Tight rules on German surnames set to be relaxed

A family walks through the fields in the village of Gaiberg, near Heidelberg (Daniel Roland/AP)

Germany’s justice minister has launched plans to relax the country’s strict restrictions on family names — for example allowing couples to take double-barrelled surnames and pass them on to their children.

The current system “is about as up-to-date as a coal stove and as flexible as concrete”, Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said in a statement as he published the draft legislation.