Court rules out Scottish addition to Swiss surname
The castle was built in the 16th century and is a scheduled ancient monument.
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A Swiss court has rejected a demand by a citizen to add the name of a Scottish castle to her family name.
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swissinfo.ch with Keystone-SDA/ug
An appeals court in Zurich threw out the request for either “of Glenbuchat” or simply “GlenbuchatExternal link” to complement the surnames of the woman and her daughter. They both have dual Swiss-Russian nationality and live in Hong Kong.
The family reportedly bought the roofless castle in Aberdeenshire, eastern Scotland, and wanted to bring all its personal documents up to date.
Judges argued that it was not sufficient to claim that the affix had already been approved by the Russian and Chinese authorities. The Zurich courtExternal link also said it was not possible to have a nobility title under rules laid down in the Swiss constitution.
The request had already been rejected twice by the local authorities in Zurich and the cantonal justice department.
Name changes are possible under Swiss law but only if there are “good reasons”, notably if the current name comes with concrete disadvantages, and in case of a change in marital status.
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These are Switzerland’s most common surnames
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The controversy over employees at an insurance company call centre adopting fake Swiss names begged the question - which names might they use?
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You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.