Request was rejected

If there is no good reason, a new name is expensive

The 25-year-old FPÖ voter named Hazema wants a different name. However, a clerk at the BH Linz-Land is said to have denied her this wish. She would now have to pay a hefty total of 550 euros to change her name. The district governor explains why this is the case.

"If someone also happens to be called René Benko and wants to gain a foothold in the real estate business, then they won't have to pay any federal administrative fees and charges for their name change and the application won't cost more than EUR 14.30," explains Manfred Hageneder, District Governor of Linz-Land, explaining why there are two rates for a name change.

The change is only favorable if the previous name causes "unreasonable disadvantages in economic terms or in social relationships".

Hazema wanted a new name
If this is not the case, however, it can be quite expensive: the applicant has to fork out a hefty 550 euros for the so-called desired name change. This would also have been the case for a 25-year-old of Bosnian origin from Haid, who was given the name Hazema by her parents and, as an enthusiastic FPÖ voter, now absolutely wants to change it.

Common list of questions
Hazema contacted the "Krone" because she felt she had been treated badly by her caseworker at the Linz-Land BH. She is a migrant herself and, according to her boss Hageneder, had only gone through the usual list of questions with Hazema. Hageneder: "We actually have a liberal name law. Such changes are easier to make here than in other countries."

How often do people change their names? Exact figures are hard to come by. In the provincial capital, there were 144 citizens last year. On average, there are up to 1,300 name change requests in Vienna every year - just under 800 for surnames and 500 for first names.