I'm Chilean, and my girlfriend, who is currently pregnant, is Dutch. We won't be married by the time the child is born. I know that by default my son will have her surname, but I would like to find out how I can pass on my surname, which sounds a lot nicer than hers!!!

I've read about this rule, but I also know an unmarried couple that had a child here who bears her father's last name. Neither parent is Swiss, so, you may be lucky in that the authorities don't really care as long as you're both foreign.

Under the present law, the child always gets the surname of the mother except if it can be proven that this name is an unbearable disadvantage to the child, whatever that means.

In a few years this will likely change as the law is currently revised. The draft states that the child can get the father's name if the mother agrees. Until then, there's not much you can do except to marry.

I think and unbearable disadvantage would be if one of your parents had a surname like "Foots"

In English speaking countrys would be fine, here.....

Bad example but still an example.

I wonder what "unbearable disadvantage" really means. Maybe that can be used to bend the rules a bit since we're foreigners and authorities might not really care that much???

I'm in a similar situation and have just found the 'official' rules.

"Das Kind nicht verheirateter Eltern erhält den Familiennamen der Mutter. Durch die spätere Anerkennung kann der Familienname nicht geändert werden.
Ausnahmen gibt es, wenn das Kind nicht Schweizer Bürgerin oder Bürger ist"

So basically it says that if both parents are not Swiss the child can take on either surname. You must go to Stadt Zurich Bevölkerungsamt BEFORE the birth of your baby to declare you are the daddy in order for the name change to occur.
www.stadt-zuerich.ch/internet/bva/zsa/home/geburt.html

We had this problem, we are non Swiss. When the birth certificate gets sent to you, go back to the authorities and say that you want a birth certificate for the child in the surname of your choice, since you are non Swiss this is possible.

1: Don't accept the birth certificate in the mothers name.
2: Tell the authorities what name you want the child to be and that you want a new birth certificate issued.
3: Wait and be patient
4: The Swiss will check that this is OK, with the Swiss Embassy in your home country to make sure that this is ok under your home country laws.
5: Both parents will have to go to your home embassy in Switzerland and sign a letter stating that you are both the parents of the child and you consent to the new surname of the child.
6: After about six weeks (approx with us) the new birth certificate was sent.
7: Apply for a passport in the childs name.

It is possible and we have done it.

PS - You cannot start the process until the child is born.

PSS It is easier to get married, but why should you!!

I have just seen that you are different nationalities, this is going to make life difficult and I am not sure how the authorities with view this. Bottom line if your girlfried consents to this, it should not be a problem. If there is an issue the solution maybe to take a double surname ie Surname of the child = Girlfriends surname - Your surname
or vice versa.
Hope this helps.
Andy

What you have written is not exactly correct. This is actually covered in the Swiss civil code as are most things to do with names.

1. Basically the child will get the mothers surname. SR 210
2. If you get married at a later point then the child will receive the name the parents decide upon. So if the mother was Meier and the father Schmidt and the family name after marriage was Schmidt then the child would receive the name Schmidt. This is a very important point as otherwise there would be difficulties when travelling abroad as a family. Some countries require special documentation in order that a child not sharing the family name of the adult companions can enter or leave the country. SR 210
3. If you are foreigners you can elect to choose the naming conventions or laws in either one of the countries of which you are nationals. SR 291

What is most correct is you should indeed must consult with the local civil authority responsible.
You will find this all covered here:
http://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/internet...liennamen.html

Nearly where you were...

Well actually you can start the process. You go to the civil authorities responsible for births and tell them you want your child to be named under the laws of country x ôf which you are a national. They will then start the process of checking the laws of that country to make sure you can name the child as you so which. This speeds up the whole thing.
In this case you can choose which countries laws should govern the naming of your child. Seeing as most non-Germanic countries are quite relaxed about this I would not see a great problem.

And yes I think your post does help!

I tried to speed up the process, by approaching the registery section in SH Kanton, prior to the children (twins) being born, but was told I had to wait until the children were born. That was 4 years ago.

What is important is that you and your partner decide what you both want and then aproach the authorities. Is or can the child take dual nationalities.

I am sure your girlfriends last name is much nicer then yours t from Chile(-; Maybe you should talk to her about this? Have you told her that you are putting this information on a public forum by the way?

Richard - that information is really useful, thank-you

I am going through interviews to get a job in Zurich at the moment. My partner (unmarried) is pregnant and due in March. We already have a one year-old with my surname and I don't want two children with different names (surnames that is).

What's wrong with Dutch surnames? I especially like "Valckx" and "van Ravenzwaaij"

Hi everyone,

Posting this question especially for Richard, but if anyone has an answer, please do share:

My girlfriend is Swiss and I am British. Our baby arrives in 3 to 4 weeks. We are not planning to get married currently. This week, we have an appointmentat the Zivilstandsampt in Basel and sign the Vaterschaftsanerkennung. We also plan to complete the Elterliche Sorge before the birth. The problem is this and I was wondering if there is anyway around it: we are both adamant that the child should get my surname. This seems basically impossible under Swiss law. There seems to be one exception though, that is 'unbearable disadvantage'. Found this above and elsewhere. 'unbearable' would be an exaggeration but the simple way to explain it is that my girlfriend has essentially cut herself from her family due to an uncomfortable history. She wants our child to receive my surname as much as I do.

Any advise?? Thanks in advance...

Hi,

Good luck !

One thing you will need is a copy of your birth certificate from the last 6 months. You can get this on line (it cost about £26 to get it within a week) this is because the Swiss can change their birth certificates - the fact that no one else in the world can dosen't seem to make any difference to them.

So you should order it now in readiness.

I hope you manage to do this

Hey LLG,

Thanks for this! yeah, I got mine sent over again a few weeks ago, so everything is set on that side!

I hope we are able somehow to sort the Surname but I suspect it's going to be an uphill battle!

Cheers

Sorry for bumping!

Any news on this anyone? Richard?

Thanks!

Well we just had a baby girl (Chloé) on April 23rd "out of wedlock". We live in Valais in Martigny, Chloé was born in the hospital in Sion. I'm from the UK and my partner is Dutch.

We went to the Martigny Etat Civil about six weeks before and handed over the papers they wanted. Birth certificates, permits, passports and declarations of our residence in Martigny (got those from the commune). Told them the baby was coming and we wanted her to have her fathers surname. The woman there told us it was quite simple, and that we should go back and see her once the baby was born and we'd been sent the birth certificate.

As it goes, we didn't get a birth certificate. So we contacted Sion. She was born there and so would be registered there. They said they were missing some papers from Martigny.

So, what we ended up doing was going to Etat Civil in Sion with the same papers as Martigny requested. My partner had to sign a document saying she approved of the name change, I had to sign a document saying I was the father. And the guy in the office issued the birth certificate with the name change on it there.

It was all rather painless and we were getting all stressed out for nothing...

Hi,

Does anyone know if you can choose to be subject to British naming law (for unmarried parents) if you are both British but the father has dual Swiss nationality? :s

xxx

Since the parents aren't married the Swiss father cannot pass on his nationality and the child will be British.
It should be no problem then for the child to have the British naming convention. The Swiss will want the name on his passport to coincide with what they register. It is a good idea to clear this up with the Gemeinde though and to ask them if they need any documents, for example a letter from the British consulate confirming the name the child will carry.

cheers and good luck