National Council discusses the reintroduction of double names again
Published: Thursday, Jun 6th 2024, 04:50
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On Thursday (today), the National Council will once again be debating a reform of the naming law. According to this, double names are to be reintroduced for spouses and registered partners. However, double names are to be ruled out for their children.
The discussion was initiated in 2017 by the then Aargau SVP National Councillor Luzi Stamm. His parliamentary initiative called for a corresponding amendment to the Swiss Civil Code (ZGB) to allow people wishing to get married to have double names in future.
In principle, this idea received broad support from the outset. Since the introduction of the current naming law in 2013, many people feel restricted in their freedom to choose a name. Married couples now have to decide when they get married whether they want to keep their respective names or have a joint surname.
For example, when Peter Muster and Petra Weber marry, they can choose whether they want to be called Peter Muster and Petra Muster, Peter Weber and Petra Weber or Peter Muster and Petra Weber. In practice, it has been shown that the majority of wives take their husband's name when they get married.
Away from the "Tinguely machine"
In future, the previously well-accepted and popular option of having a double name will be possible again. This opens up more opportunities for the future child's name to be included in your own name.
In the spring session of 2024, the National Council had already agreed to the draft of its Legal Affairs Committee (RK-N), but subsequently referred the matter back to the committee. The latter was to revise the draft so that double names would only be introduced for spouses and not for children.
In mid-March, critics of the so-called "big solution", which included the possibility of double names for children, spoke of a "monster" and a "Tinguely machine". Family and naming law should not become a "field of ideological experimentation". The proposal drawn up by the RK-N was too complex.
No double names for children
The now revised draft is based on the concept that each and every engaged couple can individually determine the name they wish to bear after marriage - whether a double name or not. When choosing a double name, he or she will have to declare the order in which the names should appear and whether or not they should be joined with a hyphen.
A minority of the committee is against the hyphen and requests that the non-official alliance name be retained. Hyphenated names such as Huber-Müller can already be used in everyday life, but are not entered in the civil register.
If the spouses do not make a declaration, both people will keep their names in future. If the parents have a joint name, this should no longer be automatically passed on to the children. Married or unmarried parents will now have to choose the name of their children in each case.
In contrast to the Commission's first draft, the children's name should not be able to be a double name. However, a minority still wants to provide for this possibility.
Requests for further revision
The debate on names in the National Council is likely to be animated again, as it was in the spring. Several minority motions have been tabled.
Two SVP minorities would like to refer the bill back to the committee - one with the mandate to reactivate the law in force until 2013, the other with the mandate to restrict the options available to married couples.
©Keystone/SDA
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