Court standardized the spelling of another family’s name

On March 4, 2021, the District Court of Vilnius City issued a decision that obliged the Civil Registry Office (CMS) to change the spelling of the surname of the minor child of a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania to its original version – from “Ouvens” to “Ouwens” – and to issue a new birth certificate. The decision has already become final. 

This is the second civil court case won by the Ouwens family – on October 10, 2016, the District Court of Vilnius City obliged the CMS to write the surname with the letter “w” both on the marriage certificate of the Lithuanian woman who has got married the citizen of the Netherlands, and on the birth certificate of their first child. More information on the Ouwens family’s first court case can be found here. 

According to the Court, the apparent lack of a legal regulation and the absence of appropriate legal provisions allowing the entry of a name and surname written in a font other than Lithuanian in civil status records cannot in itself constitute moral grounds for refusal when a person so requests: The Court of Justice of the European Union has held that a person’s name and surname are among the elements of his identity and private life protected by Article 7 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (“the Charter”) and Article 8 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Although Article 7 of the Charter does not explicitly refer to a person’s name and surname, it is no less significant for a person’s private and family life, since it is a means of identifying a person and assigning him or her to a particular family (see, for example, the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 12 May 2011 in the case of Runevič-Vardyn and Wardyn C–391/09). 

In its case law, the Court of Justice has held that a refusal to change the names and surname of a national of a Member State and to recognise names and surname acquired in another Member State may be regarded as a restriction on the freedoms recognised by Article 21 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union  where it is liable to cause that person serious administrative, professional and personal inconvenience.

It follows from the Court’s case-law that the use of one’s name and surname is recognised as an integral part of the right to private and family life and that State interference in that regard, by prohibiting the original spelling of a person’s name and surname, can only be tolerated if it constitutes a proportionate means of achieving legitimate aims.

In its judgment of 4 March 2021 the District Court of Vilnius City noted that there was no evidence in the case to show that the addition of the letter “w”, i.e. “Ouwens”, to the applicants’ son’s name would interfere with the identification of the person, cause inconvenience, damage the general good or cause practical difficulties. The court also took into account the opinion of the State Commission for the Lithuanian Language, according to which certain exceptions to the use of the letter “w” in a surname are possible, one of which is that the surnames of citizens of the Republic of Lithuania who have married a foreigner and take his surname, as well as the surnames of the children of such spouses, may be written in non-Lithuanian characters, provided that they are written in the Latin alphabet, the source of the document being the foreigner’s identity document. 

The European Foundation of Human Rights (EFHR) provides legal assistance to people facing the problem of the original spelling of their names and surnames in personal documents. Legal assistance is provided by EFHR lawyers and attorneys from well-known law firms cooperating with the Foundation. Legal assistance includes advice, drafting of documents and representation in courts. If you are interested, please register by email info@efhr.eu , phone + (370) 691 50 822.