Parents will be able to have more flexibility when choosing their child’s surname by linking or partially linking their names. Following this, the child’s first or surname should not exceed 30 symbols with spaces. Details of the new provision, which is contained in a draft recently approved by the government, were provided by the Public Services Agency in response to a press request by IPN.
According to ASP, the legislation provides for the child to be given the name of one of the parents if they have different names. In order to ensure gender equality, the draft amendment to the Family Code introduces the possibility of giving the child a compound name, consisting of the connected names of both parents.
Thus a child born to parents with surnames Graur (father) and Negru (mother) can be given the name Graur Negru. At the same time, if each of the child’s parents has a compound surname: such as Marcu Moldovanu (father) and Lautaru Bogatu (mother), the child can be given a compound surname by partially combining the name of each of his parents – Marcu Lautaru.
The ASP specifies that the child’s name will be assigned at the request of the parents, within the procedure of registration of the fact of birth of the child or later, within the procedure of changing the name of the minor at the request of the parents.
The surname or given name assigned shall not exceed the limit of 30 symbols each, including spaces between the components of the surname and given name. If the surname or forename exceeds the limit of 30 characters, one of the components of the surname will be substituted, by its initial capital letter.
According to the ASP, there are no religious or cultural restrictions on the assignment of a child’s surname, as surnames are acquired through filiation. Applications for registration may be refused if they contain indecent surnames.
Similarly, the child can be given a compound surname by combining the surname of each parent, regardless of whether the child was born in wedlock or to unmarried parents.
