Notification of a child's name

You must submit notification of your child’s surname or compound surname and forename/forenames within three months of the child’s birth so that the names can be entered into the Population Information System. Notification of the child’s native language must also be given on the same form. Please note that only one native language can be entered into the Population Information System.

You can give you child between one and four forenames. You cannot give your child a forename or a combination of forenames that may cause offence or harm or that is inappropriate as a forename.

he child’s forename must correspond to the established name practice. Girls must be given girls’ names and boys must be given boys’ names. Both girls and boys can be given gender-neutral names. The forename may not closely resemble a surname.

If you and the other parent of the child have a common surname or a common compound surname, it also will also become the surname of your common child.

If the child only has one parent when the details of the child are submitted, the child may only receive the surname of this parent. A child cannot be given the surname of a person whose parenthood has not been confirmed. After the parenthood has been confirmed, the child’s surname can be changed into the other parent’s surname or compound surname. The change application can be submitted to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency free of charge. The application for changing a child’s surname must be made by the child’s custodian or, if the child is in joint custody, by the custodians together.

If the parents have different surnames and they have joint custody of a common child, the child born later will receive the surname that his or her sibling already has.
When parents who are having their first common child have different surnames, they can choose the child’s surname from the following options:

• surname or compound surname of one of the parents
• one name in the compound surname of one of the parents
• a new compound surname based on the parents’ surnames.

The Digital and Population Data Services Agency or the parish will check whether the proposed names are in accordance with the law. If the parish has doubts about the legality of the name, it will refer the matter to the agency.

After the child’s names have been entered into the Population Information System, the child’s Kela card will be sent to you by mail and the information stored in the system will become available to different authorities.

Do the following

Send the form ‘Notification of a child’s personal details’ to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. You can send the form by post or as a scanned email attachment to any service location of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.

Use the secure mail of the agency to send the email so that your data remains encrypted. Select [email protected] as the recipient in the secure mail. You can find the addresses of the service locations via the link at the end of the page.

Frequently asked questions