Court reject family’s bid to change Russian-sounding surname

BERLIN (AP) — A court in Germany has rejected a married couple’s request to legally change their Russian-sounding surname. The couple had sought to force officials in the southwest German state of Rhineland Palatinate to authorize the change, claiming that they and their daughter had suffered in their daily lives since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The regional administrative court in Koblenz said Tuesday that judges dismissed the Germany-born couple’s request on the grounds that the reasons they had given weren’t sufficient. The couple can appeal the ruling. The court in Koblenz didn’t provide the couple’s surname in line with German privacy rules.