A Hawaiian woman with a 35-letter surname has persuaded the Pacific
island US state's authorities to change their official ID card
format, because her king-sized name won't fit.
Janice Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele, whose traditional
Hawaiian name comes from her late husband, said she would never
consider using a shortened version, and so used local media to
press officials to take action.
"I love the Polynesian culture I married into, I love my Hawaiian
name. It is an honor and has been quite a journey to carry the
names I carry," Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele, whose maiden
name was Worth, told AFP.
For years she has carried two forms of identification: her driving
license, which only has room for 34 characters, and her official
Hawaii state ID card which in the past had room for all 35
letters.
But the problem came after Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele's
state ID was renewed in May -- and came back the same as her
driver's license, with the last letter missing, and with no first
name.
Then a traffic cop pulled her over. "The policeman looked at my
license and saw I had no first name. I told him it is not my fault
that my license and state ID are not correct and I am trying to get
it corrected.
"He then told me 'Well, you can always change your name back to
your maiden name.' This hurt my heart," said
Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele, who was originally from New
York and worked on Wall Street until 1991.
"Over the last 22 years I have seen Hawaii is being bulldozed and
the culture of Hawaii being trampled upon and this policeman
treated my name as if it is some mumbo-jumbo," added
Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele, whose friends call her
"Loke."
Exasperated, she took her case to a local TV station, KHON-2, who
publicized the problem, putting pressure on the Hawaii Department
of Transportation (DoT).
Within days, authorities, who had previously told her it would take
two years to change and the surname character limit would remain at
35, had decided they could act more quickly.
"We understand how she feels and are working to correct the
situation," Hawaii's DoT spokeswoman Caroline Sluyter told AFP.
"By the end of the year, we should have the new character limits in
place which will be 40 characters for the first and last names, 35
characters for the middle, and 5 for the suffix," she said.
