海角大神

Last week, the Czech Republic鈥檚 lower house of Parliament voted 91 to 33 in favor of a proposal to allow women to use the masculine form of their surname, forgoing the feminine 鈥渙va.鈥� Former Justice Minister Helena Valkova said the effort aimed to end an 鈥�.鈥澛�

The proposal, headed to the Senate, has faced opposition previously from traditionalists. Still, in promoting a single standard, it reflects a global trend to be more equitable by freeing individuals from gender assumptions or barriers.聽聽

Some countries tread lightly with naming 鈥撀爄ncluding the United States, where legal restrictions may focus on things like obscenities or symbols. Others have been more rigid. In 2019, overrode a law preventing men and women from using the same first names, and moved to allow gender-neutral surnames in specific cases 鈥� turning J贸nsd贸ttir (Jon鈥檚 daughter) to J贸nsbur (Jon鈥檚 child), for example. The same year, Colombia鈥檚 Constitutional Court asked Congress to give parents greater freedoms, and ruled that certain conventions . A decade ago, Spain ended a father鈥檚 right to put his surname in a child鈥檚 name.

To some, it鈥檚 simply allowing language to adapt, as it long has. 鈥淚f linguistic conventions force you to identify yourself in ways that don鈥檛 make sense to you, then you will probably seek to challenge those,鈥� says linguistics professor . The Czech proposal is 鈥渁 reflection of a long-term trend in challenging linguistic norms that fail to do justice 鈥� to how we understand ourselves.鈥�