Commentary to article 15. Name of the citizen The Civil Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan  

A person's name is a means of his individualization in communication with other people. A person's name is important for specifying, registering, and protecting their rights and responsibilities.

The law applies the term "name" in the broadest sense of the word, meaning the full name of a person, i.e. the unity of the surname, the actual name, as well as the patronymic, when it is available to a citizen.  

Only the name officially assigned to a person, recorded in the documents provided for by law (birth certificate, identity card, passport), has legal significance.  

Initially, a person's name is assigned in accordance with the procedure established by family law, after the birth of a person, who is registered in the books of registration of acts of civil status with the recording of the name of the newborn, which is also indicated on the birth certificate. The right to a name is a personal human right.  

As a rule, a citizen acquires and exercises rights and implements duties under his own name. The acquisition of rights and obligations under a false name is not allowed (paragraph 7 of the commented article). Transactions concluded under a false name that do not comply with the law are invalid (art. 158 of the Civil Code). However, in some cases, rights and obligations may be acquired and exercised anonymously or using a pseudonym (fictitious name). For example, most purchase and sale transactions, if they are carried out verbally, which does not require recording the name of the persons concluding the transaction, are carried out anonymously. Legislation may provide for special rules for the anonymous or pseudonymous exercise of rights and the acquisition of duties. For example, the author has the right to publish his work under a pseudonym or anonymously (subparagraph 2 of paragraph 1 of Article 15 of the Copyright Law).

A citizen has the right to change his name only in accordance with the procedure established by legislative acts. A name change takes place either in accordance with the general procedure established by Article 175 of the KBS, or in accordance with the procedure established by law for individual cases.

According to the general procedure, a change in the surname, first name, patronymic of a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan is allowed only upon reaching the age of sixteen. This change and its registration are carried out by the civil registration authorities at the applicant's place of residence with the permission of the regional and equivalent justice departments.  

Petitions for a change of surname, first name, patronymic are considered in accordance with the procedure established by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan. On September 26, 1996, the Government approved the Regulation on the procedure for considering applications for citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan to change their surnames, first names and patronymics. This Provision stipulates that permits to change surnames, first names, and patronymics are issued by the territorial judicial authorities only in cases where there are valid reasons for this. These reasons can be diverse, for example, family name inconsistency.  

The refusal to change the surname, first name, patronymic may be appealed to the court within the time limits established by legislative acts.  

Special cases of name change are also provided for by family law. They primarily relate to family name changes during marriage and divorce. According to Article 18 of the Code of Civil Procedure, at the conclusion of marriage, the spouses, at will, choose the surname of one of the spouses as their common surname, or each of the spouses retains his premarital surname.  

In case of divorce, the spouse who changed his surname upon marriage has the right to be referred to by this surname after the dissolution of the marriage or, at his request, when registering the dissolution of the marriage by the civil registry offices, he is assigned a premarital surname (art. 41 of the KBS).  

Spouses can use the right to choose their last name only when registering a marriage or divorce. Changing one's own name and patronymic is not allowed.  

There are special rules in family law regarding the last names of children and adopted persons. If the parents share a common surname, then this surname is also established for the children. If the parents do not share a common surname, the children's surname is established by agreement of the parents. Disagreements between parents in this case are resolved by the guardianship and guardianship authorities (art.59 of the KBS). It should be recognized that the dispute over the children's last names in this case, in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 13 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, can be resolved by the court.  

The procedure for determining the name, patronymic and surname of an adopted child is established by art. 106 of the KBS. The child's name is usually saved in this case. It can be changed only with the consent of the authority authorizing the adoption. At the request of the adoptive parent, the adopted child is assigned his surname and patronymic according to his first name. When a child is adopted by a woman, the adopted person's patronymic is assigned at her direction.  

It is not allowed to assign a new name, patronymic and surname to adopted children who have reached the age of 10 without their consent.  

A change in the spelling of surnames and patronymics of persons of Kazakh nationality should be distinguished from a name change. In accordance with the Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated April 24, 1996 "On the procedure for resolving issues related to the spelling of surnames and patronymics of persons of Kazakh nationality", these persons, at their request, have the right to change the spelling of their surnames and patronymics with the exception of affixes unusual in the Kazakh language, but preserving the root bases of surnames and patronymics. At the same time, the endings "uly" or "kyzy" are added to the father's name when writing the patronymic, depending on the gender of the person.

The spelling of surnames and patronymics is changed in a simplified manner by the internal affairs bodies when issuing passports and identity cards without making changes to the civil status records.  

A name change, as well as a change in the spelling of names and patronymics, does not terminate or change the rights and obligations of a person acquired under the former name, anonymously or under a pseudonym.

Changing or changing the spelling of a citizen's name should not affect the interests of his creditors and debtors. Therefore, a citizen is obliged to notify these persons in a timely manner about a change or a change in the spelling of the name and bears the risk of consequences caused by the lack of information from creditors and debtors about such a change.

In accordance with paragraph 6 of the commented article, a citizen who has changed his name has the right to request that appropriate changes be made to documents issued in his former name. Such documents, in particular, include documents confirming his rights, constituent, financial and other documents. Article 15 of the Civil Code does not specify at whose expense the changes in the documents are being made. In the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (paragraph 2 of Article 19), there is an indication that changes to a citizen's documents related to a change in his name are made at the expense of the citizen. A similar rule, although not included in the Civil Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, applies to cases of changing or changing the spelling of the name of citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan, unless otherwise provided by law.

A name change or a change in its spelling occurs on the initiative and in the interests of the person who changed the name. Therefore, he must bear the costs associated with such a change.  

The name of a citizen may be used by other persons only with his consent. Paragraph 9 of the commented article defines the legal consequences of the misuse of his name. Protection of both property and non-property rights can be applied here.

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The commentary was prepared within the framework of the scientific and practical research program of the Scientific Research Center of Private Law of the Kazakh State Law University.  

Head of the working group on the preparation of the draft Civil Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Professor Suleimenov M.K.

Deputy head Professor Basin Yu.G.