# Do I need a German Namenserklärung for my child born in Australia when applying for a German passport?



## martinb2 (Oct 18, 2021)

Hi everyone!

I want to apply for a German passport for my child.

The situation is as follows:

I (father) am a German citizen by birth in Germany before 1999, but Australian permanent resident. No German residence and I do have a Abmeldebescheinigung
My wife (mother) is Australian citizen
Wife and I don't share the same last name, but child has my last name
Our child is Australian citizen by birth as well as German citizen by birth
My childs first name is a valid Australian name used for both boys and girls, so it does not directly specify the gender
The middle name is gendered

The website of the German embassy in Australia says


> Wichtige Information bei *ERSTPÄSSEN*: In manchen Konstellationen ist vor der Passbeantragung die Abgabe einer Namenserklärung nötig. Weitere Informationen dazu finden Sie hier:
> Namenserklärung


but the linked website does not really specify what constellations require a Namenserklärung.

Does anyone have information when I need a Namenserklärung and/or has gone through the same situation and could share how it was resolved?


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## martinb2 (Oct 18, 2021)

The thread was moved from the Australia forum to the German forum. I feel like that doesn't make sense, since the situation does not make sense if I was in Germany and/or I was an expat living in Germany.


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## ALKB (Jan 20, 2012)

martinb2 said:


> Hi everyone!
> 
> I want to apply for a German passport for my child.
> 
> ...


From what you have written here I don't think you'd need a Namenserklärung but it may come down to Australian naming law.

I married a non-EU national in Denmark and when we wanted to register our marriage certificate with the German authorities, we had to do a Namenserklärung even though it was specified on the Danish marriage certificate which family name we wanted to use after marriage.

Turns out, my husband's home country does not mandate hereditary family names. Many families, including my husband's, do have a common family name that everyone in the family uses but they could decide that the next child will be named completely different and in some families, everybody just has a different string of names without any names in common at all.

So we had to get somebody who could speak German and English and was not a family member (didn't have to be a professional translator) to come along with us to the Rathaus and translate for my husband the question which part of his name we wanted to use as our family name and then his answer that we wanted to use the part that was generally used as a family name. I was asked the same questions but obviously didn't need a translation. Then we signed a document declaring the same.

That was the Namenserklärung. Over in five minutes.


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## ALKB (Jan 20, 2012)

martinb2 said:


> The thread was moved from the Australia forum to the German forum. I feel like that doesn't make sense, since the situation does not make sense if I was in Germany and/or I was an expat living in Germany.


It does make sense as your question is about German law.

EDIT: By the way, I did not do the moving over, but I can see why the moderator did.


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## ALKB (Jan 20, 2012)

Check your situation here. Apparently you may have to do a Namenserklärung since you and your spouse do not share a family name:



https://www.germany.info/us-de/service/familienangelegenheiten/name-kind/1216876


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

I think what ALKB has said makes sense. Not sure if you'd find all that many folks in Australia (of any nationality) with real familiarity with the German naming laws. If you don't get an answer here that helps, we can always move it back over to the Australian forum in a couple of days.


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## *Sunshine* (Mar 13, 2016)

martinb2 said:


> The thread was moved from the Australia forum to the German forum. I feel like that doesn't make sense, since the situation does not make sense if I was in Germany and/or I was an expat living in Germany.


Actually the requirements are the same regardless of your location. Since you are a German citizen applying for German documents for your German child you must comply with German laws.

Since you and your wife don't share a last name you need either a Namenserklärung or you need to have the child's birth certificate nachbeurkundet.



§ 1617 BGB - Einzelnorm


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## martinb2 (Oct 18, 2021)

Thanks guys! Seems like because we're not having the same last name, we need to do a Namenserklaerung.

We might do a Geburtsanzeige just do get it all done in one go and for my child to have a birth certificate with German authorities.


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