Judgment of the Northern Netherlands District Court dated July 6, 2021

The applicant was adopted in the past. Originally, the applicant was named Ju Fen, but her adoptive parents chose to change her first names to Lindsey Fen during the adoption proceeding, and the name Ju was removed. The applicant finds this problematic because she received the name Ju in the orphanage where she was taken care of at the time, and she considers the name as an essential part of her identity.

For the applicant, it is important that she can regain her original first name Ju for the following reasons:

• The name connects the applicant to her origin and the place where she originally received this name.
• The name is a part of her lineage history and, in that regard, is inseparably linked to the applicant’s identity.
• The applicant’s adoptive parents did not consider the justified interest of the applicant in preserving the name Ju at the time, and the applicant also had no say in this matter due to her young age.

The court finds it plausible that the applicant has a sufficiently weighty interest in the request for a name change. It approves the applicant’s request to change her first names. Henceforth, she can also use the original name Ju.”

• The actual first names are fictitious.