I thought I did my homework on it beforehand, but I chose a middle name for my daughter that uses a diacritical mark with the understanding that I could use it on her social security card and birth certificate. I was happy with that and knew that other forms of records might not include it, like her eventual driver’s license. But it was important to me to use the proper spelling on her birth cert.
I came to find out that the state of [name_f]FLorida[/name_f] doesn’t use these marks according to the moron at the hospital who filed for us. She referred to them as “funky characters in their system”.
I find this really stupid, especially considering the vast number of Latin Americans who are born here and use diacritical marks in their names.
So, a thumbs down to the state of [name_f]Florida[/name_f], and all the other stupid states out there who need to update their databases to something that isn’t prehistoric (or hire less moronic administrators).
Boooh!
Our daughter’s social security card also came back without the proper spelling; I am getting different answers as to whether this can be corrected and am not sure now if I want it to be since the birth certificate is wrong permanently.
Unfortunately, this is not an issue just in the state of [name_f]Florida[/name_f]. You cannot use diacritical marks on any official paperwork (passports, birth certificates, social security cards, etc) in the US. Any Latinos who are using them, do not have them on their official forms. The only non-letter characters that are recognized are hyphens and the mark in names like D’…
I’m Hispanic. My last name should have an accent, and doesn’t. I have students whose names have an ñ, but don’t have them in their paperwork. Considering that’s a different LETTER in Spanish, they have essentially changed the kids’ names. Sigh.
[name_m]How[/name_m] dumb! It’s weird because I went around reading various forums and recall people claiming they had success with it, but I no longer know where those posts are.
I second what dindlee says. They aren’t allowed. That’s why I decided not to spell [name_m]Soren[/name_m] with the slash through the o even though that’s correct. That’s why I don’t put the accent on Lorien etc. They aren’t allowed on official anythings. It’s annoying, but it’s the law. -_-
I have personal experience with this. My middle name is Da’nae (duh nay).
My whole life I have thought that was the correct spelling because thats how my mother wrote it. I was always so mad that it was never spelled right on any document.
I finally looked at my birth certificate and its not even on there! I asked my Mom and she told me that’s how she wanted it spelled, but they would not allow her to use the mark.
It’s a really aggravating rule they have. Although my middle name is made up (Mom let my Dad choose it lol) it’s still annoying that I can’t spell it the way it’s intended to be spelled.