Alliance name
In Switzerland, an alliance name is a hyphenated double name of married people. It consists of the official surname of one of the spouses and the previous surname that their spouse had before the marriage or as a single person. For example, the Graubünden politician and former Swiss Federal Councilor Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf combined the family name Widmer, acquired through marriage, with her maiden name Schlumpf to create the alliance name Widmer-Schlumpf. Another example is the Geneva politician and former Swiss Federal Councilor Micheline Calmy-Rey . Alliance names are also worn by men, prominent examples of which are Federal Councilors Friedrich Frey-Herosé in the 19th century and Johann Schneider-Ammann in the 21st century.
If both spouses keep their respective family names when they get married, each can put the other's name after their own to form an alliance name.
According to federal court rulings, the alliance name is not an official name. Nevertheless, it may be used by one or both spouses as a second-order name in everyday legal dealings under customary law. The alliance name can be noted in the passport and on the identity card; this is expressly recognized in Art. 2, Paragraph 4 of the Identity Card Act and in Art. 14, Paragraph 1, 2nd sentence and Paragraph 6 of the associated ID Card Ordinance. Alliance names are also frequently used on gravestones and in obituaries.
See also
Web links
- Alliance name (Art. 4a, Paragraph 2) in the Ordinance of the FDJP on identity cards for Swiss citizens with a declaration and the provisions for entering the alliance name in identity cards
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Ordinance of the FDJP on identity cards for Swiss citizens, Art. 4a , Para. 2
- ↑ BGE 120 III 60 , E.2.a.
- ↑ BGE 110 II 99 ; Landlord / Aebi-Müller: The Personal Law of the Swiss Civil Code , 2005, p. 254, N 16.17.
