Switzerland mulls return of double-barrelled surnames

Most Swiss women take their husband's surname when they get married. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally

The Swiss government has declared itself in favour of reviving double-barrelled surnames, a practice that has been outlawed since 2013.  

Double-barrelled surnames used to be common in Switzerland but have not been permitted for a decade.  

The Federal Council has now backed a proposal that should make all possible name combinations possible: for example, Widmer Schmid, Schmid Widmer (with or without a hyphen), or just Widmer or Schmid.  

The proposal states that married couples should be free to choose what they call themselves, even if they don’t agree.  

In the relevant parliamentary commissions, parliamentarians have been pondering this name revolution for years.  

Now the government is also proposing a change to make choice of names easy and free in the future. Ingrid Ryser from the Federal Office of Justice says rigid rules currently make things unnecessarily complicated.  

Under the proposal, children would also be allowed double-barrelled surnames (i.e. the names of both parents), even if the parents are unmarried. 

But there is resistance from right-wing and centrist politicians. The Centre Party supports greater choice. “But it is also clear that families must decide in one direction or another,” said Centre Party President Philipp Bregy. “It cannot be the case that parents and children all have a different names.” 

The name change proposal has gone out for consultation among interested parties before a parliamentary vote.  

Many questions are still open: for example, what naming options are available to couples who bring a double name into their marriage.  

According to the Federal Statistical Office, almost three-quarters of all women currently take their husband’s name when they get married. 

How we work

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here. 

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to [e-mail].