‘I never change my name, army head Song Wu I am.’—— Water Margin

Name is never a simple code. ‘Surname’ originates from objective inheritance. A simple surname is passed down from the same family line, carrying the respect and gratitude of the descendants to their ancestors, and the love and pride of the family, while ‘Name’ originates from subjective creation, reflecting the unique characteristics of each person and the ardent expectation of parents for their children. The name, is the unique mark of each of our citizens and a part of our personal dignity.

Recently, a baby in Gansu Province failed to get a birth certificate for half a year because of the unusual surname ‘Xi’ . The staff of Ganzhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital suggested the baby change his surname.

There is no doubt that the actions of the staff members are illegal. The General Principles of Civil Law clearly stipulate that citizens have the right of name, the right to decide, use and change their names in accordance with the provisions and it is forbidden for others to interfere, embezzle or counterfeit. The staff advised to change the name violates the baby's right to name as a citizen, so the question comes, since we have the right to name, can we named ourselves whatever we like?

In 2017, the supreme people's court issued a guiding case on the right to name. Zhang and Lv got a daughter and they wanted to named her ‘Yunyi Beiyan’. But while they went to register their daughter's household registration happily, they were rejected by the local police for the surname ‘Beiyan’ was illegal. Zhang and Lv sued and demanded the judgment of the behavior that the police station refused to register was illegal. Parents want to give their daughter a special name, there's nothing wrong with it. Why is it illegal?

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress has a special legislative interpretation of the right to name. The law stipulates that citizens should follow their father's or mother's surnames in principle. In any of the following circumstances, a surname may be chosen in addition to the surname of the father and the surname of the mother : (1)the surname of other direct relatives of the elders by blood; （2）the family name of the person who is to be supported by a person other than the legal person; （3）other legitimate reasons that do not violate public order and good customs. Citizens of ethnic minorities may choose a family name from their own cultural traditions and customs. Therefore, some children can choose not to follow their parents'surnames. For example, child who lives with grandmother can follow grandmother’s surname, also, child who is adopted can choose their adopter's surnames or there are other legitimate reasons for violating public order and good customs. But pay attention! Personal preferences are not legitimate reasons for legal support~

Undoubtedly, the court concluded that Zhang and Lv created surnames only based on their personal preferences and wishes, which were obviously arbitrary and inconsistent with traditional Chinese culture and ethics, and decided to reject the plaintiff's claim.

In fact, the forms of infringement of the right to name are various. Below, I want to discuss two typical disputes of the right to name with you~

One is the commercialization of the right of name. Because of the particularity of celebrity identity, their artistic names, pen names or real names not only bear the corresponding personalities and spiritual interests, but also have considerable property interests. If such a name symbol is registered and used as a trademark, it can quickly acquire great commercial value. Therefore, article 31 of the Trademark Law stipulates that the application for trademark registration shall not impair the existing prior rights of others.

US basketball legend Michael Jordan had fought a six-year name trademark war with Jordan Sports company to defend his right. The reason was that the Jordan Sports company first registered the trademark with Michael Jordan's name in China. Michael Jordan repeatedly advocated for rights and finally appealed to the Supreme Court. Eventually, the Jordan Sports company lost the lawsuit for infringement.

The significance of this case is that the Supreme Court has clarified a standard. When applying the provisions of Trademark Law about ‘shall not impair the existing prior rights of others’, natural persons want to claim the protection of the right to name should meet three conditions: first, the specific name is popular certainly in our country and is known by the relevant public; Second, the relevant public uses the specific name to refer to the natural person; Third, the specific name has established a stable correspondence with the natural person. For example, the word ‘Jordan’ in this case, as a basketball star Michael Jordan's name has been well known, and even many consumers misunderstand that Jordan Sports company is Jordan's brand, which is enough to constitute Jordan's first name protection. This case will have an important impact on the adjudication standards of similar cases in the future.

The second is the case of infringing the right to education by infringing the right to name. The most classic case is Yuling Qi, the first case of the Chinese Constitution. In 1990, the defendant Chen took the plaintiff Qi 's admission notice, Chen took the place of Qi to report to the Jinan Business School. He went along smoothly and after graduation, he was assigned to work in the local bank. The plaintiffs sued in 2001 in the local intermediate court.

In the second instance, Shandong Higher People's Court reported to the Supreme Court for explanation. The Supreme Court held that the defendant violated the plaintiff's basic right to education according to the constitution by means of infringing the right of name, and caused specific damage consequences, and should bear the corresponding civil liability. According to the discussion, Shandong Higher People's Court finally decided that the defendant should bear the tort liability and return his vested interests during the tort period（the salary he received in the name of Qi after deducting his necessary living expenses）and compensate for mental damage totalling about 100,000 yuan.

The right to name is the legal rights stipulated in the Tort Liability Law. If someone infringes the right of name of others, the infringer shall bear the tort liability of stopping the infringement, restoring reputation, eliminating influence, making an apology, paying compensation for losses and so on.

Name is our unique symbol. Citizen's attention and respect to names not only reflects blood relationship and kinship relationship, but also carries rich cultural traditions, ethics and humanistic feelings and it is the carrier and mirror of the centripetal force and cohesion of the Chinese nation. Love our names and protect our name rights, start from me!