Before the Vignal law, introduced in July 2022, you had to invoke a “legitimate reason” to change your last name.
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A popular approach. The possibility of changing one’s last name has been used by nearly 150,000 people since July 2022, according to a study published Thursday April 25 by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee). The Vignal law, in force for two years, facilitates the procedure for changing your last name. It allows you to substitute the name of your other parent or add the name of the second parent to the first, without having to justify yourself.
Between August 1, 2022 and December 31, 2023, 144,100 people have “changed name substantially”, by adding or deleting a name or substituting one name with another, reveals INSEE. This is three times more than the 44,000 recorded over a period of the same duration before the law came into force, i.e. between March 2021 and July 2022. Reported to a population of 68 million inhabitants , this figure nevertheless remains low, analyzed for AFP the author of the study Lionel Espinasse.
The Vignal law “responded to a request”
Before July 2022, it was necessary to invoke a “legitimate reason” to change your last name. For example, it could be a name that was difficult to bear, or a surname that was at risk of extinction. Since then, a simple form submitted to the town hall is sufficient, without having to justify. “The tripling shows that the law responded to a request. People were waiting and were able to satisfy their wish”according to Lionel Espinasse.
INSEE analyzed data from the national identification directory of natural persons, without being able to question people about their motivations. The study reveals that the approach was undertaken by relatively young people: half are between 18 and 29 years old, a quarter between 30 and 39 years old. More women (57%) than men have taken the step. In two thirds of cases, the person replaced the name of one parent with the name of the other. Some 30,700 people added a second name to the initial name.
