2.10 Change of Surname

Voluntary change: the Code permits a person who has acquired a surname to change it by publishing a public notice — the fifteen-day notice system inviting objections, then the change effective (the anti-fraud design: creditors and records protected); On divorce: the divorced wife may revert to her maiden surname (or retain the former husband's surname with his consent, per the Code's design); The child's surname change: by the parents' joint act, with the child's welfare controlling; Procedure's importance: the changed surname must then propagate — citizenship certificate, passport, land records (the administrative trail; unrecorded changes create the identity litigation of practice).