Judgment of the Gelderland District Court dated May 12, 2021
Petitioners have recently had a daughter together. Due to their Turkish origin, they gave their daughter a Turkish first name, which they find beautiful. However, they have noticed that the ö and ü sounds in the name are often mispronounced in the Netherlands. This leads to the name being anglicized, and others pronounce their daughter’s name literally. The pronunciation of the name is different, but the ö and ü sounds are not present in the Dutch alphabet. Petitioners fear that their daughter will be teased about her name later in life due to the obvious association with a particular object. They have discovered that even the doctor pronounced their daughter’s name literally. They regret that they couldn’t foresee the consequences of the name choice in this regard.
For petitioners, changing their daughter’s name is important for several reasons:
- They find the name beautiful, but they have a well-founded fear that their daughter will face teasing, which could harm her identity development.
- Petitioners consider the desired new first name to be easy to handle and attractive, and this name cannot in itself give rise to teasing.
- Petitioners wish to retain the current first name because it is the first name they gave their daughter.
The court finds that petitioners have a sufficiently weighty interest in this request for a change of first name. The request is granted as requested. No oral hearing was held.
