“What’s in a name?” Shakespeare asked. “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

The line, taken from one of the Bard’s most famous plays, might receive a stony reception if Romeo and Juliet was staged in Surabaya, East Java.

One Surabaya Legislative Council member, Baktiono, apparently thinks that foreign names are just not as sweet as local ones. And he wants to do something about it.

The chairman of Surabaya Legislative Council Commission D overseeing people’s welfare wants to introduce a bylaw to regulate baby names to revivify pride in the “City of Heroes”.

The bylaw would provide a list of state-approved names to serve as guidelines for citizens so they would not to forget their identities as residents of Surabaya. Parents would not be forced to take children’s names from the list, the councillor said.

“The names would not represent a particular ethnicity or social class, either,” Baktiono told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

“We are wary of the many parents in Surabaya who are happy to give their children foreign names, whether from Europe, Japan or Middle Eastern countries. Just look at names like Roberto, Michael, Abu, and many others,” he said.

Baktiono said parents who chose foreign names for their children were unaware of Surabaya’s local heroes, whose names deserved to be adopted for the sake of local pride.

Among the monikers favored by the councillor were those of Sawunggaling, the anti-colonial hero, and the legendary Joko Jumput. Rondo Praban, a well-known local figure in the world of jamu traditional medicine, also topped Baktiono’s list.

“Many community members are protesting the idea, accusing the councillors of indulging in trivia. But some others agree with the idea, because Surabaya’s identity is important. Wherever the kids are, people would be able to readily recognize where they come from by their names,” he said.

Considering the proposal of the draft bylaw as a legislative prerogative, Baktiono said Nov. 10, National Heroes Day, would be a timely occasion to explore the idea by inviting historians to develop the concept about traditional names from Surabaya.

“This idea is not a laughing stock. We will invite and discuss it with other experts so that the Surabaya names concept can be formulated quickly and disseminated to citizens,” he said.

Bagong Suyanto, a sociologist from Airlangga University, disagreed, saying the proposed bylaw would be a state intrusion into people’s privacy.

If councillors wanted to preserve Surabaya’s cultural heritage, Bagong said, they could pass a bill renaming the city’s landmark buildings.

A local resident, Indah Sulistyawati, 34, said she gave child a foreign name to fulfill her wish to become part of the world community. A foreign name did not mean she had lost her national spirit, or lacked pride in Surabaya, she said.

For Robianto, another local parent, foreign names were sophisticated and might boost his child’s self-confidence.

“What if he goes to school and is called Jumanto or Paiyem, which are old-fashioned names,” he said.

Indah and Robianto may not agree with the councillor’s proposed bylaw.

Both parents, however, would likely agree with the Bard’s assessment.

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