It’s not true that you can’t use your name if it’s Maria... a misrepresented Brussels language guide

Italian far-right politicians are all agog over a report in Il Giornale, claiming that European Commission communication guidelines ban the use of ‘Christmas’ and the name ‘Maria’.

The newspaper based its report on a document it saw, which laid down several guidelines for more inclusive communication by European Commission officials.

While the document does exist, the Italian newspaper’s report was used by far-right politicians to make it seem like the Brussels executive is bent on eradicating Christianity.

The truth is somewhat different as will be explained further down, but this did not stop Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi from sharing the newspaper article and blaming it all on “Helena Dalli from Malta’s Labour”.

“For Helena Dalli you cannot use the word ‘Christmas’ and if your name is Maria you cannot use it,” Azzopardi wrote on his Facebook wall, calling the Maltese European Commissioner “pathetic”.

The 32-page document, seen by MaltaToday, is intended for Commission officials and proposes language that tries to embrace the diversity that makes up the European Union. It also aims to remove stereotypes from official communication to avoid discrimination.

Jason Azzopardi's Facebook post in which he shared the article from an Italian newspaper that has been used by far-right politicians to slam Helena Dalli

Avoid assuming everyone is Christian

In a section dealing with cultures and religions, the guidelines urge officials to 'avoid assuming that everyone is Christian'.

Rather than use 'Christmas time' as a generic reference to December holidays, the guidelines suggest using the word holiday time and qualifying it to the individual celebrations.

So, rather than say ‘Christmas time can be stressful’, the guidelines suggest: ‘Holiday times can be stressful… for those celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah’ and so on.

The context for this is somebody in an official capacity communicating to an audience or individual, who does not necessarily celebrate Christmas, or does so at a different time.

Similarly, the guidelines propose the use of ‘first name’ or ‘forename’ or ‘given name’ rather than ‘Christian name’ in forms and documents.

Diversity of names in stories

In examples and stories, the guidelines emphasise the need to have a diversity of names rather than choosing names that are typically from one religion. And this is where the false claim that the name Maria is banned was born.

The guidelines give an example of a typical example to avoid: ‘Maria and John are an international couple’. They suggest instead: ‘Malika and Julio are an international couple’.

The guidelines do not say that Maria cannot be used but urge officials to be aware of the variety of names from different cultures when used in publications, where examples or stories are required.

The guidelines do challenge commonly-used language such as the automatic use of ‘policemen’ to refer to police officers, or other gendered nouns like 'workmen'. They also ask officials to use the word Ms when referring to a woman rather than Miss or Mrs, unless the latter two are the explicit preference of the person addressed. This is done to avoid implying the marital status of women, something that is not done with men.

The guidelines also refer to the use of gender neutral pronouns such as ‘they’ or 'Mx' when a person does not identify with the traditional binary pronouns, ‘he’ and ‘she’.

Avoiding negative connotations

But the guidelines also speak about references to persons with disabilities by calling for a people-first approach. In this way, ‘John Doe has a disability’ should be used rather than ‘John Doe is disabled’.

They also suggest not using terms with a negative connotation such as ‘suffering from autism’ or ‘wheelchair-bound’ and instead use ‘with autism’ and ‘wheelchair user’.

The guidelines encourage inclusive language for use by the institution, which after all is there to represent all people in the EU.

There is nothing in the guidelines that suggests ordinary people should stop using the word Christmas or be ashamed if they are named Maria – this only emerges from the misrepresentation of the guidelines by far-right politicians averse to change.

In Malta, Jason Azzopardi chose to ride on the bandwagon in a bid to take a pot shot at Helena Dalli and her equality portfolio and judging by the reaction his Facebook post elicited, people interpreted the comment as a Dalli-induced ban on 'Christmas' and 'Maria'.

But while a Commission official who is required to address a wide and diverse audience may have to be careful of the words they use when communicating officially, no one from Brussels will interfere with your choice to greet family and friends with a ‘Happy Christmas’.