Judgment of the Rotterdam District Court dated September 9, 2020

The petitioners are of Vietnamese origin and recently had a daughter. At the time of their daughter’s birth, they intended to register her in Vietnam with the names they had given her in the Netherlands. However, the Vietnamese embassy informed them that this was not possible because the name was considered Western. This has led the petitioners to want to change their daughter’s name as registered in the Netherlands.

Initially, the petitioners attempted to register their daughter in Vietnam with two English names, but this proved not to be possible. The Vietnamese Civil Code stipulates that a given name must not conflict with the Vietnamese language. Article 26, paragraph 3 states: “The name of each Vietnamese citizen must be in Vietnamese or other ethnic minority languages of Vietnam and not include any figure or any symbol other than a letter.”

The reason the petitioners want to change their daughter’s first name includes the likelihood that they will move to the Netherlands in the future. The current first names of their daughter do not feel complete to them. For example, they do not intend to send their daughter to a Vietnamese school, and they want to impart as much as possible of her Dutch background.

Among family and friends, the daughter of the petitioners is already known by the newly chosen first names. This includes acquaintances and family members both in the Netherlands and Vietnam. For this reason, the petitioners have a compelling interest in formalizing their daughter’s names under Dutch law. Subsequently, they intend to formalize the first name change under Vietnamese law.

The court rules that the petitioners have a sufficiently substantial interest in the request for a first name change. The court grants the application.