DUSHANBE, May 3, 2016, Asia-plus – Tajik authorities have reportedly banned the issuance of new identification documents and birth certificates for ethnic Tajiks containing Russian-style last names.
A new law banning giving newborn babies last names with Russian-style endings went into effect in Tajikistan on April 29.
Tajiks often used Russian-style surnames when the nation was part of the Soviet Union. The move to now ban the practice is part of a drive by the post-Soviet government to establish a more traditional national identity.
Deputy Chief of the Tajik Service for Registration of Citizens, Jaloliddin Rahimov, told Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service on April 29 that the new regulations were approved by President Emomali Rahmon in March.
According to the new law, ethnic Tajik children whose parents have surnames from the Soviet era that end with the Russian “ov” for men and “ova” for women will instead be given documents that use traditional Tajik suffixes – “i,” “zod,” “zoda,” “iyon,” “far” or “pour.”
The regulation applies to the birth certificates of newborn ethnic Tajiks or ethnic Tajik children receiving identification documents for the first time.
Adults who previously obtained documents with a Russian-style surname and choose to continue using that surname will be allowed to do so.
The law does not apply to children who are not ethnic Tajiks.
Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has discouraged the use of Slavic names to boost patriotism, having changed his own surname from Rahmonov in 2007 in a move that prompted ministers, civil servants, and his own children to follow suit.
He also ended the use of Russian as an official language in 2009.
Some resistance has emerged among Tajiks who work abroad in Russia.
Tajikistan has previously banned naming children after wild animals and household objects such as axes and brooms, or otherwise giving them first names that are “alien to national culture and tradition.”
The country is drawing up a list of 3,000 acceptable first names for children.
