In 2021, 975 people changed their family name in Belgium, data from the Federal Public Justice Service showed on Thursday. This is slightly more than in 2020, when 968 citizens initiated this type of procedure. Many others have also changed their first names last year.
Last year there were 1,524 change requests made to the Last Name Change service, an increase of 374 units or 32% from the previous year.
A total of 753 name change requests were granted by Royal Decree. These requests concerned 975 people. In some cases, the request applies to several members of the same family, whose requests are then grouped together in a single file, explains the FPS Justice.
In addition, more Belgians have changed their first name. In 2021, there were 4,846 acts of change of first name, of which 3,332 were in Flanders, 923 in Wallonia and 591 in Brussels.
►►► To read : Here are the most popular names of the last 25 years
The FPS Justice describes as “complex“the interpretation of these data. The establishment of an act of change of first name is indeed not necessarily the result of a request to a municipality. It can also result from an adoption or a correction an error or concern a foreign person.
Since August 1, 2018, the procedure for changing the first name (s) has been fully transferred to the municipalities. If the registrar has no objection, you can – in principle – immediately obtain a new first name. Previously, you had to go to the FPS Justice, where waiting times might reach up to a year and a half.
