No country has been distancing itself from middle school putdowns as effectively as Turkey this summer.
Back in June, the United Nations agreed to officially change the country's name from Turkey to its Turkish name of Türkiye. While obviously not a big deal inside the country, NPR's Peter Kenyon reported that the move was a rebrand "to dissociate the country's name from the bird that traditionally appears on American dining tables at Thanksgiving and from the slang definition of a turkey as something that doesn't work or is foolish."
Türkiye didn't stop there — it wanted to do something for its citizens.
Tükiye's General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs recently decided that if anyone had socially awkward names and surnames then they could apply for a one-off change through the country's e-governance site.
"Citizens' applicants for name and surname change, which are not suitable for general morality, are considered ridiculous, have spelling and spelling errors, can be made to the district population directorates until Dec. 24," the General Directorate announced on Twitter.
This is a moment that all the "Richard Wacks" of Türkiye need to take advantage of.
According to reports, there's been one extremely popular request: 19,756 people want their new name to be "Fatih Terim."
The 68-year-old manager has been described as the personification of Turkish football. He's managed the country's biggest club, Galatasaray, four times and the nation's national team on three occasions. He took Turkey to Euro '96, its first major tournament in 42 years, and to the semifinals of Euro 2008.
His "İmparator" ("Emperor") nickname in Turkey is no joke.
"Turks can achieve whatever they put their minds to," Terim once said. 20,000 of them are doing that right now.
