I'm currently expecting a baby with my Swiss boyfriend. Since we're not married the child will, according to Swiss laws, automatically be given my surname. I would like the baby to have both our surnames with a hyphen between...does anyone know if it's possible to "double surnaming" your baby here in Switzerland? (I'm an EU citizen and have a B-permit if that makes any difference). Cheers!

I deeply regret to say that I think that it will not be possible. You ought to contact the authorities as there might be a way. I however would rather consider to take a first name which reflects the family of your boyfriend, be it himself, his father, his godfather or in case of a girl his mother, his godmother. And, whenever not really the usual way, I think that "middle-names" now are officially/legally allowed and that may be THE solution. That the family name of the father appears as the middle name. It in full writing may look curious to see something like Patrick Müller WILSON, but it in practice may become usually either Patrick M. Wilson, or Patrick Müller-W.

Our child was born in Zurich, has two surnames, we weren't married when he was born, don't remember any problems, but we are not Swiss so he isn't either, maybe it wasn't for them to decide?

Maybe they only impose that on Swiss citizens and since you were both from another country, they let you go by the rulesof your country maybe. Interesting.

I was under the impression that if one is a Swiss Citizen, you cannot change your surname ever.
I would be interested to know if this is true because I changed my surname legally through the courts in Englan but was told I could not change my name in Switzerland.

When you get the bumpf for your hospital trip, you get a green form to complete for the baby's details. I'm sure you can specify the surname the child has there.

Do note that double surnames in Switzerland have a different meaning - it's usually through marriage and the hyphen is used when the man's surname is at the end (IIRC).

So Mr Smith marrying Miss Jones could be
Mr Smith Jones
or
Mr Jones-Smith

You can always delay submitting the forms and talk to someone at the Zivilstandsamt where the birth will be registered. I'd delegate that

Ours is the other way round: -
Husband's surname-wife's maiden name
However, it was a L O N G time ago so things may have changed since then.

According to Swiss law on baby's names, you will only be able to give your baby your name if your not married.
However, when you legalize the baby's birth in your home country, you could try to get a birth certificate issued with both parents' names

I knew it was one way or the other - from some naming convention work that I did maybe back in the 90s....

As I don't know your nationality I would advise enquiring at your consulate or embassy as your nationality is your baby's nationality if you are officialy single. Maybe as the child is registered with them they make the rules? I know in the hospital they called my baby by my name but his documents are all in both names.

Could you give a short follow-up of what happened in your case? I joined the forum specially to have this kind of help.

It'd be nice to know. I'm facing the same situation: me, male, Brazilian citizen with permanent residence EU-visa (Portugal). My Swiss girlfriend is 6 months pregnant. We're not married.

Ps. This is a really important for us, once the culture where I come from (and half of this kids cultural background, thus) it sounds weird to have only one family name.

This will need verification, but the law changed this year so that the child of unmarried parents could take either parent's family name, but not both.

since i had similar situationnly the moethers surname for child.
he is german and I'm not swiss,and we are not married and child
was born in switzerland.and our child has my surname only.
another question that might fit in this thread:
i've had a problem with child's citizenship
maybe someone know's something about it? which nationality does a child become- if born in switzerland to parents that are foreigners with c permit ? does it get swiss nationality because it's born here?
i would like my child to have a usa passport, but since i've lived
in switzerland soooo long, i can't seem to get the usa passport for my child. does anyone know how to get the us passport
for a child born in switzerland to a usa parent that has lived out of states for many years ?

Children cannot become Swiss by being born in the country (even with a C permit). You can get a US report of birth abroad (the equivalent of a birth certificate) and apply for a US passport through the US Embassy in Bern or the Consular Agency in either Zürich or Geneva.

You must prove that you lived in the US for at least five years, two of which were after the age of 14. High school or college transcripts are sufficient for this.

Oh, and be prepared for all the people about to tell you not to declare US citizenchip for your child.

If you'd like your child to have both names, you could also give one as a middle name. I am married to a Swiss but didn't change my name (we were married under US law) and the "Familienname" is his last name. Our kids are Name1 Name2 MyName HisName with HisName being the official last name but all four names listed on their passports/birth certificates/etc.

Do you know if the option proposed by swiss_in_training is still possible according to the new 2013 name law?

You haven't said where the baby is going to be born? Is the baby going to be born in Switzerland or in Portugal?

I don't think there's anything to stop you doing that, as long as either your's or your partner's family name is the baby's official family name.

The baby is going to be born in Bern, CH. That is the problem. If it was in Portugal, we wouldn't have a problem. [off-topic: If it's a girl, we'll name her Mia! ]

Thanks, PaddyG!

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!! Can I be the madrinha?

Here is the link for Bern for the father to acknowledge paternity and about the names. (In French or German, change at the top) According to the link the baby takes the mother's name. If neither parents were Swiss a different naming convention could be choosen.

http://www.pom.be.ch/pom/fr/index/zi...erkennung.html

The only small hope would be that the changes in the new law on names might change this. I'm not sure if it does. Best would be to call the commune/canton officials to see.

Congrats!