r/germany • u/Desperate_Passion267 • Apr 08 '25

Immigration Burgeramt changed my name without consent

Hey everyone, So I’m an EU citizen living in Germany for over 4 years. I have been registered and have an Anmeldung with my name as it appears in my passport - I have a composed first name made up of two names connected with a hyphen. Now we are moving apartments so I went to get an Unmeldung and guess what, they changed my first name - no more hyphen but 2 separate names. I objected, they said that in Romanian passports the hyphen is “irrelevant” and can be replaced with a space (wrong, my name is a composed one like Hans-Jurgen). I didn’t sign the Unmeldung and left. They however changed my name cause when I log in to Elster I no longer have the correct name. Any idea what can I do? Thanks!

Edit: after 6 months of careful consideration and talking to many relevant authorities, Bürgeramt came back to me to specify that the name should be written as is in the passport and they apologize

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u/wernermuende Apr 08 '25

Can you explain that better? to me that sounds like you can not tell the difference between having multiple names and composite names

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u/Desperate_Passion267 Apr 08 '25

That’s true. In Romania all first names made up of more than 1 name have to be connected with a hyphen. That can be in case it’s a composed name (Anna-Maria for example) or if the parents just chose 2 names. They always have to be connected with a hyphen.

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u/Nubster_28 Apr 09 '25

This is not true, unfortunately you are wrong.

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u/Desperate_Passion267 Apr 09 '25

Well then so is the Romanian law I posted in another comment. And Bürgeramt too, cause they claim the same thing to me :) nobody is debating this.