Kyrgyzstan may change birth registration rules to allow children to have double surnames. A corresponding bill was submitted for public discussion on June 17. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
The initiators of the amendments are deputies of the Jogorku Kenesh Bolotbek Borbiev, Dastan Bekeshev, Seidek Atambaev and Yrysbek Atazhanov.
According to the document, parents will be able, by mutual agreement, to give the child a double surname by combining the father's and mother's surnames with a hyphen. The order can be chosen independently. For example, the surname may consist of two parts — first the mother's surname, then the father's, or vice versa.
At the same time, the authors of the initiative propose to establish a restriction: triple surnames will be prohibited. According to them, this is necessary so that surnames do not become too long and complex in subsequent generations.
Currently, Kyrgyz legislation does not allow assigning double surnames to children at birth registration. However, as the bill's developers note, more and more families want to preserve the surnames of both parents.
"The reason for preparing the amendments was a specific case. Deputy Dastan Bekeshev was approached by Elena Khan and the Titov family. They wanted to give their children the double surname Titov-Khan, but were refused. State authorities explained that the current law does not provide for such a possibility," the publication reports.
The authors of the bill also recall that the Family Code of Kyrgyzstan allows taking into account national traditions and wishes of citizens when choosing a surname. In their opinion, the new norms will help families preserve family history and reflect the child's origin on both parents' sides.
If the bill is adopted, the new rules will come into force ten days after its official publication. No additional budget expenditures are required for the implementation of the initiative, the deputies note.