WHAT IS A NAME CHANGE CASE?
The name change case is regulated in article 27 of the Turkish Civil Code. According to this article, changing the name can only be requested from the judge based on justified reasons. The right to change a person’s name is the exercise of a legal person’s right to exist, which is closely tied to the person. Since names are very important to people, it has been made possible to request a change of name from the court in case of a justified reason. If the person changes his name, his personal status will not change. In addition, the name change case does not only mean changing the existing name. Therefore, in the presence of a justifiable reason, individuals may request from the court to add a second name to the existing name or request the deletion of their middle name.
WHAT CAN BE JUSTIFIED IN THE NAME CHANGE ACTION?
Justified reasons in the name change case are not listed in the law and are relative. Because the names represent people, justified reasons can also change according to the event, and personal reasons can be accepted as justified reasons. To give a few examples for legitimate reasons,
The person’s name is funny, ridiculous,
Belonging to a criminal who is ill-known or known in the society,
The mention of his name with a bad event,
Being a name that does not comply with the general moral rules,
Difficulty pronouncing the person’s name
Reminding the person of a trauma,
professional reasons,
artistic reasons,
The inability of people to feel that they belong to their name,
Recognition of persons by a different name than the written name,
Political, immoral names that will hurt people,
Changing religion is an example.
WHAT HAPPENS IF THERE IS NO LAWFUL REASON IN THE NAME CHANGE ACTION?
If there is no justifiable reason for changing the name of the person, the request of the plaintiff who wants to change his name can be objected through the representative sent by the Population Directorate. Because in name change cases, the defendant is the Civil Registry Office. For this reason, as the opposing party, the Population Directorate sends a representative to the hearings.
