Abstract
The paper presents an analysis of contemporary problems in the field of legal regulation of names (surnames) of women and of other family members. The inconspicuous but ubiquitous legal and gender problem of the fair legal regulation of name and of fair practice in this field has been an object of recurrent considerations (historically reaching back to Olympe de Gouges).
Over the last hundred years, starting with the post-WW1 feminism and with the Soviet reforms of family law in the 1920s, the legal regulation of name has undergone very slow but profound changes, leading from the obligatory change of surname of a woman to surname of a husband to more liberal concepts. On the other hand, in many countries legislation has been created (or preserved) in conjunction with the legal regulation of the child's surname so as to demotivate women to benefit from more liberal provisions.
The paper compares legal regulations mainly in the countries of continental Europe. On the basis of his analysis, the author proposes that introduction of new legal models of regulation of child's name might be essential for the use of legal regulation of women's names and makes some alternative proposals in this regard.
The paper also examines the role of the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women for legal regulation of name, which has not yet been fully appreciated. The paper also notes the special problems related to name in some languages having special suffixes for the names of women.
Like the inhabitants of the ancient town of Gordium observing their knot, we may dream that the observed problems have their solution(s).