"The names parents give their infant
often reflect the hope of seeing them become one thing or another."
Eric Berne
That a name shapes a person's fate has been known since the most ancient times. In antiquity people were highly superstitious, a trait bound up with belief in good and evil spirits. Our ancestors knew the power of a human name since time immemorial, which is why they would deliberately give a child two names. This tradition can still be traced among some peoples today. In old Rus, the name given to a child at baptism was kept hidden, and in some countries, besides the main name, an infant would be given a second name — often not especially euphonious — so that dark forces could not harm the child. Parents deliberated especially long over how to name a girl, so as to endow the future mistress of the household with certain qualities from birth itself. Psychologists and astrologers maintain that a child's character and fate depend on the name chosen. A name is a person's second face, a kind of "calling card." On first meeting someone, many people pay attention to their name, and whether it appeals or not immediately shapes an initial impression of the person themselves. Every name carries a particular meaning and is also "loaded" with character associations drawn from the deeds of great figures who bore it. In giving a child a particular name, parents already, on some subconscious level, expect their offspring to display character traits similar to those of that great person. They may also choose a name simply for the melody of its pronunciation and the pleasant feeling its sound alone evokes. The melodiousness of a name matters especially for girls, since a name's influence on one's fate often depends on how society perceives the person bearing it.
Situations arise in which the parents of a minor child, or an adult in their own right, wish for some reason to change their given name or surname. As a general rule, this is possible only where there are very weighty grounds. German authorities, as is well known, have an interest in keeping given names and surnames stable, so as to keep population records accurate and various databases free of error. This stability of names matters for social insurance funds, inheritance proceedings, court cases, and other, not always pleasant, official matters. A change of given name or surname makes it harder to locate a person in order to correctly determine their existing rights, or to bring claims or charges against them. Apart from cases of a surname change due to a change in personal circumstances — marriage, for example — a given name or surname may be changed only in exceptional cases. Under § 3(1) of the German Act on Changing Surnames and Given Names (Gesetz über die Änderung von Familiennamen und Vornamen — NamÄndG), a name may be changed only where an important reason justifies the change. In this article, we describe one case from our varied legal practice in which sufficient grounds for such a change genuinely existed, and in which we were able to help our clients substantiate them before the relevant authorities.
Required documents
Under § 3(1) NamÄndG, a name may be changed only where an important reason justifies the change.
A married couple — let's call them Anastasia and Mark (names changed) — came to our law firm facing a problem they could not solve on their own. Just two weeks before their visit to us, a joyful event had taken place in this young family — the young couple had become parents of a lovely little girl named... well, as to the name itself, everything was, at that point, still very much up in the air. As the clients told us, they had long dreamed of having a child, but the longed-for pregnancy had been a very long time coming. After around five years of failed attempts, the long-awaited event finally happened, to the couple's great joy. Even so, things did not go smoothly here either — Anastasia felt extremely unwell throughout. One health problem followed another; she constantly had to take various medications with side effects, none of which did anything for the wellbeing and mood of a pregnant woman. Slowly but surely, the due date approached, and knowing they were expecting a girl, the couple began thinking more and more about a name. There was no lengthy debate between them — with the approval of other family members too, they decided to name their future heiress Eleonora, after Anastasia's late grandmother, whom she had loved dearly. Mark liked the name as well, so no other options were really discussed in the family. Unfortunately, both the pregnancy and the delivery proved very difficult. Anastasia was in labor for around 15 hours, after which she had an emergency caesarean section. Nevertheless, to the parents' immense joy, the girl was born alive and healthy. This happy family event coincided with the unpleasant news of Mark's dismissal from his job. In a state of turmoil, the man stopped at a church on his way to the maternity hospital. Mark, not normally a particularly sentimental man, prayed for several hours straight before an icon of the Virgin Mary for his newborn daughter's health, and for God to spare his family the troubles that had befallen them. When Mark left the church, he felt as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders; he now felt certain that the worst was behind them and that no further misfortune threatened him or his family. Overcome with emotion, he rushed to his wife and hurried to share his joy with her. He told her how he had gone to church and prayed before the icon of the Virgin Mary. The couple talked for a long time, laughing and crying with happiness — they had become parents for the first time, their daughter had been born healthy, and every other problem and difficulty was surmountable. Against this backdrop, an idea took shape overnight: to name the child not Eleonora, as they had originally planned, but Maria, after the holy image that had brought Mark such comfort. Apparently acting on the principle of "strike while the iron is hot," the couple visited the local registry office (Standesamt) the very next day and officially registered the newborn under the name Maria. When it came time to announce the girl's name to relatives, however, the couple found themselves reconsidering. They recalled how long they had planned to name the girl Eleonora, how much they had both liked that name, and that, as it now seemed to them, it was in fact the better fit for their daughter. All that remained was to sort out the legal side of the matter. The next day, the young parents went back to the Standesamt asking for the girl's name to be changed urgently, but received a very clear and firm refusal. On the advice of close friends, Mark and Anastasia then turned to our law firm, hoping we could help resolve this matter, so important to them.
The lawyer at our firm, who has extensive experience resolving all manner of difficult cases, got straight to work without further ado. He drafted a well-reasoned letter to the Standesamt setting out the reasons for the parents' seemingly contradictory conduct. The lawyer described in detail all the difficulties the family had experienced at the time the girl was born, as well as the difficult course of the pregnancy and delivery itself. This letter was accompanied by comprehensive supporting evidence — medical certificates and confirmation of Mark's dismissal from work. The letter also set out the unstable emotional state our client had been in, which was likewise confirmed by a certificate from the relevant specialist. In addition, as one of our weightier arguments, we pointed out that the child was only three weeks old at the time of our application, so that the name change posed no risk of any obligations going unfulfilled, since, for obvious reasons, none could yet have arisen.
Having filed this petition with the relevant administrative authority, we assured our clients that, should it be refused, we would defend the couple's interests in court until a favorable outcome was reached — exactly as our lawyers do in resolving any legal matter, however complex. In this case, it did not prove necessary to go to court: the name was changed to Eleonora and duly recorded in the relevant legal documents of record. The couple thanked us warmly for work done so quickly and professionally. We, in turn, wished little Eleonora — in whose fate our law firm played, by a twist of chance, a rather significant part — good health, happiness, and good fortune in life.
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