Judgment of the District Court of The Hague dated September 3, 2020

Requester is originally from Brazil and was born and raised there. While residing in the Netherlands, she had her first name changed on her birth certificate in Brazil. She now wishes to change it in the Netherlands as well.

Dutch law specifies that a name change abroad does not directly affect the first name in the Netherlands. In other situations, a foreign certificate can be directly registered in the Netherlands, so the person does not need to go through a separate court procedure in the Netherlands. In summary, a foreign name change is recognized in the Netherlands if the name change is the result of a change in civil status (e.g., recognition, adoption, or marriage). In other cases, the individual must separately change their first name in the Netherlands through the court.

Furthermore, Requester was now residing in Germany. The law specifies that the Dutch court is only competent to consider a request (such as a request for a name change) if the person lives in the Netherlands or if the case has sufficient connections to the Dutch legal sphere. There is a treaty in place between the Netherlands and Germany that states that one country will not allow a name change for one of its nationals unless the national also holds the nationality of that country. In this case, Requester was only Dutch, so she could not change her first name in Germany.

Requester provided a Brazilian birth certificate in the procedure, but it could not be registered in the Netherlands because the parent’s information on the certificate was incomplete. Given this circumstance, the civil registrar in The Hague advised establishing the birth details. Requester had no objection to this, as it amounted to the same thing in practice.

Considering Requester’s claims and the fact that the Dutch court had jurisdiction to consider the request, the court granted the request. Requester could now also use the first names changed in Brazil on her Dutch passport.