Confirmation of gender

Submit your application for a change of forename either by using the online form or the downloadable form. Mention that you have a pending application for confirmation of gender at the same time.

We do not recommend that you submit your application in the electronic name change service since it charges the processing fee in advance when submitting the application.

1. Discuss the change of parenthood title with your family members in advance, even though it does not require their consent. 

Please also note that, even if the parenthood title is changed, the original information on the legal family status of the child and parent remains unchanged. 

2. Use our online form to submit your application. 

For use of the online form, you will need online banking codes or a mobile certificate. 

Online form (in Finnish and Swedish)

Are you unable to handle your matter online?

Contact us by calling our national service number +358 295 536 220. We serve on weekdays 9-15.

3. You will receive a decision on the matter.

If your gender has previously been confirmed, we will change your parenthood title to match your confirmed gender. 

If you have applied to change your parenthood title at the same time as you confirm your gender, we will decide upon your applications at the same time. 

We will notify the guardians of an underage child about the change of parenthood title. 

The report is free-form. The most important thing is that you write it yourself and that it indicates that you permanently feel that you belong to the gender that will be confirmed.

No, it cannot. It is possible to enter woman or man as one’s gender in the Population Information System.

As a rule, a confirmed gender is considered a person's gender when applying legislation such as the Conscription Act. The person's conscription is determined by the confirmed gender.

We will tell you more about the impact in the information packet we send you when you submit your application. You can also find an information package at the end of this page. 

The person who gave birth to the child is always the child's mother regardless of their legal gender. The parenthood of the other parent depends on the parent’s legal gender and whether the parents are married to each other.

Provisions on the determination of parenthood are laid down in the parenthood act (775/2022).

The mother is married to a man

If the mother's spouse is a man of their legal gender when the child is born, they are automatically the child's father.

The mother is married to a woman

If the mother's spouse is a woman of their legal gender when the child is born, they are not automatically the child's second mother. Instead, they must acknowledge their parenthood and we will confirm it if the spouses have received fertility treatment together and no father is identified or confirmed for the child.

If the mother’s spouse is a person assigned male at birth who has impregnated the mother, they will be confirmed as the father even if their legal gender is female.

The mother and the father are not married

If the mother and the child's father are not married when the child is born, paternity is confirmed by a decision of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency or a court of law. The father of the child is then regardless of their legal gender:

• the person who has impregnated the mother or

• the person whose sperm has been used for maternal fertilisation other than by impregnating and the child was born as a result of this (e.g. by a so-called home insemination). 

The child is born through fertility treatment

If the child is born through fertility treatment, parenthood is determined by the parent's legal gender when they have consented to fertility treatment:

• If the parent's legal gender was male, they become the child's father.

• If the parent's legal gender was a woman, they become the child's mother.

An exception to this is, however, a situation in which the treatment has been given to a female couple or only to the mother who gave birth to the child, and the person whose sperm has been used in the treatment has agreed to confirm paternity. In this case, the person whose sperm has been used for treatment is confirmed as the child's father, regardless of their legal gender at the time of consent.

Maternity or paternity recorded in the Population Information System does not change when the child's parent confirms their gender. This is legal family status information that cannot be changed. However, a parent whose gender has been confirmed can apply to change their parenthood title.

Parenthood title means the information recorded in the Population Information System on whether the parent is the father or mother of the child. You can apply for a change of parenthood title at the time of or after confirming your gender. 

Note the following: 

• Even if the parenthood title changes, the original information on the legal family status of the child and parent will not change. For example, if a parent is the father of a child under the Parenthood Act, this information remains in the Population Information System, even if the parenthood title changes from father to mother. This information is, however, less visible in the Population Information System than the parenthood title. 
• At the same time, we will also update the new parenthood title in the child's guardianship information in the Population Information System.
• Changing the parenthood title should be discussed with family members beforehand, even though it does not require their consent. According to the law, the guardian must inform the child about decisions concerning the child and other matters affecting the child's life in a manner appropriate to the child's age and level of development. 
• The Digital and Population Data Services Agency will notify the guardians of underage children of the change of parenthood title.

If you are married or in a registered partnership at the time of confirmation, your form of partnership remains unchanged.

We will notify your spouse of the confirmation of your gender.

You can submit a new application to confirm gender at the earliest once one year has passed since the previous confirmation of gender. However, you can submit a new application to confirm gender for a particularly weighty reason before the end of the one-year period.

Your original personal identity code cannot be returned even if you return to your gender specified at birth. Instead, you will receive a new personal identity code.