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Azerbaijan, Armenia, Caucasus

Azerbaijan to Ban Armenian Names

Giorgi Lomsadze Jul 15, 2010

If you're Azerbaijani and are looking for a name for your child, the Baku authorities have a little something for you -- a list of permitted names that they have taken the trouble to compile. First names associated with "individuals who have committed aggression against the Azerbaijani people" will be blacklisted by a new color-coded nomenclature that is akin to the American system of terror alert colors. You are in the clear if you choose a name from the green category; meaning those names that fit Azerbaijan's “national, cultural and ideological” values, Trend news agency reported. Yellow is for "undesirable" names that sound funny in other languages and are "not recommended." Red is for names of aggressors which carry "an insulting meaning in our language." In theory, that means that "Ali" is green, "Artush" is red and "Astrid" is yellow. If the name you picked warrants a red alert, the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, which oversaw the scholars working on the first-name alert system, advises that you submit it to the Academy for clearance.

Giorgi Lomsadze is a journalist based in Tbilisi, and author of Tamada Tales.

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