The bill by LREM deputy Patrick Vignal "relating to the choice of the name resulting from parentage" was adopted at first reading overnight from Wednesday to Thursday by 49 votes to 5 and 2 abstentions.
Until now, the change of name was possible in certain cases due to a ridiculous or discredited sounding name, for the purposes of Frenchifying a foreign name or to prevent the extinction of a surname.
In the same way, the so-called “emotional” reasons for those wishing to give up the name of a violent, incestuous, absent parent or any other personal reason were subject to the same procedures.
Each time, these procedures were long, costly, random and often unsuccessful.
This short text of four articles touches through the name and its transmission to a foundation of civil status and individual identity.
This law "of freedom" will give "a choice without imposing it" and "will make it possible to put an end to suffering, to appease families", pleaded Patrick Vignal.
For the Keeper of the Seals Éric Dupond-Moretti, this reform will make it possible to respond “to those people who support their name more than they wear it.
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A simple request at the town hall
In detail, this text provides for a simplification of the procedure for making this name change once in a lifetime.
Any adult could ask to take, or add, the name of his other parent.
This process would be done via a simple request at the town hall, without having to justify yourself.
However, not everything would be permitted.
“The simplified procedure does not allow choosing a fanciful name.
She lives in a family setting,” adds Patrick Vignal.
Another provision of the text aims to make life easier for parents whose children bear only the name of the other parent.
Frequent situations, mainly for women (often after a divorce) forced to use the family record book to prove their link with their children in the event of school, administrative, medical procedures, etc.
Sometimes grotesque hassles which “pollute the lives of many French men and women”, underlined Camille Galliard-Minier (LREM).
To get out of it, this text makes it easier for children to wear, in addition to the family name given at birth, the name of the other parent as a “customary name”.
This development was desired by the “Porte mon nom” collective.
Its founder Marine Gatineau-Dupré, present in the stands of the Palais Bourbon, speaks of a "common sense" measure against "small suffering" on a daily basis.
"You don't change your name for fun, because it's fun"
The debates around this text were marked by the personal testimony of MP Aina Kuric (Agir group, majority). “I am the victim of an incestuous father (…) and I no longer wish to bear the name of my executioner. I want to wear that of the woman who made me, and it's my mother, ”she said, describing the current complex steps to achieve this. And to add: “We don't change our name for fun, because it's fun. »
The left and center right oppositions gave their support to this proposal "which accompanies changes and demands" from civil society according to Marietta Karamanli, (PS), and "goes in the right direction" for Michel Zumkeller, (UDI ).
Conversely, on the right and on the far right, some have denounced, like Marc Le Fur (LR), a drift towards an "à la carte civil status, at the risk of weakening the very notion of filiation .
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This text must now be examined in the Senate on February 15, with a view to final adoption before the end of the legislature and entry into force in July.