"According to the provisions of the circular Justice of 23 July 2014, it is not possible to register the tilde, failing this diacritical sign to be covered by this text," wrote the prosecutor of Brest in a letter, consulted by AFP, dated 19 November and addressed to the parents of little Fañch, born the day before. "I instructed the registrar of Morlaix not to comply with your request," added the magistrate.
Judicial victory of another Fañch in October
On 17 October, however, the Court of Cassation ruled inadmissible an appeal by the Prosecutor General against a judgment of the Court of Appeal authorizing Fañch Bernard, 2 years, to keep his tilde (~), a sign used in particular in the first names Breton. This decision allows Fañch Bernard to keep his tilde, even if the Court of Cassation has not pronounced on the merits of the case.
In September 2017, the Quimper court had ruled that allowing the tilde was "to break the will of our rule of law to maintain the unity of the country and equality without distinction of origin."
A judgment finally reversed by the Rennes Court of Appeals, which ruled in November 2018 that the tilde did not violate "the principle of drafting public documents in French". She stressed that the tilde was "not unknown to the French language" since it appeared in several dictionaries - as in canyon / canyon - but also in appointment decrees.
"Parents study the possibility of seizing the court"
The newborn's family "is stunned, they do not understand, we're back to square one," said Charlie Grall, president of Skoazell Vreizh (Secours Breton). "Parents are looking into the possibility of going to court, and if they do something, they will be supported," he added.
In a statement released on Friday, the Socialist President of the Brittany region, Loïg Chesnais-Girard, says he "fully supports the parents of little Fañch, born in Brest on November 18, and whose name of Breton origin has not not been accepted by the registry because of the tilde ".
Loïg Chesnais-Girard wrote to the Keeper of the Seals on this subject on November 12, after a first mail "remained unanswered". Regretting "that a simple tilde goes until cassation", he asked the application of the Public Action Agreement for Brittany, in which the State undertook to conduct a "reflection" on "the conditions of integration of diacritics in the civil status ", according to the copy of this mail. Contacted several times about this, the Ministry of Justice has not responded.