Having an unusual surname can scar a child's psyche and affect the rest of their life. As is well known, children love to twist every surname into something else — unusual ones especially. And if a child fails to win a decent place among classmates, their surname will be used as a tool of humiliation. But that belongs to childhood. Time passes, children grow up, and things fall into place. A far more serious problem arises when an otherwise ordinary family name suddenly becomes unusual for an entire family. Our compatriots sometimes run into exactly this problem after moving to Germany. When Russians, for instance, are issued an international passport, their surname is transliterated according to French rules. Then, when such citizens come to Germany — say, as late resettlers — they receive a German identity document in which the French transliteration of their surname is rendered in the German manner. Many have experienced firsthand what comes of this. And so the ordeal begins.
There is a joke that comes to mind: a Jewish family that had lived its whole life in Russia sees off its grown son, who is emigrating for good to the historic homeland. The father sends his son off with these words: "Get ready, Izya — from now on, in life, you'll be Russian." The point being that, even once we arrive in Germany and receive a German Ausweis, "in life" we still remain Russian (or Ukrainian).
Exactly this kind of story happened to our clients as well: they had been living their lives in Russia, bearing a perfectly ordinary, pleasant-sounding surname. But then they decided to resettle in Germany. They gathered the documents and filed the application. Listed as head of the family was our client's mother, ethnically German. Her maiden name was purely German — Will — but she later married and took her husband's Russian surname. Naturally, her children took that Russian surname too. Once in Germany, however, the mother, her son, and his children, upon receiving the document confirming their German citizenship, found that their familiar surname sounded rather unpleasant — not only to the ear of a Russian speaker, but also to Germans who spoke no Russian at all.
The clients turned to our law firm for help. It should be noted that a surname serves as a form of family-based individual identification. It links a person to a particular family or other group of related persons. Under the law of many states, including Germany, permission to change a surname may be granted only where good cause exists — for example, an unpleasant sound or difficulty pronouncing the name; a wish to share a common surname with one's spouse, or to revert to a maiden or pre-marriage name that was not claimed at the time of divorce; a wish to take the surname of a stepfather (or stepmother) who raised the applicant; a wish to bear a name matching one's chosen nationality; a wish to revert to a pre-marriage name after the death of a spouse, and so on. We filed an application for a name change with the registry office (Standesamt) at the clients' place of residence. In the application we explained in detail that our clients' surname sounded highly unpleasant in German pronunciation, causing our clients considerable difficulty. In particular, the children were being mocked at school by classmates because of the unpleasant sound of their surname, an affront to their human dignity. Our clients feared their children might, because of the surname, face even greater problems in future when applying to educational institutions or for jobs. They also stated that our clients themselves were currently experiencing considerable inconvenience, having to correct people every time they mispronounced the surname. It was, moreover, difficult to write — the clients had to explain the correct spelling and its meaning every single time. Among Russian speakers (fellow compatriots), the pronunciation of the surname provoked unambiguous mockery, making it simply impossible to live with such a name. Our clients sought to adopt the surname Will — the maiden name of the head of the family.
The lawyer accompanied the clients to their interview with the Standesamt official. After the official had asked our clients several questions and received exhaustive answers (the clients answered, the lawyer supplied the explanations), permission for the name change was granted.
No one is immune from finding themselves in an odd situation at some point in life. And once it has arisen, there is no reason to despair. If you cannot resolve the problem on your own, consult a specialist and solve it together.
THE CLIENTS OBTAINED PERMISSION TO RESTORE THEIR SURNAME
Did you know, dear reader, that the Russian word for surname — "familiya" — is of Latin origin? In the Roman Empire, the Latin "familia" denoted a community consisting of a household's masters and their slaves. The word retained a similar meaning for a long time afterward, both in Europe and in Russia. It was only in the 19th century that the Russian word "familiya" acquired its second meaning — the one that is official and standard today: "a hereditary family name added to a personal given name" (from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). There are, however, known cases in which, even in the 19th century, serfs received their surname from their landowner. Interestingly, while the similar-sounding Russian word "familiya" means "surname," the German word "Familie" simply means "family" — a classic false friend between the two languages.
In most of the former USSR republics, male and female surnames are written differently — a feminine ending is added to women's surnames. Given names are also accompanied by a patronymic. In Germany, male and female surnames are written identically, and there is no such thing as a patronymic. As a result, many of our compatriots who came to Germany from the former Soviet republics encountered the following problem: on receiving German identity documents, their surnames sounded different — feminine endings were stripped from women's surnames, and the patronymic was dropped entirely. Later, when parents wanted to obtain a second citizenship for children born in Germany, problems arose because the spelling of the parents' surnames in the internal civil passport of their former country of residence differed, first, from the spelling in their international passport; second, from the spelling in their German identity documents; and third, from the spelling of the child's surname in the birth certificate issued by the registry office in Germany.
A family (a married couple and two children) came to our law firm asking for help changing their surname. They had come to Germany from Russia. The head of the family was the wife. In 2004, when the resettlement documents were being drawn up, their surname was, let's say, adjusted toward a German spelling — Kharitonov became Kkharitonov. Then, in Germany, Kkharitonov became Kkharitonoff. Later they applied to the municipal authority at their new place of residence to change their joint surname Kkharitonoff to the wife's birth name — Müller. The application was granted. In all their Russian documents, however, they remained listed under the surname Kkharitonoff, which under the rules of Russian spelling was written as Kharitonov. In 2012, the family decided to change their surname once again and filed an application with the Standesamt at their place of residence. They explained their request by saying they had taken the wife's maiden name to better integrate into German society, without thinking through the consequences at the time. In addition, the head of the family — let's call him Yuri — did not want to shock his parents, who still lived in Russia, with his decision to change his surname, fearing it might harm their health. They also stated that the situation had taken a heavy toll on Yuri's emotional and physical health: he suffered from high blood pressure and insomnia — for which they submitted medical certificates.
In their application, they also stated that Yuri had been unable to claim his inheritance in Russia after his parents' death, because his surname in his Russian documents — Kharitonov — did not match the surname in his German documents — Müller. He had even applied to a Russian court to establish the fact of the family relationship. But the Russian court could not understand the reasons for this discrepancy in surnames, and the application was returned to him. Yuri explained that if he failed to claim the inheritance, all the property would pass to the state. He considered this reason significant enough to justify granting their application for a name change. The municipal authority (Standesamt), however, refused the application without giving any reasons.
The clients turned to our law firm for help. They wanted to know whether the Standesamt's decision could be appealed. The lawyer explained that he could prepare a court complaint, but could not guarantee the clients a favorable outcome. They had made the mistake of handling the matter themselves without first consulting a lawyer. Even so, they should not give up their right to challenge the decision through the courts.
Once instructed by the clients, the lawyer began by studying the case law on this issue. He then prepared a complaint against the Standesamt's decision. In the complaint, the lawyer relied on § 30 NamÄndVwV (the General Administrative Regulation to the Act on Changing Surnames and Given Names) and on § 3(1) NamÄndG (the Act on Changing Surnames and Given Names). He pointed out that these provisions do allow a further name change, but only in exceptional cases — it must be genuinely unreasonable, for sufficiently weighty reasons, for the applicant to continue bearing the former surname. He described the situation the clients found themselves in as a result of their hasty decision, and set out all the reasons why that decision had been made without regard to the wishes of their children, who were still minors at the time. The lawyer also pointed to the family problems that had arisen as a result — quarrels and the threat of the marriage breaking down. He relied on the provisions of the German Basic Law (Grundgesetz), under whose protection marriage and family fall. He further stated that, for the family members — the children especially — the new surname had always felt foreign. The children (sons) wanted to carry on the surname they had been given at birth. All the necessary supporting documents were attached to the objection.
Important on divorce
In the complaint, the lawyer relied on § 30 NamÄndVwV (the General Administrative Regulation to the Act on Changing Surnames and Given Names) and on § 3(1) NamÄndG.
Having reviewed the complaint, the court found the lawyer's arguments sufficiently weighty and ruled in the clients' favor — our clients were granted permission to change their surname back from Müller to Kharitonov.
Naturally, our articles are not meant as direct instructions to act. Every case is highly individual, and each specific situation therefore requires an individual approach and the ability to apply the relevant statutory provisions and case law correctly. Only a practicing lawyer can do that.
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