Family
Disadvantage of Germans in naming rights should end
According to Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann, a reform should end the discrimination against Germans when it comes to naming rights. photo
© Britta Pedersen/dpa
The Federal Minister of Justice hopes that his draft law on naming rights will be passed at the closed conference at Schloss Meseberg at the end of August. There is a lot of public support for the plan.
With the planned liberalization of the According to his own words, Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann also wants to put an end to the factual discrimination against Germans when it comes to choosing a family name.
“A particular curiosity of the current legal situation is that people who live in Germany but are not German citizens are subject to the naming rights of their home country,” said the FDP politician to the German Press Agency. As a result, “we often treat them more generously than German citizens in terms of naming rights”. This “national discrimination” must now be ended quickly.
More freedom of choice
According to a draft from the Federal Ministry of Justice, Germans should have more freedom of choice when choosing their surname. For example, it should be allowed for a couple to have a common double name after marriage, with or without a hyphen. This name should then be able to be passed on to the children. Parents should be able to give their child such a double name even if they are not married to each other.
In addition, in the future more consideration should be given to the naming traditions of national minorities, especially those of the Sorbs, Danes and Frisians. The Sorbs, for example, have a female and a male ending for their surnames. “If people want to continue this tradition, the law should not block it,” said Buschmann.
acceptance in the population
After the publication of his proposal on naming rights, some people accused him of dealing with unimportant things, the minister reported. The reality is, however, that there is a lot of support for this plan in the population.
His ministry has not received a comparable number of letters on any other legislative proposal. “We really get fan mail about it,” said Buschmann. He hopes that the draft law on naming rights will be passed by the cabinet at the latest at the closed conference at Schloss Meseberg on August 30th.