The President of Lithuania signed a bill concerning the writing of names and surnames in the Latin alphabet in Lithuanian documents✍️

The President of Lithuania signed the Parliament approved bill regarding the writing of non-Lithuanian names and surnames in documents. 

A week ago, a vote was held in the Lithuanian Parliament concerning the bill on the spelling of names and surnames in official documents. 82 deputies to the Parliament voted in favor of the law. The aforementioned bill introduces new rules concerning the spelling of names and surnames in identity, civil status and other official documents.

This issue was discussed by the Lithuanian parliament for several decades and aroused controversy in relations with border states. The European Foundation of Human Rights (EFHR), which has been working for 11 years to support the right to the original spelling of names and surnames, emphasizes that the right to write a name and surname in the original form is one of the fundamental human rights resulting from the right to respect for private and family life. The bill will guarantee that the original form of the name and surname will be recognized by Lithuanian institutions as an integral part of fundamental human rights, which protects the person against unlawful interference with his private life. The bill will also help to solve the problematic issue of different spelling of surnames in documents among mixed marriages.

Currently, 447 citizens of the Republic of Lithuania are registered in the Population Register, whose first names or surnames were used with the Latin characters q, w, x. Moreover, the EFHR has won more than 130 court cases regarding the original spelling of names and surnames (decisions of courts obliged civil registry offices to enter personal data in record documents using the Latin alphabet).

Poles in Lithuania are glad that the issue of the spelling of the original surnames has been partially resolved. Poles living in Lithuania will be able to write down their surnames correctly using the sign w. It will also be possible to record double characters (rz, cz, sz) frequently occurring in Polish surnames. The Polish minority in Lithuania unanimously notes that although this is not the final solution, the introduction of the bill is the first step in the right direction. It should be remembered that in Lithuania there is still no consent to write diacritics, such as: ą, ę, ż, ź.

The bill on the spelling of names and surnames in documents will apply to both non-Lithuanian names and surnames as well as Lithuanian ones. Each person of non-Lithuanian origin, as well as Lithuanians with foreign roots, will be able to write their name and surname using the Latin alphabet. However, the following conditions must be met:

– the person or one of their parents, grandparents, great-grandparents or other ancestors in a straight line had or has the citizenship of another country and the name and / or surname is written in these characters in the source document;

– received her name and / or surname in the foreign country in which she is staying or staying, and the name and / or surname is entered in these marks in the source document;

– chooses the surname of a spouse whose surname is not written in Lithuanian characters in the source document;

– the surname of his / her parents or one of his / her parents is entered in the source document in the non-Lithuanian alphabet.

The bill will enter into force on May 1, 2022.