In order to keep up with the times, a new fashion is causing all the rage among Saudi families. In this new fad, citizens are changing their names under the excuse that the previous ones have become old fashioned.

The trend is more widespread among women than men, since women change their names before they get married or after graduation. On the other hand, young men have also caught up with the fashion, and started to change their names to more embellished ones thinking they will sound more elegant, even though the result is sometimes quite the opposite.

The phenomenon has never been heard of before, but the Saudi society’s modern youth has introduced this new trend.

Faris, 27, formerly known as Salem, changed his name against the will of his parents, who had chosen the name for him, while some of his family members approved of the move. Eventually, his parents had to give in to his whims, on the account that they will get used to it in the end.

Hadeel, 22, formerly known as Fatima, said she changed her name on social media to keep up with the modern times and development, before changing it officially. Eithar, 31 years old, even though having a modern name, she too changed it to Maria because she thought it was more trendy. However, Naifa faced a problem when she wanted to change her name from Nouf, since she didn’t have a guardian beside her to authorize it.

Law requires her guardian to present the application to the civil status director; the application form should be accompanied with a photocopy of the ID and the request is then sent to Riyadh for approval. Changing the name takes from four to six months and the approval has to be published in the local newspapers and is then sent to the applicant.

Dr. Sami Al-Ansari, Consultant of family relations and self development, said the name isn’t just a means of addressing the person; it’s a valuable gift given from the people who chose the name, which carries deep psychological signs and reflects the value given to that person. The name given to the child could very well reflect the general circumstances he or she was born in.

However, there are certain names that can make a person become socially unaccepted. In this case, the name turns into what is called “a drama of existence or intimacy”, because it constantly invokes negative feelings for the name bearer.

Al-Ansari added that this new fashion of name changing spread among the young people is a sign of a weak character, and by these means some people try to fill a huge gap in their personality. He pointed out that most of the time it is done to attract the attention. Keeping the name or changing it will depend on the person’s psychological stability, inner peace and reconciliation.