Right to a name - between national constitution and the ECHR

ENThe great majority of the human rights international treaties refrain from addressing directly right to a name. If the treaty includes such a right, usually it is the right to have "a" name, not the right to a particular name, which would reflect cultural or linguistic identity. For instance, the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Article 7 states that the child “shall have the right from birth to a name”. However, the Convention does not specify how the name should be determined. This remains for the national regulations, which differ substantially in this regard. Therefore, it will be the national laws that would regulate such questions as acquiring and changing names, their spelling, length and composition. For instance, national laws would decide whether the names can contain characters unknown to the national language, if a noble title could be a part of the name or if the name could consist of more than one part. The importance of a name, particularly in civil law countries, cannot be overestimated. The national rules regarding names are often subject to various restrictions and requirements. Some of those rules have a constitutional value.