The Guardian

Farewell, Mr Testicle: Turkey helps citizens ditch embarrassing names

More than 105,000 people apply to change misspelled and humorous names
Many people in Turkey took on surnames in the 1930s as part of reforms to create a unified nation state; some chose names that now seem ridiculous. Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP

“I’m getting rid of my name,” said Karaca Satılmış, an actor from Istanbul. “It has held me back professionally.”

Satılmış means “sold”, and, to Turkish speakers, it is very amusing. The 35-year-old doesn’t understand why his grandfather chose it.

In , many people only took on surnames in

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Guardian

The Guardian4 min read
‘Still A Very Alive Medium’: Celebrating The Radical History Of Zines
A medium that basks in the unruliness and unpredictability of the creative process, zines are gloriously chaotic and difficult to pin down. Requiring little more to produce than a copy machine, a stapler and a vision, zines played a hugely democratiz
The Guardian7 min read
Gwyneth Paltrow: Is Her Life A Work Of Performance Art?
Ripping to shreds Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop gift list has been a media preoccupation for years now, to the point that the website even titles it, “The ridiculous but awesome gift guide”. Still, even those not driven by well-documented animus towards Pal
The Guardian8 min read
PinkPantheress: ‘I Don’t Think I’m Very Brandable. I Dress Weird. I’m Shy’
PinkPantheress no longer cares what people think of her. When she released her lo-fi breakout tracks Break it Off and Pain on TikTok in early 2021, aged just 19, she did so anonymously, partly out of fear of being judged. Now, almost three years late

Related Books & Audiobooks