Another attempt at Lithuanian Parliament to loosen name spelling regulations

According to current regulations, Lithuanian citizens of foreign decent have their names phonetically transcribed using only Lithuanian characters in all official documents.

Pursuant to the proposed bill, a person could choose whether to have his or her name literally transcribed using Latin characters in documents issued in Lithuania. A spouse with a Lithuanian surname would have the right to take his/her spouse's non-Lithuanian surname which would be spelled using Lithuanian characters or spelled originally using Latin characters.

Stankevičius and the Lithuanian government had previously proposed similar bills on the spelling of non-Lithuanian personal names in documents but the country's parliament voted them down.

The Seimas is currently debating a bill on the spelling of foreign names, put forward by nationalist MP Gintaras Songaila. He proposed allowing putting a Lithuanian citizen's name spelled using non-Lithuanian characters on a separate page in the passport.

Stankevičius believes that changes to name-spelling regulations are needed in response to the changed situation, Lithuania's membership in internationals organizations, as well as growing movement of people and migration.

Name spelling issue has been heatedly debated in connection to Lithuania's Polish national minority.