Change of first name, patronymic, last name is made by the registration authorities upon personal application of a person who has reached the age of sixteen and wishes to change his/her first name and (or) patronymic, last name.
Change of first name, patronymic, last name is made for the following valid reasons:
cacophony of first name, patronymic, last name;
difficulty in pronouncing first name, patronymic, last name;
desire of the spouse to have a common last name with his/her spouse, if during the state registration of marriage (matrimony) they retained their premarital last name or the spouse changed his/her last name to another after the state registration of marriage (matrimony);
desire to have a premarital last name, if this was not declared upon divorce;
desire to have a last name common with children from a previous marriage (matrimony);
desire to have a maiden name in the event of the death of a spouse;
desire to have a common surname with children in the event of the death of a spouse, and if the applicant had a maiden name;
desire to have a name and (or) surname corresponding to the nationality of one of the parents chosen by the applicant (if the parents are of different nationalities);
desire to have a name actually formed in life, different from the name in the documents;
desire to have a maiden name, if the spouse's surname was adopted upon entering into marriage (matrimony);
desire to have a surname based on the name of the father or grandfather according to national traditions;
desire to have a surname and (or) patronymic based on the surname and name of the person who actually raised the applicant;
desire to have a name, patronymic, surname corresponding to the chosen gender, in case of surgical gender reassignment.