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The French law of surnames: a study in rights of property, personality and privacy

In an earlier paper, we had occasion to examine the French and English law of forenames. Possibly to his surprise, the English lawyer will have discovered that, certain minor reforms apart, legislation of the Revolutionary era still governs this aspect of French life, purportedly restricting the forenames a person may bear, and, after registration of birth, all but forbidding their subsequent modification or substitution. Such a position contrasts dramatically with the received wisdom of English law, where forenames can be freely acquired and abandoned by use and reputation, the French rigidity of outlook being utterly alien to an English lawyer’s relativist attitude in the matter.