Judgment of the Amsterdam District Court on March 3, 2021

The parents of the petitioner have experienced since the young age of their children that the petitioner faced discrimination. This began already in elementary school, where the parents of the petitioner were convinced that their children did not receive the right school advice and were therefore placed in lower classes. The petitioner attended pre-university education (vwo), but initially he was not admitted to a prestigious high school after completing elementary school, while some of his classmates were accepted. Normally, a child should be automatically admitted to high school depending on pre-education. Because the other classmates all had Western names, the petitioner attributes the rejection to name discrimination.

To prevent future problems with potential discrimination, the petitioner wishes to adopt a second (Dutch) first name. In recent years, the petitioner, whether justified or not, has the impression that his name is hindering him in the job market. In the past, he often personally visited companies to inquire about available internship positions, and he received hardly any negative reactions.

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the petitioner is now forced to apply for jobs online. He cannot visit companies in person. It has often happened in the past year that he called companies, and the companies reacted enthusiastically, asking the petitioner to send an email application. The petitioner has done this at about 30 companies in the past year, but he has not received a response to any of the applications. The COVID-19 crisis may be a factor, but the petitioner believes that his names have played a significant role in this; otherwise, companies would not ask him to send an application. This makes the petitioner insecure; he knows what he is capable of, and in the past, he never had any problems with his names. To prevent his names from affecting him in the future in terms of (further) education and employment, the petitioner wishes to adopt a second first name. For the petitioner, it is essential that his names do not hinder (further) education and labor market participation and that, in view of this, his sense of self-worth and self-confidence remain intact.

The court rules that the petitioner has a sufficiently weighty interest. It grants the request.