A 54-year-old Indonesian man from East Java was named Slamet Hari Natal, meaning Merry Christmas, by his parents as he was born on Dec 25, 1962.
"Yes, that's my name," the man told the tribunnews.com on Tuesday. He showed his ID card and family card that reflected his name as "Slamet Hari Natal".
The Jakarta Post reported that Slamet said his mother gave birth to him with the help of a Christian midwife named Akas Kiyo, in Tumpang, Malang. Later, she was the one who suggested that his parents to name him Selamat Hari Natal, which was the Indonesian Christmas greeting.
Slamet's parents were Muslim and they decided to accept the suggestion. But they tweaked his first name to Slamet instead of Selamat.
"It was supposed to be Selamat Hari Natal, but because we are Javanese, it became Slamet," he said.
The name "Slamet" is a common Javanese name and loosely translates to safe.
"They said they didn't want to think hard for the name, and they had that name ready, so they accepted the suggestion," Slamet added.
He also said that although his name is Slamet Hari Natal being a Muslim, he never received any sort of any criticism from his neighbours.
"No, never. We practise tolerance here," Slamet said.
