German parliament approves plans to relax strict restrictions on family names

BERLIN (AP) — The German parliament has approved plans to relax strict restrictions on family names — clearing the way, among other things, for couples to take double-barreled surnames and pass them on to their children. The reform of Germany’s rigid rules is due to take effect at the beginning of May 2025 after it cleared its final legislative hurdle Friday with approval by parliament’s upper house. The change is one of several social reform projects that Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s socially liberal three-party governing coalition promised to enact when it took office in December 2021. As it stands, parents are required to give their children one of their surnames, and one partner in a married couple — but not both — can add the other partner’s name to his or her surname.