Four years after the Fañch affair, the tilde is still not authorized for registration.

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Fred Tanneau / AFP

  • The Fañch case broke out in 2017 in Brittany when the courts refused the tilde on the child's first name.

  • Since then, regional diacritics are still prohibited in civil status.

  • At the origin of a bill on the subject, the deputy Paul Molac denounces "the bad will" of the government.

The little guy will soon be 4 years old, on May 11 to be precise.

Born in Quimper in 2017, Fañch took less time to learn to write his first name than the Republic allowed him to.

Because despite recurring promises, the tilde remains prohibited in civil status, just like many other signs of regional languages.

The case sparked an uproar in May 2017 when a civil status officer from Quimper refused to register this small wave on the child's first name.

On September 13 of the same year, the city court had driven the point home by indicating in its judgment that authorizing the tilde would amount "to breaking the will of our rule of law to maintain the unity of the country".

But it is above all a ministerial circular of 2014, listing sixteen signs (accent, umlaut, cedilla, etc.) authorized on certain letters only, which prohibits the tilde in civil status.

In November 2018, the Rennes Court of Appeal finally ruled in favor of the family, ruling that the use of the tilde "is not unknown in the French language".

A cassation appeal from the public prosecutor's office was also declared inadmissible in October 2019.

Richard Ferrand had promised a "decree for Fañch"

But, for lack of modification of the circular, the problem remains.

In November 2019, the Brest public prosecutor's office banned the tilde for a second Fañch, born in Morlaix.

Faced with the inertia of the administration, the Breton deputy Paul Molac then announced a bill for the promotion of regional languages ​​which will allow “all diacritics of regional languages” to be authorized.

A month later, in February 2020, the President of the National Assembly Richard Ferrand (LREM) had also assured that a “decree for Fañch” was “being finalized” at the Chancellery.

Since then, nothing has happened until December 2020 and the bill by Paul Molac in the Senate.

On this occasion, the Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer had promised "a decree in the Council of State" specifying "before the end of January 2021, the list of regional diacritics" authorized in the civil registry.

A list of authorized signs not very clear

“Such a list was sent to me, but it was marked 'non-exhaustive'.

Does the Ministry of Culture only have an exhaustive list?

“, Then launched Senator Monique de Marco, rapporteur of the bill.

In his report, the elected representative detailed a list of several signs provided by the administration: “there is in Tahitian the ā, ē, ī, ō, ū;

in Catalan, Creole and Occitan the sign ò;

in Alsatian and Corsican, the sign ì ”.

“The problem with a closed list is that they may well have forgotten.

What is needed is that they make possible the use of the diacritics of the Latin alphabet in general, ”considers Philippe Blanchet, professor of socio-linguistics at the University of Rennes-2.

"Otherwise we risk finding ourselves in a deadlock situation on a point that they did not foresee," he adds.

Each case settled locally for now

Asked about the progress of the case, the Ministry of Culture indicates that it has no news of this draft decree "carried by the Chancellery".

The Ministry of Justice did not follow up.

“The first letter I wrote on diacritics was in September 2017. It shows a certain inertia that borders on bad will,” underlines Paul Molac.

We know they've been taking us around from the start.

We are always promised the decree and, for the moment, we do not see anything.

If it is in the law, there will be no need for the decree ”.

However, his bill must pass second reading in the Assembly on April 8.

In the meantime, each case is settled locally.

The mayor of Pabu (Côtes-d'Armor) thus authorized an Awen Fañch in May 2020, while Alexandra Ibañez obtained in July, after three years of proceedings, the reestablishment of the tilde on the surname of her son.

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