Another victory for the EFHR in the fight for the right to the original spelling of surnames

On 6 April 2021, the District Court of Vilnius City issued a decision that obliged the Civil Registry Office (CMS) to enter the surname with the letter “W” (“Wojcik”) on both the marriage record of a Lithuanian woman married to a Polish citizen and the birth records of their children. The decision has already become final.

In this case it was established that the applicant married a Polish national in 2015 in Jamaica. The family lived in the United Kingdom for several years and two children were born to them there. The family then moved to Poland, where they continue to live.

The original surname of the applicant is formed with the letter “W”, which does not appear in the Lithuanian language, and therefore the entry of such a surname is not possible under the current legal regulation. However, in the light of the jurisprudence of international courts and the needs of modern life, the applicants’ request is not exceptional or unusual in the context of contemporary Lithuanian social life.

The District Court of Vilnius City noted that, according to the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (“Court of Justice”), a person’s name and surname is one of the constituent elements of his or her identity and private life which are protected under Article 7 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and Article 8 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“Convention”). The Court of Justice has also ruled that a refusal to amend the names and surnames of a national of a Member State and to recognise names and surnames acquired in another Member State may be regarded as a restriction of the freedoms recognised by the Article 21 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union where that refusal is liable to cause serious inconvenience to that person at administrative, professional and personal levels.

The European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR”) has also recognised on numerous occasions in its case-law that issues relating to the spelling of names and surnames fall within the sphere of private and family life protected by Article 8 of the Convention. The ECtHR has explained that in assessing whether state interference with the use of a name and surname is compatible with the requirements of Article 8 of the Convention, it is necessary to take into account, inter alia, whether the surname appears in the passport in its original form, to what extent the original and modified spellings differ, whether the modified spelling interferes with the identification of the person and what practical difficulties this creates (ECtHR judgment of 11 September 2007 in Case 59894/00 Bulgakov v. Ukraine).

The District Court of Vilnius City also recalled the case of Leonid Raihman v. Latvia decided by the UN Human Rights Committee in 2010. The Committee, after examining the applicant Leonîds Raihmans’ application to change his surname to its original form “Leonid Raihman”, decided that the forcible change of his name and surname was unjustified and constituted an arbitrary interference with the applicant’s private life and a violation of article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Committee stated that the forcible change of name and surname constituted an unlawful interference with an individual’s private life and violated human rights. 

From the case law discussed above, it is clear that the use of one’s own name and surname is an integral part of the right to private and family life, and that State interference in this regard by prohibiting the original spelling of a person’s name and surname can only be done if it is a proportionate means of achieving legitimate aims.

The Court also noted that it is commonly known that in important personal documents of the Republic of Lithuania the first names and surnames of Lithuanian citizens appear with the letter “W”, which in fact confirms that the use of such a Latin sign is common. There is no evidence that the use of such a sign would adversely affect the status of the official language or cause significant inconvenience to the functioning of public institutions. It should be noted that the ECtHR in 2007 in the case of Johansson v. Finland noted that where names have already been registered in the Register of Residents and no adverse effect on the preservation of cultural and linguistic identity has been established, there is no reason to refuse to register such a name.

It should be noted that the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language issued an opinion in which it stated that such a demand of the applicants is contrary to the requirements of the legislation and therefore the spelling of the surname with the letter “W” should not be allowed. However, in its conclusions on the draft laws concerning the spelling of names and surnames in the documents of the Republic of Lithuania submitted to the Parliament, the Commission proposed the possibility of exceptions allowing the spelling of the surnames of Lithuanian citizens who entered into marriage with foreign citizens and took their surnames, as well as the surnames of their children, in the Latin alphabet.

In the light of the circumstances of the case, it is concluded that not departing from the current legal framework and refusing the applicants’ request would not be compatible with the principle of fairness and would be disproportionate to the objective pursued by the applicants and to the possible consequences that the applicants would suffer if different surnames were recorded.

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.