A Brazilian couple was told by a court that they couldn’t name their newborn after an ancient king over fears the child could face bullying.

WHAT THE COUPLE WANTED

Danillo Prímola and his wife Catarina Prímola, from Belo Horizonte, planned to name their son Piyé after the first black Egyptian pharaoh. 

But authorities thought the child would be subjected to bullying in the future, as the name’s pronunciation is similar to that of a Portuguese word for a ballet dance step. The name is spelled differently in Portuguese, and on paper reads ‘Piié.’

The Minas Gerais Court of Justice initially blocked the parents from registering the name, before a judge on Friday walked back the decision. 

ABOUT THE NAME

The couple welcomed their first child on August 31, but had already chosen the name in honor of the Kushite king and founder of the 25th dynasty of Egypt.

They decided on the name after listening to the theme song for 2023 carnival celebrations while working on choreography at the Acadêmicos de Venda Nova Samba School.

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“There was a word there that talked about the black pharaoh,” Danillo Prímola said. “We went to research what it was like and we found the story of Piiê, who was a Nubian warrior who fought and conquered Egypt and became the first black pharaoh.”

They chose to name their son in honor of Piyé because of the importance of maintaining a link to their African ancestry.

‘Recovering African names is a powerful way to give a new narrative to the history of black people,’ Danillo Prímola said. ‘We have the right to educate our children with this strength, this culture and in a way that they have representation in their name.’