Emīlija nav Emily jeb personvārdi latviešu lingvistiskās attieksmes kontekstā

The Official Language Law and the Cabinet of Ministers Regulations Regarding the Written Form and Use in the Latvian Language of Personal Names, and also Identification Thereof provides that personal names are written in accordance with the traditions and spelling rules of the Latvian language. Personal names in other languages are spelled according to their pronunciation in the original language. The Constitutional Court, the European Court of Human Rights, and the UN Court of Human Rights have recognized that Latvian laws restrict personal rights, however, the use of personal names affects public interests in their entirety, hence, a uniform system of writing and using personal names is necessary. Courts of all levels have emphasized that a specific restriction is recognized as socially necessary and the benefit that society gains by maintaining the current approach to the representation of personal names is greater than the restriction of personal rights. For years now, numerous citizens of Latvia, after marrying a foreigner or registering children born in a mixed family, have been fighting for the opportunity to write their name or surname in the original spelling on the main page of his Latvian passport. As British-Latvian double citizen says, “We speak Latvian in the family and we call our daughter Emīlija, however, on her birth certificate and in the English environment – at school, at doctor’s, in public – she is and will remain Emily, her real name is Emily”. However, the traditional system of proper names of other languages is not only a matter of complying with the principles of writing (orthography), – it affects the basic principles of the language policy as a whole. Currently, discussions about the spelling of personal names have resumed. Therefore, it is important to start analysing the choice, use and evaluation of personal names in the broader context of Latvian language attitude.