DUSHANBE, November 30, 2015, Asia-Plus – Committees and commissions of Tajikistan’s lower house (Majlisi Namoyandagon) of parliament have begun discussing the bill amending the country’s civil-registry law.

Muhammadato Sultonov, a spokesman for the Majlisi Namoyandagon, says the bill, in particular, aims to regulate the issue of giving names to newborns.

Under the proposed amendments, parents should name newborns in accordance with norms of Tajik culture, the spokesman said.

He refrained from giving further details on the issue.

We will recall that Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported in April this year that under the amendments proposed to Tajikistan''s civil-registry law, undesirable names given to newborns are out.  The Justice Ministry initiative reportedly singles out naming children after animals, products, and inanimate objects -- and they are not the only ones.

The amendments counter the trend among Tajiks of adding Islamic and Arabic endings to their names, by stating that “adding suffixes -- such as -mullah, -khalifa, -shaikh, -amir, and -sufi -- which lead to divisions among people, should also be banned,” according to RFE/RL Tajik Service .

RFE/RL Tajik Service on April 19 cited Jaloliddin Rahimov, deputy head of registry department at the Justice Ministry, as saying, “If the amendments get approved, our offices would refuse to register babies with names that are Arabic or foreign to our culture.”  “Such parents will be offered a list of Tajik names at the registry office,” Rahimov said.  “Their children will be registered and given birth certificates only after the parents give them appropriate names.”