The Story of the Ban on Using Non-Persian Names in Naming Commercial Establishments

Based on a circular that the Ministry of Guidance issued to the Place Police, the use of non-Persian names for commercial establishments is only “permissible” in that same location or province, and the selected name must necessarily be Persian. Yesterday, following the publication of statements by the head of Tehran’s Place Police through Mehr News Agency regarding the ban on using non-Persian names for commercial establishments in the capital, Nader Moradi denied these statements.

According to a report by Harana News Agency citing the Observer, the use of Turkish, Kurdish, Lori, Northern, and other names for commercial establishments is prohibited, and according to this guideline, merchants must use local names only in the cities and provinces associated with those names.

Based on this report, yesterday a news item was published by several news agencies quoting Colonel Nader Moradi, head of Tehran’s Place Police, stating that the authority for naming commercial establishments is the Ministry of Guidance, and according to a circular issued by this ministry to the police, commercial establishments must choose names that are necessarily Persian.

Hours after the publication of the statements by Tehran’s Place Police chief through news agencies regarding the ban on using non-Persian names for commercial establishments in the capital, Nader Moradi denied these statements and claimed: his interview with Mehr News Agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Propaganda Organization, was inaccurate, and he did not say that the use of names with Turkish, Lori, Gilaki, and other dialects in Tehran is prohibited.

In this report, stating that the law banning the use of non-Persian names for commercial establishments in the “Sardar” system continues to be implemented despite the denial provided by the law enforcement authority, it is mentioned: in Articles 5 and 6 of the Law on Naming Institutions, Organizations, Streets, etc., which also exists in the Majlis Research Center, it has been emphasized that local names of other cities should be used for different areas, but in the center only Persian names should be used.

In this report, reference is made to Article 6 of the “Law on Prohibition of Using Foreign Names, Titles and Terms”: “Individuals who, in addition to the Persian language, speak one of the special languages of religious minorities recognized in the Constitution or local and ethnic dialects prevalent in some regions of Iran, are permitted to use special names belonging to that language or dialect in naming services; products, institutions and places related to their own regions with the inclusion of meaning and origin.”

Source: Harana