Personenname und Recht

Résumé

Until the 18th century the name of a natural person was not a legal issue in Germany. The determination of a person’s name – first and family name – was rather a matter of custom. According to Roman tradition which German law adopted generally it was allowed to change the name without any involvement of the State – no person was legally bound to his or her previous name. The article describes the development to a legal regulation of personal names by the State and describes the rules currently in force in Germany. It is shown that the first name of a child is determined by the (relatively) free choice of the parents, while the child himself is bound to the given name normally through all his life. A change of name is allowed only on the basis of an administrative decision of an authority which requires the person to show an important reason for the change of his or her name. The family name is also set by law. Traditionally, the name of the husband was transferred to the wife. This approach violated the principle of equal rights of men and women guaranteed by the German constitution of the 20th century. The article reports on legal reforms which introduced step-by-step a rather surprising freedom of choice for married couples in the determining their marital name.