An individual may request a change of their surname by following a specific procedure and for serious reasons.The Civil Code stipulates in Article 1505 that:
“Parents are obliged to determine the surname of their children by a joint and irrevocable declaration. The declaration is made before marriage, either before a notary or the official who will perform the marriage… The designated surname, common to all children, may be either the surname of one of the parents or a combination of their surnames… If the parents fail to declare the surname of their children according to the above terms, the children shall bear the surname of their father.”
Additionally, Ministerial Decision Φ. 42301/12167/28.6.1995 defines the procedure regarding surname changes. Pursuant to paragraph 6 of Article 94 of Law 3852/2010, the authority for the granting and changing of surnames, as well as the granting of patronymics and matronymics to children born out of wedlock or of unknown parents, has been assigned to the Municipalities.
It has been established by case law that a surname constitutes an element of a person’s identity; however, the acquisition or change of a surname is not subject to private will alone. It concerns public order, being linked to the security of transactions and legal relations of public or private law of the person. The matter is generally addressed through administrative procedures. The competent administrative authority is obliged to assess the reasons invoked by the applicant for the surname change and decide, based on the seriousness of these reasons, whether it is appropriate to approve the requested change, providing specific justification for its decision.
It is accepted that a change of surname may be allowed in view of the free development of the person’s personality for serious reasons, such as psychological reasons, difficulty in pronunciation, unpleasant or defamatory character of the name, or when the surname offends commonly accepted moral sensibilities.
