Judgment of the Limburg District Court dated May 13, 2020
The petitioner experiences daily inconvenience due to his official first name. This is mainly because his actual commonly used name has been Marc* since his birth, but he is still listed on official documents, including his identity card, as Deniz*. Over the years, this has increasingly disturbed the petitioner as he feels he has ‘two identities.’ The petitioner’s parents wanted to register him under the name Marc, but this apparently was not accepted in Turkey because it is not an Arabic name. As the petitioner is about to get married shortly, this has led him to the final decision to change his first name once and for all.
To support his claim that he has gone by the name Edgar for many years, the petitioner has provided several pieces of evidence in the procedure. Based on this evidence and a written explanation from the petitioner, it is considered that he has a sufficiently significant interest in the request for a first name change. It is also believed that the societal interest in consistent use of first names in this case is of limited significance since he will formalize his commonly used name, which has existed for many years. It is presumed that this will serve the societal interest.
Considering the petitioner’s motivation, the court believes it is sufficiently informed about the request for a first name change. The request is granted.
- Real first names have been fictionalized.
