The name, after marriage
No woman has ever changed her name by marrying, in French law. What she acquires is something else, and the distinction has very concrete consequences.
Family name and name in use
The family name is the one recorded in the civil register. It is assigned at birth and changes only at the end of a procedure. Marriage does not alter it, for either spouse.
What marriage opens is a right of use: each spouse may use the other's name, add it to their own in whichever order they wish, or not use it at all. That choice is free, reversible, and it does not amount to a change of identity.
A reciprocal and little-known right
The rule applies to both spouses. A man may bear his wife's name as a name in use on exactly the same conditions, something social custom has made rare but which the law has never prevented.
The name in use appears on the identity card, the passport and most administrative documents, alongside the family name and not in its place. Documents in fact carry both entries, which few people notice.
After a divorce
The use ceases in principle with the marriage. Each loses the right to use the other's name, unless the former spouse agrees or a judge authorises it on the basis of a particular interest, notably professional or linked to the children.
In the case of widowhood, by contrast, the right is retained. The difference is surprising; it is explained by the fact that the marriage was not dissolved by the spouses' will.
Children's names
Since the reform applicable in 2005, parents choose: the father's name, the mother's, or both joined in whatever order they wish. Failing a joint declaration, the child takes the name of the parent in respect of whom filiation is established first, and the father's if it is established simultaneously.
The name chosen for the first child applies to subsequent children born to the same parents, a rule intended to prevent siblings from bearing different names.
Actually changing your name
The Act of 2 March 2022 created a simplified procedure: any adult may, once in their life, take the name of the parent that was not passed on to them, add it to their own or reverse the order of the two, by simple declaration to the civil registrar.
Before this act, it required an application to the Minister of Justice, a legitimate reason, publication in the Official Journal and several years. What was a matter of authorisation has become a right, for that specific case. Other changes of name still fall under the old procedure.
Key points
Marriage alters no family name: it opens a right of use, free, reversible and reciprocal.
After a divorce, the use ceases in principle, unless the former spouse agrees or a judge authorises it; it is retained in the case of widowhood.
Since 2022, any adult may once in their life take their other parent's name by simple declaration at the town hall.
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