pass function parameter as name instead of as a string

Question

With this function:

repr() {
    declare -p $1 | cut -d '=' -f 2- > /tmp/.repr
    $1=$(</tmp/.repr)
    rm /tmp/.repr
}

It gives an error message, when I write:

repr test

This see the argument as string:

repr() {
    declare -p 'test' | cut -d '=' -f 2- > /tmp/.repr
    'test'=$(</tmp/.repr)
    rm /tmp/.repr
}

And not as name:

repr() {
    declare -p test | cut -d '=' -f 2- > /tmp/.repr
    test=$(</tmp/.repr)
    rm /tmp/.repr
}

How can I solve the problem?