Registering a Foreign Name Change in Türkiye

A Turkish citizen who also holds another nationality may carry a different name in the foreign register, for example a name chosen on naturalisation or a surname taken on marriage. Turkish law does not transfer such changes automatically; it sets conditions and, for some corrections, requires a court decision.

Dual citizens

A Turkish citizen who acquires another nationality notifies the civil registry office or a Turkish mission with a form petition. The civil registry office compares the name, surname, date of birth and sex in the Turkish record with the identity details on the documents of the other citizenship, and rejects the request if they differ. If an official document shows that a foreign name and surname were chosen when the foreign citizenship was acquired, that foreign name and surname are also entered in the person's Turkish record.

Civil status changes made under the other nationality are registered only on conditions: a written request by the person or their representative, an event that complies with Turkish law, and an annotation of dual citizenship in the record. Events of dual citizens who never made the notification are not entered.

Married surnames and corrections

A woman who wants to use her previous surname together with her husband's can request this in writing from the marriage officer at the wedding or later from the civil registry office, also by e-application. Where a foreign marriage certificate lacks identity details of the foreign spouse or contains an error arising from translation, the General Directorate completes or corrects the record on the basis of the duly certified original from the foreign authorities and a notarised Turkish translation.

Beyond that, no entry in the family register can be corrected without a final court judgment. If a man's surname is corrected by court order, the correction extends to his wife and minor children; a corrected first name is also changed in the children's records as the parent's name.

We prepare notarised Turkish translations in Ankara through translators sworn before a Turkish notary. The civil registry office decides on the entry.