What's in a Name?

The other night at dinner while waiting for la cuenta I was looking at a 200 peso note. S. and I both realized that we didn't know who's portrait was on the face of the bill. We couldn't even agree if it was a man or a woman. So we asked Rudolfo, owner of Ruffos's restaurant. He told us her name -- Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.

I came home and did some research. Well, I should say I came home and googled her name. Sor Juana Innes was a nun who is referred to as Mexico's "first feminist." Her ideas often got her in trouble with the church. I liked her right away.

Something struck me though as I read about this remarkable woman who was born in 1651. Like all Mexicans, she had lots of names. Her official name was Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz de Asbaje y Ramírez de Santillana.

This reminded me of an experience I had earlier in the week. I was at immigration (don't ask, I am ALWAYS at immigration) and a fellow expat asked me for help with the form he was filling out. (I'm there so much people are beginning to think I work there).

The problem with filling out forms in Mexico, and there are always forms to be filled out in Mexico, is that they have more spaces than gabachos (gringos) have names. We have to leave some spaces blank. And nobody abhors a blank space on a form like a bureaucrat, especially a Mexican bureaucrat.

I know that for Mexicans in the U.S. the situation is the opposite -- forms there never have enough space for the names. I'm not sure what the answer to this problem is. Maybe some kind of random drawing in the lobby of every government office in both countries. People (victims?) would choose a form at random from a barrel, then fill out whichever space seems applicable. Or trade them with others in the room until everyone finds one that fits their name, location, occupation, whatever. For Mexican immigration, it couldn't be any more confusing than the system they have now.