A Brazilian court had banned a couple from naming their baby after an ancient king over fears the child would be bullied.
Catarina and Danillo Prímola had planned to name their newborn son Piyé, paying homage to the first black Egyptian pharaoh who had ruled Egypt for 30 years and helped in founding the 25th dynasty.
However, the Court of Justice in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais and registry office ruled that Piyé’s pronunciation is too similar to plié – a Portuguese word for a ballet dance step.
Even though piyé is spelled differently, the court claimed the parents would not be permitted to “register first names that could expose their bearers to ridicule”.
“That is why the sound and spelling of the name were preponderant for the rejection,” the Minas Gerais Court of Justice said, according to the Daily Mail. “They would be capable of causing future embarrassment to the child.”
A judge reversed the decision to block the name on Friday, the outlet added.
The couple initially got the name idea after hearing a theme song for the 2023 Carnival in Rio de Janeiro while practicing choreography at the Acadêmicos de Venda Nova Samba School.
The new parents thought it would be a “powerful way to give a new narrative to the history of black people.”
“We went to research what it was like and we found the story of Piiê, who was a Nubian warrior who fought and conquered Egypt and became the first black pharaoh,” Prímola told the outlet.
Piyé was born in Sudan and rose to power in Egypt in 744 BC. He died in 715 BC and was succeeded by his brother Shabako, according to Smart History.
The battle over the name delayed the couple from getting their child the required vaccines and forced them to be late for a screening to detect rare health conditions.
‘We know that bullying cannot be combated by prohibiting it, nor can it be combated by oppression,’ Danillo Prímola said. ‘Bullying can be combated by studying and working on the ignorance of society as a whole.’
This isn’t the first time a judge has blocked parents from picking certain names for their children.
In 2013, a judge in Tennessee ordered a baby’s name to be changed from Messiah to Martin after a child support hearing.
The judicial official in charge of the case said religious residents in the area would be offended and added that it’s a title only Jesus Chris had earned and it would be an unfair burden to put on the kid.
In France, courts have rejected baby names like Nutella and Prince William because they didn’t want the kids to be mocked.
With Post wires
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