The court ruled in favour of another family on the right to spell their surname in its original form – using the non-Lithuanian character “w”

On 29 April 2021, the District Court of Vilnius City issued a decision that obliged the Civil Registry Office to enter the surname in its original form, “Crawford”, instead of the indicated form “Cravford”, on both the marriage record of a Lithuanian woman married to a UK citizen and the birth record of their daughter. The decision has already become final.

In the present case it was established that the applicants got married in the United Kingdom. The woman, a Lithuanian citizen and resident in the UK, requested help from the European Foundation of Human Rights (EFHR), which has extensive and long-standing experience in representing clients in cases concerning the right to the original spelling of names and surnames. The applicants saw in the refusal of the original surname a violation of human rights, more specifically the right of the family to have one common surname.

The national legislation of the Republic of Lithuania defines and protects the right of natural persons to a name and other aspects of their identity. Article 2.20(1) of the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania states that every natural person has the right to his or her name. However, according to the paragraph 23 of the Rules on the Registration of Civil Status Acts, approved by Order of the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania of 28 December 2016 No. 1R-334, records of civil status shall be made in Lithuanian. Since the Lithuanian language does not contain the letter “w”, the Vilnius CMS rightly noted in the contested application that this letter should be replaced by the letter “v” when transcribing the applicant’s surname. On one hand, the legislation currently in force does not allow for the possibility of making entries in civil status records in non-Lithuanian characters; on the other hand, the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (“the Court of Justice”) in deciding cases of this kind is equally relevant in the present case.

The Court noted that, according to the case-law of the Court of Justice, a person’s name 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 (“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 important for a person’s private and family life as it is a means of identifying a person and assigning him to a particular family (see, for example, the judgment of the Court of Justice of 12 May 2011 in Case C-391/09, Runevič-Vardyn and Wardyn).

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. Since there are many people in Lithuania who have surnames and forenames containing the Latin letter “w”, it is obvious that the applicant should also be able to register her married name in its original form, otherwise she would be groundlessly discriminated against without any justification.

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. 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.