This Couple Can’t Get Their Son’s Birth Certificate Because He Has 18 Names

Meet Cordo, a 3-year-old boy from Indonesia whose full name is Rangga Madhipa Sutra Jiwa Cordosega Akre Askhala Mughal Ilkhanat Akbar Sahara Pi-Thariq Ziyad Syaifudin Quthuz Khoshala Sura Talenta. His name is so long that his parents can’t even get it in writing. 

Cordo first went viral for his name in 2019 and is now back on the news after his parents asked Indonesian President Joko Widodo, through a Facebook post, for help in getting a birth certificate for their son, according to local media reports. 

According to couple Arif Akbar and Suci Nur Aisyah, the local civil registry in Tuban, East Java, has repeatedly refused to grant them Cordo’s birth certificate because his name won’t fit.

Indonesia’s registry system can only print documents for names with no more than 55 characters, but their son has 18 names which altogether contain 132 characters. 

Arif told local news site Detik that they’ve been trying to get a birth certificate for their son for three years, claiming that he has read about someone with 17 names yet managed to acquire their documents. 

The couple said officials have told them to change their son’s name instead. They refused, explaining that it contains hopes and prayers for the child’s future. Desperate and fed up with many unsuccessful attempts, they wrote an open letter asking the President for help. 

However, the head of the local civil registry, Rahmad Ubaid, denied accusations that his office ordered the name change, and told local media that the registry only asked for the name to be adjusted to fit the character limit, for the sake of the documents. 

“We only accept a maximum of 55 characters with space,” Rahmad said, according to local media reports.

“We never asked the applicants to change the name. We only told them to adjust the characters,” he told Tribunnews.

Although Indonesia has no law limiting the length of names, the head of the country’s Civil Registry, Zudan Arif Fakrulloh, thinks long names could cause difficulties in the future.

“It would be difficult for both the children and us when they’re dealing with administrative matters in the future. The name may have profound meanings, but it won’t fit in the papers. As a result, it has to be shortened. The problem is that sometimes, the parents would complain if we do so,” Zudan told local newspaper Kompas.

But Cordo is not the only child in Indonesia with a long name. A woman in the city of Yogyakarta was named Aiwinur Siti Diah Ayu Mega Ningrum Dwi Pangestuti Lestasi Endang Pamikasih Sri Kumala Sari Dewi Puspita Anggraini, but her dad had to shorten it to “Y” after struggling to get documents for his daughter. 

In August last year, a couple in Karawang, West Java went viral after successfully fitting their daughters’ full names in official documents, despite going over the character limit. Their first daughter’s name is Akulah Cinta Di Langit Prudence Lovely Princess Of Awanamp, while the younger one is Bening Putri Berkilau Nirinia Aisya Tara Ayunda Molim Molina Princess Of Awanamp. 

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