My full name is my identity – immigrants shouldn’t have to change theirs to fit into Australia’s systems

‘[Medicare] does not have enough characters to type in my full name … What ended up on the system is a bastardised version of my name with several letters lopped off.’ Photograph: Imagedoc/Alamy

My full name is 40 letters long. As anyone who has watched a Sri Lankan cricket match would know, many of us have long names. This is because most have given names sandwiched between a lineage name and a surname. My lineage name, the first of my names, is Liyanamohottilage. If you asked my name, I would tell you it’s Minoli. But anywhere “official” insists on the name as written on my passport – even though their systems can’t handle it; they can’t pronounce it; and contrary to what the system assumes, my first name isn’t my given name.

… That could be me, my father, my brother, my uncle, my cousin, my niece, my nephew … It isn’t me