El nom propi i la llengua catalana

Resum

This paper deals with the choice of first names in Spain, a relevant issue to the multilingual reality of the country. After some general comments on the nature of first names as signs of individual identification and on the interest of public authorities in regulating them, the authors provide a historical survey of how first names have been dealt with in Spain from the linguistic-juridical point of view. According to the first Civil Register Act (1870), Castilian was the only language to be used in the register, names included. This provision was reversed in 1931, when linguistic freedom in naming was introduced. Under Franco's regime, Castilian monolingualism was again the rule, and names in the other languages of Spain were not allowed until 1977. Following a brief survey of relevant international instruments and constitutional provisions, the paper is devoted to an analysis of the present regulation of names according to Act 20/1994, whose main feature, from the linguistic point of view, is that of permitting names in any of the world's languages. Limitations are kept only on names that can damage people's dignity, make identification difficult or are misleading with respect to gender. The authors end their paper by warning against a possible linguistic bias (in favour of Castilian) in the implementation of these limitations.