Man is first to take wife’s name
‘Philippe S.’ managed to change his name after a lot of difficulty in having his request taken seriously by mairies
A MAN from the Rhône-Alpes has become the first to legally change his surname to that of his wife.
This has been possible in French law for a year, but it is the first time someone has made use of it.
The 37-year-old, who was married in September, says he asked for help from different mairies in the Paris and Lyon areas and was turned down seven times before managing to persuade one to accept his request.
He told RTL: “They all said it wasn’t possible – their software didn’t let them allow a man to take his wife’s surname. It was just a case of ‘thank you and goodbye, it doesn’t tick the boxes’.”
They suggested he could join the two names together instead.
The man, referred to just as “Philippe S.”, finally had to print off articles from the Journal Officiel and show them to officials at the mairie (in Villeurbanne, near Lyon, where he lives) for him to be taken seriously.
Philippe S. is unemployed but previously worked as a sales manager. He comes from an Armenian family, which had taken a Turkish name so as to avoid persecution.
He said it had been a relief to be allowed to use his wife’s name.
“I feel really alive again. I see things differently. I don’t feel the same person any more. I felt I had to take that name so as to be able to really relish life instead of it crushing me.”
He told RTL his previous name had been a handicap in finding work. He said he had sent out around 30 CVs under his old name and had no interview offers but had now got one with a large French firm when he had applied for a job under the new, less foreign-sounding, name.
