Name: Change of name for Aussiedler and naturalised persons

Names do not change as a result of admission to the Federal territory and the acquisition of German citizenship. Each person continues to use his or her name in the form in which he or she received it under his or her original home country law.

Names acquired on the basis of foreign law may, however, be adapted in their spelling to the German law on names. Parts of the name which are not recognized by German law can be deleted, e.g. patronymics.

Which names can be changed?

• Name components
  German name law does not recognize these. They can therefore be dropped.
  Example: Russian patronymics
• Original form of a name
  Often a family name is modified according to gender or relationship. Here the original form of the name can be adopted.
  Example: Bergerova in Berger
• German-language form of the given name
  The German-language form of the given name can be assumed. If there is no such form of the given name, new (other) given names can be chosen.
  Examples: Piotr in Peter, Stjepan in Stefan.
• German-language form of the family name
  The German-language form of the family name can be adopted.
  Example: Miller in Müller, German in Hermann
• Choice of a new married name
  If the spouses have designated the name of one spouse as the married name in the country of origin, they can designate the name of the other as the married name by means of a joint declaration.
• Proper names/chains of names
  If a person bears several proper names that do not differ according to first name and family name, first names and family names can be determined from them. If only one proper name is kept, it can be declared as a first name or family name, in which case the missing name itself must be determined.
  Example: Omar Yussuf Mohammed (proper name) in Omar Yussuf (given name) and Mohammed (family name)

Requirements

• Spätaussiedler or expellee status or German citizenship through naturalization.
• No change of name may have been made yet.
• Each person is entitled to make a declaration him/herself
• in the case of a declaration on the family name during an existing marriage, only a joint declaration is possible.

What documents do I need?

• Proof of admission as a displaced person or late repatriate or the certificate of naturalisation
• Birth certificate and marriage certificate, if applicable
• Translation of the foreign language documents
  

  (Certificates in Russian language must be translated according to ISO standard R 9)

• Valid identity card or passport