It depends.
I can totally understand this guy’s story in the newspaper. My name is frequently written with mistakes, I’m regularly misgendered, etc. I don’t care, but I can understand how others are fed up of living like like this and just want a break. Mr. Family Man just wants a successful business and live in peace with his family, let him have it.
The Radosavljević family confirmed to northwestern Switzerland their application for a name change, but did not want to comment further. However, the reasoning of the family is also recorded in the administrative decision of the canton of Schwyz. The corresponding order is available to the newspaper. This is based on the family’s will to change the name, among other things, by the fact that their business suffers from the foreign name. Many of their Swiss customers would struggle to pronounce their name and remember it. In addition, the 5-year-old daughter also has trouble to pronounce him correctly. The fear of the parents: In an emergency, she will have trouble spelling the name correctly. In general, relationship with authorities and institutions is also tedious. Often their name must be spelled and the contact persons are each unsettled whether the correct spelling.
It’s positive that people have the freedom to chose their own identity. This is another thorny issues I won’t touch, let’s just celebrate the freedom ![]()
But, it’s only a freedom, not an obligation. Passive idiots like me are free to keep their name. Or people with more assertive personalities fought (and won) for having characters from Eastern Europe languages included in the Swiss passport.
The nice thing here is the freedom to live life in our own terms. Thanks Switzerland.