(1) The child receives as its birth name the family name of the adoptive parent. The name affixed to the family name of the spouses or the life partnership name is not deemed to be the family name (section 1355 (4); section 3 (2) of the Act on Registered Life Partnerships (Lebenspartnerschaftsgesetz).
(2) If a married couple adopt a child or if a spouse adopts a child of the other spouse and if the spouses have no family name, they determine the birth name of the child, before the pronouncement of the adoption, by declaration to the family court; section 1617 (1) applies accordingly. Where the child has reached the age of five, the determination is effective only if the child agrees with the determination, before the pronouncement of the adoption, by declaration to the family court; section 1617c (1) sentence 2 applies accordingly.
(3) The family court may, on application by the adoptive parent, with the consent of the child to the pronouncement of the adoption
1. change the first name of the child or give the child one or several new first names, if this is conducive to the best interests of the child;
2. prepend or append the previous family name to the new family name of the child, if this is necessary for grave reasons for the best interests of the child.
Section 1746 subsection (1) sentences 2 and 3 and subsection (3) first half-sentence are to be applied accordingly.