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

On 20 April 2021, the District Court of Vilnius City issued a decision which obliged the Civil Registry Office (CMS) to change the surname of a citizen of the Republic of Lithuania from “Vilkins” to its original form “Wilkins” and to issue a new marriage record. The decision has already become final.

In this case it was established that the applicant (the citizen of the Republic of Lithuania) married R. Wilkins, a British national, in the United Kingdom in 2020. The applicant has lived in the UK for 16 years, working and paying taxes there. The applicant has requested that her surname be written in its original form with the letter “w”, i.e. in the form of the surname under which her husband identifies himself. The original surname of the applicant’s husband is formed with the letter, 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 applicant’s request was not exceptional or unusual in the context of contemporary Lithuanian social life.

The Court of Justice of the European Union has found in its judgments (see Case C‑148/02 Garcia Avello [2003]; Case C‑208/09 Sayn-Wittgenstein [2010]; Case C-391/09 Runevič-Vardyn and Wardyn [2011]) that a discrepancy in the forms in which the same surname is entered for two persons constituting the same married couple could cause serious inconvenience to the person concerned both in the public and private sphere. Such a difference in surnames is likely to give rise to doubts as to the person’s identity and the authenticity of the documents submitted, or the veracity of their content. If that is the case, it constitutes a restriction of the right, conferred by Article 21 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (“TFEU”), to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States. An obstacle to freedoms conferred by Article 21 TFEU such as that resulting from the serious inconvenience described above could be justified only if it was based on objective considerations and was proportionate to the legitimate aim pursued (see Case C-353/06 Grunkin and Paul [2008]).

Having regard to the circumstances indicated by the applicant, the practice of national and international courts and the position of the State Commission for the Lithuanian Language that some exceptions are possible, and one of them is that the surnames of citizens of the Republic of Lithuania who enter into a marriage with citizens of a foreign state and take their surnames, may be written in Latin letters, The Court held that the current situation does not comply with the principle of fairness and is disproportionate in regard to the possible consequences which the applicant would suffer if her and her spouse’s surnames were written differently.

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.