Hello Everyone,

I am in a sort of unique situation. At the moment I am going through the process of Einbürgerung, the problem in my case is that I don't have a real family name. Since I come from the southern part of India where the norm is to take the father's name as the last name, I followed the same procedure for my kids when  they were born here. The standesamt refused to accept it as it doesn't align with the German naming law and registered all of us with Eigenname (Own name) i.e. we are registered without a first name and our full name is moved to the last name section as a block name. However, since this isn't a problem in India, our Indian passports are in order with proper first and last names.

We have been told by the Einbürgerungsamt that when the process is through they will issue the Urkunde with Eigenname and after that we have an opportunity to do Namensangelichung at the Standesamt to align our names with the German Namensrecht. Since this Namensangeichung could potentially change my name which is my identity, I was curious and went to Standesamt to check this. The lady there after some discussion with others suggested that I could swizzle my first and last name, so that my kids and I will have the same last name (as the kids have taken my first name as their last name) and then can issue us passports with proper first and last names instead of a block last name.

But even if I swizzle my first and last names, it is a change of my identity and will affect me in a lot of places not only here in Germany but also in India. My question is, has anyone of you gone through a similar situation with Namensangelichung before? if yes, I will be very grateful if you can please share me your experiences. Thanks very much in advance.

Hallo,

Your case might be different when compared to mine. I just need to add my family name to my wife name (she has no family name). For this, standesamt provided me with the list of documents to submit. Only to provide the list of documents they took 5 months. My marriage verification was not done by german embassy. If they have to change our names, then they might put marriage certification which might take again 6 months. So the process usually is a lengthy one, once you get einbürgerungsurkunde.

You may take advice from your friends and also from standesamt what would be best for you and your family with the name change.

Just hv a look at the information that i posted below for your information.

BR
Basbrem

http://www.trust7.com/forum/-/message_boards/message/804595?_19_redirect=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.trust7.com%2Fforum%2F-%2Fmessage_boards%2Fsearch%3F_19_keywords%3Dbasbrem%26_19_searchCategoryId%3D0%26_19_breadcrumbsCategoryId%3D0%26_19_redirect%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.trust7.com%252Fforum%253Fp_p_id%253D19%2526p_p_lifecycle%253D0%2526p_p_state%253Dnormal%2526p_p_mode%253Dview%2526p_p_col_id%253Dcolumn-2%2526p_p_col_count%253D1

Hello basbrem,

Thanks very much for your reply. I understand that the process of name change is a tedious one. I am also trying to understand the after effects of it. Did you end up updating your wife's new full name everywhere in Germany? How easy or cumbersome is it? In my case, I might have to just interchange my first and last names, but I might have to inform this change and update it atleast at a dozen places like bank accounts, drivers license, rental agreement, employer, social security office etc. Do everyone normally accept the change without much hassle? any experiences with this?

Secondly, did you update the name change in India? I hold a few NRI accounts, a property, PAN card, drivers license etc with my current name. Since the change technically happens in Germany, is it acceptable/valid in India without the complicated procedure of publishing in Gazatte etc? How about the OCI card? do they accept the name change done at the Standesamt without any further documents?

This name change thing is racking my nerves and I feel like having opened a can of worms here. Sometimes, I even feel aborting the Einbürgerung process to keep my current identity intact!!!

After receiving einbürgerungsurkunde, i have contacted standesamt for the name change. Recently after 5 months, they asked me to submit the the list of documents for reviewing. They will check and inform me whether any verification has to be done (like marriage, dob, etc, etc). If verification is reqd. then it will take much more time. In the mean time, we can apply for temporary german id or temporary german pass (if you like to fly outside europe). It is just a matter of changing the name, but hell of a process with verifications. Not that easy and straight forward. They hv to verify what they need to. So v hv to give them time and keep our patience. It is an important step before you apply for your original german pass. Because all your family members will be identified with the family name. But if you are not much concerned about it, then you can apply for the german pass as the way you get your einbürgerungsurkunde. Collect as much as information as you can and decide the best solution for yourself and for your family.

BR
basbrem

Hi S R
I am in the same boat & I was wondering if you were able to deal with this situation. 
For me the problem is my children also have my supposedly first name as family name and simply splitting my Eignnenname to First & last name would make things difficult again as then my children have my first name as family name
How did u deal with this situation? How long did it took you?