The name of each person is a fundamental part of his identity. It performs extremely important functions related to the identification, individualization and, in general, participation of a person in society. For this reason, after the entry of the three names of each person in the act of his birth, the grounds for changing any part of the name are strictly defined in the law. In such cases, the participation of a court (except for the surname at the time of marriage) is mandatory, which will assess whether the legal requirements for changing the name are present. The conditions that must be in place to change the name are described in The Civil Registration Act (ZGR)and the procedure in Code of Civil Procedure (CPC).
The cases in which a person may request a change of name by judicial order are as follows:
The change of a mocking, disgraceful or socially unacceptable name relates to circumstances which are not difficult for the courts to apply and, in this sense, do not give rise to particular problems in practice. The most important assessment to be made by the court is whether the current name of the applicant meets the public standards that are determined by the Bulgarian naming tradition, as well as by the specific moment of development of the society.
Change of name due to important circumstances
The laconic wording of the law creates the need to define the “important circumstances” in question. Since the content of this concept has not been further developed in the law, over the years judicial practice has had to define it through several exemplary enumerations of important circumstances.
The first two important factors are related to administrative problemswhich can be created for state bodies and the person.
First of all, there will be grounds for changing the name when a person has two different names in two different countries. This problem arises with the acquisition of Bulgarian citizenship, and it happens that after the translation of names from a foreign language into Bulgarian they are changed, either due to technical errors or due to certain rules for the translation of certain letters from foreign languages. Such discrepancies can create problems for the identification of the person in interactions with the administration in Bulgaria, as well as in other countries. This is also the reason why this circumstance is defined as important.
Another reason for changing the name is the presence of different names in different official documents. Most often it is a birth certificate, in which the name is spelled out in one way, and an identity card or international passport, in which the name is different. Obviously, in this case too, there is clearly a potential possibility of problems with the identification of the person. These first two circumstances are often present together.
The third and most interesting circumstance is the applicant's desire to have a different name. The case-law has held that, in addition to performing purely administrative functions, a person's name is also part of his or her right to self-determination and in this sense, if a person wishes to change his name, then this desire can be perceived as an important circumstance. It is very important to note the following detail - the case law says that the person's desire to have a different name can be considered as an important circumstance, not that it must necessarily be taken into account as such. In practice, this means that the court must always first fulfill its role as defender of the law, traditions and morals before taking into account the wishes of the petitioner. If the name chosen by the person does not correspond to the requirements of the law, the Bulgarian naming tradition and the understanding of our society about morality, then a request for a change of name based solely on the wishes of the applicant should be rejected.
These considerations are also part of the motives of quite interesting court decisions from the point of view of the role of the court in such cases. The refusals of requests to change names by the courts in some of these cases are indicative of the fact that, although there is a possibility that the applicant's wish to be recognized as an important circumstance within the meaning of the law, this possibility is always limited by the understanding of tradition and morality in society. Of course, there will always be a certain amount of subjectivity in such decisions.
If the person is known in society by a pseudonym, he may want that nickname added to his name. In this case it is not about replacing one name with another, but about adding a nickname to the current name of the person. Again, the described requirements of legality and morality must be observed. The burden falls on the applicant to prove that he is indeed known by the particular nickname.
Changing the name of an adopted child is part of the adoption procedure itself, which in turn is associated with numerous requirements. Only from the point of view of changing the name of the adopted child can we note that his own name is determined unilaterally by the adoptive parents, if the child has not reached the age of 14.If he has reached this age, his consent is also required. Paternal and surname of the adopted are determined by the courtaccording to the names of the adoptive parent and in the traditional way of compiling Bulgarian names.
The change procedure by nameis brought before the district court at the permanent address of the applicant and under the rules of the so-called security procedure, which in practice means that there is no need to appear at a court hearing. Although relatively simple, the procedure nevertheless hides its particularities, which require the assistance of a professional in the field, insofar as the incorrect formulation of the application for a change of name may unnecessarily delay the procedure or lead to the rejection of the request. It should be borne in mind that the proceedings imply a subjective assessment of compliance with the grounds laid down by law for changing the name, which can be read differently by different courts. Since the ever-changing case law plays a huge role in this matter, we can be sure that the views of the courts will continue to evolve according to the public's perceptions and tolerance of certain types of names.
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