By Maung Maung Tint (Richard San Tint)

Needless to say I was called Richard San Tint at school and even at the University until I graduated.

I then changed my name officially to Maung Maung Tint when I started working at the Physics Department at the RASU in 1964.

Changing name was so easy there, just make an announcement in the local newspaper and notify the authorities with whom you were working. On my national identity paper, I still have another Burmese name, Myint Thein (Zartar name given to me after my birth) which I did not fancy so much. At home, I was called "Maung Maung" younger brother to my sister. I chose my Burmese name by adding the stem of my father's name San Tint to Maung Maung and I became officially "Maung Maung Tint".

Way back in Burma, I did not have any problems at all having different names. Then I arrived in France in 1977. Registering with the immigration department, the authorities asked me what my name was. I said Maung Maung Tint. They wanted to know what was the family name and the first name. I replied that I have no family name, no first name, my name is unbreakable and it should be 3 words together. They did not accept. And they asked me to choose my family name, so I chose "Tint" and "Maung Maung" became my first names. Again, they asked me why I had 2 identical words "Maung", so I said there is no explanation and that's part of my name. So they accepted but insisted to put a hyphen between the 2 Maungs and a small "m" on the second "Maung", like this "Maung-maung". I said that's ridiculous. And after arguing for some time they finally accepted my name as it was.

In 1981, I exchanged my Burmese driving license with that of the French. On my driving license, I had my name "U Maung Maung Tint". The police officers told me that it was not me because there was an "U" in front of the name Maung Maung Tint and the license should belong to someone else. So, I had to get an attestation from the Burmese Embassy in Paris explaining that the word "U" is the honorific title in Burmese equivalent to Mister in English or Monsieur in French. That was fantastic.

Having several names really created a lot of problems for me here in France when I was applying for a job. My official name became Maung Maung Tint but all my educational certificates were under the name Richard San Tint. Here, with the French people, they cannot understand how one can change names so easily. I had to prove that Richard San Tint and Maung Maung Tint are the same and unique person. At one point, they were even thinking that I could be an imposter who had bought those educational certificates from someone else. That's great!

Sometimes I have even been looked at as somebody suspicious because only bandits and criminals have several names, at least that is true in France.

I am sure other Burmese with several names living abroad must have had the same unfortunate experience like me.

Maung Maung Tint (Richard San Tint)
Paris

PS. At work, people call me just "Maung" including the girls and when a girl calls a Burmese man "Maung", he is a darling to her. So it looks like I am being called "darling". That, in fact, is nice!

[Editor's note: Richard attended St. Paul's High School, but is a friend of many MEHS alumni.]