A new family name to start another page of his life. For the past year, French people who wish to can change their surname more easily, thanks to the Vignal law (named after the deputy who carried it). They can decide to replace their father’s name with their mother’s, to attach their mother’s surname to their surname, or to take their father’s name if they bore their mother’s.
For this, all that is needed now is a simple official request to the civil registrar of the town hall of his domicile or place of birth. Then to go to the town hall one month after receiving his request, in order to confirm it. A process so easy that it has already won over many French people. According to figures from the Ministry of Justice released in June, in one year, 70,000 people have benefited from this new right, while there were less than 2,000 requests per year under the previous, much more complex regime. Figures that astonish Patrick Vignal, the deputy of Hérault (Renaissance) who carried the law: “I expected at most 15,000 requests in the year. There is a national momentum for this device which meets a real need. It is a societal law which has all the more merit in that it did not cost money! “, he declares to 20 minutes.
Turning a painful page
Among those who took the plunge, many did so because their surname reminded them of a family trauma, notes the deputy: “This is the case of people who are victims of incest, family violence or parental abandonment. Cathy, who responded to our call for witnesses, is part of the lot: “I had been waiting for fifteen years for less restrictive procedures, because bearing the same name as her rapist was very difficult. “Aline’s old name also constantly brought back to her the memory of a family tragedy: “My father murdered my mother, I was ashamed to bear her name. I feel better carrying my mother’s name,” she says. For Sandrine, the surname of the one she describes as a parent also represented a burden: “He was a horrible person, who beat me when I was little and did a lot of other not very healthy things. He was psychologically ill. So when the law passed, I jumped. It was a new beginning, a new life, like a rebirth. »
A relief also experienced by Olivia: “I took my mother’s name. It changed my life because my father abandoned me when I was little and I had no connection to his last name. “This stage therefore sometimes comes to put an end to a long quest for identity, as for Stéphanie, 55 years old: “I lived an atrocious childhood with my parent until we fled to a home for battered women. when I was 13. It’s a rebirth for me, I’ve been waiting for this moment for more than forty years. »
Pay homage to one of his parents
The motivations for changing the name are not always so dramatic. Some do it because their surname generated ridicule, like Jean-Michel: “I had wanted it for years, because my father’s name was “Pey”. Do I have to tell you that my childhood was very hard, since my name was the source of many mockeries? Today, despite my 63 years, I am proud and happy to finally bear my mother’s name,” he says.
The desire to change marital status can also just be driven by a desire to pay homage to one or both parents. As for Isabelle: “I took back my birth name, to which I associated that of my mother. I am very proud to wear it, in tribute to my two deceased parents. “For Claire, his approach resembles a cry of love launched to his mother:” I added his name to my last name. I am proud that the line of my mother and my maternal grandmother is not extinguished. Because “what one does not name does not exist.” Now my maternal family exists again.” Mélanie also wanted to show her gratitude to her mother: “It was just in the name of parity that I took the step. This restores the significant place she deserved in my education, plus the bonus of the hugs received. »
A new skin in which we feel good
Some feel such a sense of release after the step that their body reacts. This is the experience that Lydie recounts: “The day I confirmed my change of name, my body reacted in a strange way: the back pain that I had had for more than thirty years disappeared! The osteopath I had consulted before asked me if I had a good relationship with my father, explaining to me that in Chinese medicine, pain on the right side of the body often corresponded to a relationship problem with the father… But I didn’t really believe it” Alexandra also felt this feeling of well-being after taking her mother’s name: “I simply feel better about myself. And I no longer have a lump in my throat when it comes to pronouncing my last name, which did not reason with my person. »
As for Anne, she takes real pleasure in spelling out her new name to her interlocutors: “I have never been so happy and proud to give my name for all administrative matters, or just to introduce myself! she says. Testimonies of this type, Patrick Vignal has collected many: “It is the law of happiness. These people have let go of a burden or regained some form of intimacy with one of their parents. Some no longer go to the shrink after having changed their identity. They live again. »
Administrative complications at the beginning
The fact remains that before breathing again, we often had to deal with some administrative hassle, as Lydie says: “The deadlines for obtaining an identity document are long and Social Security and taxes have made a lot of mistakes: they gave my birth name to my husband. And I have to wait until I get my new ID so I can get this all corrected. Yoann also describes his obstacle course : “The prefectures are mired in the new regulations. Result: I officially changed my name at the beginning of November, and at the beginning of July, I still do not have my new identity document, ”he laments.
Echoes that Patrick Vignal had: “Some town halls had ignition delays. But the law will quickly become commonplace. And I even bet that within three or four years, it will trigger the fact that couples will naturally choose to join their two names in the surname of their children, ”he assures.