In view of the reform of naming rights planned by Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP), the Greens have also brought up a merging of surnames. “I would find a merging of surnames instead of double names with a hyphen a refreshing innovation and therefore very charming,” said Helge Limburg, legal policy spokesman for the Greens parliamentary group, the “Welt” (Tuesday edition). Resistance came from the FDP.
Merging surnames is already common practice in Great Britain, for example. If Mr James marries his partner Harrison there, the couple could use the so-called meshing to bear the common name Jamison. SPD open to innovation
The legal policy spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group, Sonja Eichwede, answers the question of whether she also thinks this makes sense in Germany: “We are open to discussing more far-reaching flexibilisation with the experts as part of the hearing.”
Criticism from the FDP
The FDP, on the other hand, objected: “Unlike the possibility of double names, the merging of two surnames is not only completely foreign to our naming rights,” said legal policy spokeswoman Katrin Helling-Plahr. “There is also no serious desire among the population for such a name combination that deviates from the principles of our naming rights.”
Buschmann wants to present a draft bill to change the naming rights soon. The reform is intended to make it possible for spouses to have joint double names. So far, it has only been possible for the spouse whose name does not become a surname to put their previous name before or after the surname. After Buschmann’s reform, the double name should also be possible for the children.
Buschmann also wants to make it easier for children to change their names after a divorce. In the future it should be possible to bring about this by means of a declaration to the registry office. A complicated procedure via the public law change of name law would then no longer be necessary.
And finally, minorities’ naming rights traditions should also be made easier. Buschmann’s ministry refers to gender-adapted surnames among the Sorbs.
Buschmann confirmed on Twitter on Tuesday that the reform of the naming law was “overdue”. Because the previous regulations would “not do justice to the diversity of life plans in our society”. (AFP)
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Source: Tagesspiegel
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