240 Saudis change names each month
The majority of the approvals for name changes are for women who look for more appealing names
As many as 10 Saudis change their names every day, Makkah daily reported on Tuesday.
An informed source at the Interior Ministry’s agency for civil affairs said most of name changes are carried out by women. The source said about 240 Saudis change their first names every month.
Name changes are done at a total of 130 civil affairs departments across the Kingdom, he said.
“The majority of the approvals for name changes are for women who look for more appealing names, believing that they will make them more beautiful,” he said.
He said though a number of names that were changed had no Islamic or societal taboos, the bearers were keen to obtain more modern and distinguished names.
The source said some men and women were ashamed by their names because they had bad meanings, so they changed them. The Ministry of Education has introduced in its syllabus for intermediate schools a whole subject about the rights of children, including their right to have good names.
The ministry asked parents to give appropriate names to their children. It recalled that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had changed the names of a number of his companions because of their unacceptable connotations.
The article first appeared in the Saudi Gazette
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