You Name It: On the Cross-Border Regulation of Names

Pages 647–688, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcl/avaa026

Is your name “yours”? Are you free to choose a name for yourself? Does a name withstand border crossing and even the acquisition of new citizenships? In the common law world, the unequivocal answer is yes. However, in civil law, this answer is not so clear. While the global tendency over the last few decades has been towards relaxing the norms governing names, old traditions die hard, and in some cases now re-emerge in other parts of the world.