difficulties to do so.

Also sympathetic with the Palestinian cause, Jordanians find it less bizarre to have names as Palestine and Jenin, the latest was a scene of a large-scale Israeli raid that left scores of inhabitants dead and many others displaced.

“The last year witnessed unprecedented rush to have names of Palestine and Jenin,” a civil registry office employee told IOL.

Observers consider the wave a key indicator of the so-called pulse of the street in the predominately-Muslim Arab county.

“But there is official anger over the popular sympathy with such people as Bin Laden and Saddam,” said MP Ali Al-Attoum.

Al-Attoum said the government tried to alleviate the impact of the law by extending the ban to include Israeli names”.   

Bin Laden, now chased by the U.S. in Afghanistan for alleged acts of terrorism has been reportedly declared as hero in different parts of Nigeria, something reportedly attributed to the anti-American sentiments triggered by Washington’s foreign policy. 

Newly born babies in Nigeria are being named after the man who is regarded as a "hero for challenging America's double standards in world politics." 

A German man has been fined £600 for naming his son Osama bin Laden in autumn 2002.

Initially, the name was accepted and the baby received health insurance documents bearing the name.

But a court eventually ruled the child had to be given a different name and he is now officially called Haci Bekir.

A Brazilian couple had also announced they are filing a lawsuit to secure the right to name their new-born son "Osama Bin Laden Oliveira Soares," after the civil registry office refused to let them register the name.

A few weeks ago, "Osama Bin Laden fever" gripped the region's majority Malay-Muslim population. It has spread to cellular phones, with Short Messages (SMS) or WAP messages being sent to cellular phone users there.

In Indonesia, young Malay-Javanese Muslims have been busy printing out t-shirts, caps and other banners with bin Laden's photograph. They say the items sell well, as most of the people in the city say they believe the Saudi-born dissident is innocent of the deadly September attacks on the U.S.