I have heard different stories as to whether we will have any trouble doing this so would appreciate if somebody can clarify that this will be acceptable and if there is anything further we need to do to ensure this will be ok.
thanks
My partner and I (both from NZ) are expecting baby in a couple of months and we plan to name our baby's last name my last name(father's). We are not married but living together.
You'd better have a look at this I think.
www.admin.ch/ch/d/sr/210/a270.html
A. Familienname
1 Sind die Eltern miteinander verheiratet, so erhält das Kind ihren Familiennamen.
2 Sind sie nicht miteinander verheiratet, so erhält das Kind den Namen der Mutter, oder, wenn diese infolge früherer Eheschliessung einen Doppelnamen führt, den ersten Namen. 2
Rough translation
Family Name (Surname)
If the Parents are married, the child takes the 'family name'.
If the parents are not married, the child takes the name of the mother, or, if she has a 'double name' by reason of a previous marriage, the child takes the first name of the two.
We (Scot and Kiwi) had the same issue. It's not a problem. We got a letter from the NZ embassy stating that in NZ the father's name can be taken even if the parents are unmarried. The Swiss accepted it and it was all very quick and easy
Wow, thats cool
Which Embassy did you apply to?
These guys
Here is the reply from my Zivilstandsamt when I asked them about it:
Gemäss neuseeländischem Namensrecht geht nicht ganz klar hervor, ob das Kind den Namen des Vaters tragen kann. Bitte erkundigen Sie sich bei der Neuseeländischen Vertretung hier in der Schweiz und lassen sich dies schriftlich bestätigen.
My German isn't too good but as far as I can tell they say they rules for naming babies in NZ are not clear and that I must have it in writing from the NZ consulate that the baby may take my fiancés surname, as if we were in NZ, it would be allowed.
Thanks saharanz, much appreciated
Apologies if this is a dumb question but my 'family' name do you think they mean the father's name? My husband and I have different surnames (i.e. I did not change mine when we married).
It all depends on where the baby is registered....and what your status is in Switzerland, I can only comment on these facts.
You are permantally here in CH and you register the baby here in CH and you are not married......the baby takes the mothers surname by law, that's it.
If you register the baby in another country even via an embassy then I guess you abide by that embassy/countries rules which makes sense.
Swiss law is very special when it comes to names.
We registered the birth here and our daughter has a Swiss birth certificate. (I'm pretty sure all babies born here have to be registered here first and can then be registered via the embassy of the country you're from. We definitely needed the Swiss birth cert to register her in the UK.) She has my partner's last name. It wasn't a problem as long as we had the letter stating it is allowed in the country where I come from.
Basically the rule seems to be: if you can get an official document stating that it's allowed in the mothers home country the Swiss authorities have no problems with using either surname. Of course, this only works if the mother's home country allows the fathers name to be taken!
Well actually there is no such thing as a "Swiss birth certificate" ie: you don't get citizenship by being born here! The Swiss will just "register" (They are good like that) the fact your child was born in CH and then abide by YOUR countries rules...that's my point ....they don't give a shite really...only if the kid is Swiss.....I have 2 of the little beerstards
The OP wasn't asking about Swiss babies names. We were given a Geburtsurkunde by the Zivilstandswesen. As far as I'm aware, this is her birth certificate. It was certainly accepted as her birth certificate when applying for her passport.
I agree it will be needed when applying for her non Swiss passport
And just to make it clear to you registration certificate does not mean birth certificate in German....they are 2 different things
I'm not sure I'm following you.
Our daughter's birth is registered here in Switzerland, where she was born. To do this we took the green name form given to us at the birth to the admin office in the hospital along with our birth certificates, our ausweis' and the letter from the NZ embassy saying we could use the fathers last name - the whole point of this thread!. The hospital then sends this to the Zivilstandswesen. We then received in the post a Swiss birth certificate from the Swiss authorities. It says birth certificate on it in German. I would assume every baby born in Switzerland gets one. I'm not sure what the difference is here. I never said that a Swiss birth certificate entitles the baby to Swiss citizenship.
It is then optional to register the birth in the countries where we come from.
Maybe we should differentiate between a Birth Certificate made out on the birth of a child in Switzerland and a 'Birth Certificate for a Swiss child born in Switzerland' which, unless things have changed recently, under normal circumstances simply doesn't exist. The child is registered in the Family Book of the parents.
Probably one can ask for such a document to be made for a Swiss child if some foreign authority requests it though.
My partner and I have just had this issue with our daughter born in January. We are not married and are both British. In order for Amber to have her father's surname we had to get an Acknowledgement of Paternity. This involved getting a declaration of civil status (single, married, divorced) from the British Embassy in Berne. We then went to complete the birth registration and they did the Acknowledgement of Paternity at the same time. This meant that although the registration was with my surname, the name was changed immediately and the certificate we received had Amber with her father's surname.
This is what we had to do also, but only found out about this process after we had our baby I strongly suggest you get all the paperwork sorted before the birth as it took around 3 months to get her certificate!
BTW we received her first 'birthcertificate' with the fathers name blank even though we filled in his name, it was a horrible! Poor thing didn't have an official farther for 2 weeks!
Also they made us sign a 'parental agreement' that he would take care of her if we separated!
We are having our maintenance / custody meeting in 2 weeks to set up the official agreement that my partner is paying and responsible for our daughter!
We also did not know about the acknowledgement of paternity till after the birth and I was initially told at the hospital that as she had been born it was now not possible :-S Thank goodness that was wrong. The delay in being able to register Amber meant that it took longer to get her British birth certificate, auslanderausweis and british passport :-S
We could not find anywhere on the websites that clearly stated what steps we needed to do to go through the whole legal process - at least we now no for hoped for baby number 2 :-D
Hi,
My partner and I are both British although he has Swiss nationality also. Do we think a letter from the British authorities would work on this case as I really want the baby to have his surname. The baby is due for late April / early May and the only solution we can see right now would be for me to change my name prebirth... This is not ideal!
Please can you help?
xxx
The best is to contact the etat civil in the canton you are in. They will advise you. If you are not married, then as far as I understand your partner is also not recognised legally as the father of the child. It is strongly advised to do this parental recognition before the birth. The etat civil will give you a list of documents that are required - it can take some time to get all the documents together and will likely necessitate a visit to your embassy. If you ask for a statement from your embassy that in the UK the child can have either the mother's or father's surname it may be possible that you can choose which one the child receives. I'm sure your query has been heard many times by either the etat civil or your embassy and they'll be better able to advise.
Thanks for replying!
We already have everything for the reconnaisance so that shouldn't be an issue to process. I will contact them though and ask about the situation.
Thanks again