Comments on: Spelling regulations the Greek way

By: Dimitrios Stergiou

Dimitrios Stergiou — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:36:38 +0000

Nice to know that i am not alone out there. My son was born in Sweden, and the Swedish document have him as “Alexander-Hermes”

When we went to the Greek embassy in Sweden to register him in Greece as well, they were very firm on the fact that he would be registered as “ΑΛΕΞΑΝΤΕΡ-ΧΕΡΜΕΣ”. Needless to say, we almost had a heart attack – is it so difficult to realize that both names are Greek?

To cut a long story short, we had to baptize our son at the Greek church, give him the name “Aλέξανδρος – Ερμής” and then go back to the embassy with the certificate issued by the church to register him under the proper name

Bloody hell!

By: Only in Greece - Lost in translation Part 2 | ELLOINOS

Only in Greece - Lost in translation Part 2 | ELLOINOS — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:32:07 +0000

[...] Two days ago I wrote about our experience in obtaining a Greek passport for our daughter. The Greek authorities use the Greek spelling from the birth certificate and then translate this phonetically into Latin characters. In our case this led to a “new” Latin name – STOLZ became STOLTS. You can read about it here. [...]

By: elloinos

elloinos — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:01:41 +0000

Christina, thank you so much for sharing your experience. Your comment really made me laugh. I loved your witty question about the spelling of NGoumas, simply superb! Sophia is still translated as Sofia, but at least this does not cause any headaches for the pronounciation. As for the hand written alteration, let’s just call this an example of efficiency Honestly, I loved your comment, thanks again for engaging!

By: Christina

Christina — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:41:42 +0000

I kept smiling and laughing so much when I read this that I had to respond!
This is all soooo familiar… Greek authorities always had a huge problem translating foreign names into Greek and back to something in latin characters, but I can see that the situation is becoming worse as years pass by, instead of improving. They just cannot comprehend that if you have a foreign name it already has a way to be written with latin characters, and furthermore, when people pronounce it in Greek, you would like for it to sound familiar…
I’m half Danish from my father’s side, therefore my surname is totally not Greek (Krog). When at some point I got the Greek citizenship, and as I was living in Greece, my surname of course was already translated in Greek for obvious reasons and the obvious choice was “Κρογκ” (even though the “g” in danish is silent). When I went to get my Greek passport and filled in all the necessary papers etc, and went back to get it, the tranlsation in latin was KroNg!!! And yes, my look was blank too!! When I asked, the answer was that the Greek difthong “ΓΚ” or “ΓΓ” was translated as “NG” and not just “G”!!! And when I asked if someone called “Γκουμας” would be written as “NGoumas”, I got a black look from the clerk!! And guess what! There is an exception to that rule if the surname starts with ΓΚ… go figure… But they did tell me that next time I should write in my application how I want my name to appear in latin… (even though I know from other friends that this doesn’t work…)
What you cannot imagine though, is the solution that I was given… They kept my passport and actually changed the name on the same passport. OK, this is back in the 90s, when greek passports were hand written and only had a plastic over the page with the photo. They opened it, corrected it (with a smudge) and then restamped it! I knew when travelling abroad that passport control people always looked twice at me and at my document!
Just sharing this so you know you are not alone out there…

PS: You didn’t save “Sophia” though eh? It remained “Sofia”??

By: elloinos

elloinos — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:41:33 +0000

Kosta, buereaucracy in Greece is “very special” indeed. I try to see the funny side in things, and your comment about the spelling of road signs did make me smile – there must be at least a dozen different spellings for Varibobi alone

By: elloinos

elloinos — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:38:25 +0000

Alex, thanks for getting involved – I think speaking the language does make a real difference for me, somehow it makes me part of the culture. I was only having a hard time in my first year in Greece, although I am still surprised at times

By: Kostas Katsoulieris

Kostas Katsoulieris — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 22:50:25 +0000

Yet one more reminder of Greece’s tunnel vision and archaic bureaucracy. You can just imagine what Heinrich Boell would do with Sophia’s story! This stubborness over the correct spelling of your daughter’s name is laughable when one considers Greek road signs. Every day on the way to work I see signs pointing in the direction of Piraeus, Peiraias, Pireefs and Pireas…

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 22:38:45 +0000

haha, those Greeks! They always have their own way of managing things. I know my mum who only holds a Greek passport, but never spoke a word of Greek- being born in Germany from a German mother and Greek father- had to struggle hard on some occasions..
greets, Alex