I shall be called Petar Petrovic

In the last two years about 350 Muslims, Albanians and Gypsies employed in Belgrade, approached the local general administration with request to change their first and family names into Serbian. The reasons for that were, as they said, personal. One of the mentioned reasons for changing the name was the change of job. But there were also those who thought it would be easier to obtain a visa for going abroad with a Serbian name. After a necessary check of identification documents - the birth certificate, the proof of citizenship, of residence and tax-paying - a citizen of Belgrade of Muslim or Albanian nationality becomes a regular Petar Petrovic within a month.

The future Petar Petrovic has, naturally, to submit evidence of having no criminal record and a report from military organs, as well as a marriage certificate, in case he is married. If all documents are correct, the decision will be proceeded to members of the birth registry, marriage registry and citizenship registry, then to the secretariat of internal affairs of Belgrade - SUP (the sector for ID numbers), as well as to those organs which keep record of citizens with military obligations and of residences. When the procedure is finished, the applicant obtains a new identity which is in tune with the Republic Law on Marriage and Family Affairs. Since he decided to continue living and working in Belgrade, the former Berisa (or Hajrudin) has a great deal more opportunities to find a job or advance in the existing one with his new name - the name Petar Petrovic is a very good cover beneath which he can hide from inconvenient questions and social debates.

INCREASE: Local politicians are persistent in asserting that FRY is 'a multinational country which has always been an equal home to 26 different nations and national minorities'. Still, the employees of the general administration sector claim that in the period between December 1998 and March 1999, the change of names among national minorities was a frequent phenomenon, though precise statistical data is still not available. The municipal assemblies are dealing with that problem, and in the period before war, they were showered with requests for change of personal names (one of the applicants even insisted to be called the 'Present Day').

The majority of applications were submitted in the municipalities of Cukarica and Stari Grad. The employed at the general administration sector of the Cukarica municipal assembly reveal the information that some Albanians started changing their identity ever since the troubles in Kosovo commenced, and that that trend ended at the beginning of air aggression on Yugoslavia. The similar thing happened to the Serbs which remained in Srpska Krajina - they were taking characteristic Croat names and surnames in order to be left alone, and they were often converted to Catholicism. Local papers wrote a lot about that, that regime was criticised for forcing the Serbs to 'become Croats'. We were proud to conclude that we were different than them, that all national minorities have right to keep their national identity, religion...

Milutin Stanojevic, secretary of the municipal assembly of Cukarica, says that the change of names is exclusively a personal matter and that 'it is not polite to interfere with reasons for such an act'. About 21.000 refugees from Croatia and Srpska Krajina and about 7500 refugees from Kosovo (of which one third are the Gypsies) live on the territory of that municipality. 'When an application for the change of name is submitted, we do not insist upon reasons. The applicants usually mention the change of office or intention to apply for a visa to go abroad, but the Law does not compel them to specify or explain all possible reasons for that. As long as such acts do not offend the ethical standards, we accept their requests. But if someone wishes to be called Adolf Hitler, we will reject his application, and the applicant can place a complaint.'

INTEGRATION: According to his opinion, the citizens of Albanian nationality and Muslim religion change their names in order to speed up their integration with the environment. "It is likely that they are doing that in fear, to avoid negative consequences or possible harassment. A friend of mine is a Muslim, married to a Serbian woman. Therefore, he changed his name, having also found out that European visas are more likely to be issued to those with Serbian names.' By the end of 1998, on the territory of Cukarica, about 50 Muslims, Gypsies and Albanians submitted applications to change their names. Branislava Grdenic, chairman of the sector for the registration of citizens and a commissioner for refugees in the municipality of Cukarica, says that it is a significant increase in comparison with previous years, when they received only about 10-15 requests per year. 'We started receiving that kind of requests at the end of last year, and we stopped shortly before NATO aggression on Yugoslavia. They wanted to change their names due to going abroad, but they were often coming back to reclaim their old names when they realised that it was not as easy as they expected.'

The second interesting category of people who change their names are the Serbs who do not want to be treated as such any longer. We do not know whether it is about fashion, a kind of rebellion, or a personal matter, but it happens that a Dusan suddenly decides to change his name to Solomon or Muharem. 'Such cases are not familiar in our municipality (Cukarica), but our famous painter Biljana Vilimon changed her surname here. She did it on the occasion of her exhibition in Paris, several years ago, and ever since then her surname is Vilimon', says Branislava Grdenic. The other cases are common - the folk star Milka became Hani; divorced women change their family names; children are taking their stepfathers' second names... Every care is taken that there are no legal obstructions to these processes and that all names are in accordance with the customs of the environment.