Will California finally allow accents and original spellings on birth certificates?

[Jilly_in_VA]

María Brenes' first name has an accent on the letter “í” — but you wouldn't know that by looking at the Los Angeles resident's government documents.

Since 1986, when Californians voted to make English the state's official language, state residents like Brenes who have accent marks or tildes in their names have been barred from including them in birth and death certificates, marriage licenses and other forms of government documents.

Brenes hopes proposed legislation — CA Assembly Bill 77 — changes that.

The bill would allow for the use of diacritical marks — like accents — and the Spanish-language letter "ñ" on government-issued documents. Residents would be able to request new ones with the desired changes for a fee.

“I think it’s an incredible opportunity for California to acknowledge the cultural language diversity of the state,” said Brenes, 46, an executive director at InnerCity Struggle, a neighborhood nonprofit in East Los Angeles. “Maria has an accent on the ‘í,’ and I’ve had to compromise where it’s accepted and where I can insert it.”

The potential change would affect not only the state’s large Latino population of more than 15 million but others with non-English names, such as Californians of Vietnamese, French or Arab heritage.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/will-california-allow-accents-original-spellings-birth-certificates-rcna77288

The original law was passed during the Reagan years. What does that tell you?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I fully expect that this bill will become law, at long last.

The Reagan years are long over and people see things differently now.

[raging moderate]

2. My Danish ancestors, 140 years ago, were forced to change their names.

Ole Pieter Nielsen and his wife, Dorotea Nielsen (approximately), as they stepped off the boat, were not allowed to register under their Dansk names. They were told, "You're Americans now, and you're going to have American names!" They were issued shortened versions of their names, on the spot. And they were told to learn English ASAP. And they did try to do that, with the help of their sponsors. And they did do fairly well, according to my mother. But it was not easy. And, for generations, many people assumed my Danish family members must have come from Sweden.

[Jilly_in_VA]

3. My Dutch ancestor Pieter van der Meulen

changed his name to Peter Mills when he got to Connecticut in 1666. I think that may have had as much to do with the fact that he was marrying into an English family as anything. He had met his future wife when he became involved with a group of English theological students and their families while studying at the University of Leyden. (These were the Separatists who also sent the Pilgrims on the Mayflower.) He was forever known as “Peter Mills the Dutchman”, however. I’ve seen copies of legal documents referring to him that way.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

4. those special letters were difficult to deal with using some software