Anglicizing last name (for life in Finland)

[Rip]

Besides, why do you have to change your name officially? You can always mock up a Finnish friendly nick name and live with it perfectly. How often you passport is checked here? If a police officer asks your name you give it to him , as it is written in your documents. If a person who you may work with asks your name give him your nick name...as easy as that

I'd say no. First name, OK, but, ignoring singers and a like, the idea that somebody is living with different last name than what is officially his feels badly fake and basically here would be creating a real problem instead of a more imaginary one.

[Honest]

Not an answer to the OP's concerns but in every day life the best option is to tell your real name once and then give the people you are going to interact with an alternative name which is easier to pronounce and also acceptable to you.

[cors187]

lol, i always thought mugatu was an out of contxt name.

[timmypeko]

Thanks for all the suggestions and replies so far!

Yes, you are correct in saying I'm not a citizen yet. As such, any name change I do would come from my home country and then just get registered at Maistraatti. I do not have any legal issues with changing my name, and procuring formal legal protections is not what I'm looking for either, so that's not an issue.

A lot of the posters suggested simplifying my name rather than anglicizing it. To me, that seems like being exceedingly unfaithful to my family name and heritage. My name means what it means (little smith, smith's son) and is very distinctly found only in two Slavic countries in the world. If I simplified it down to Kovac, or something like that, I would essentially be conflating myself with the most common and universal Slavic last name in existence. That, at least to me, would feel more like giving up my last name rather than translating it.

I could theoretically take the last name of my wife, but her last name is rather well known in Finland due to her parents being politically exposed, so I wouldn't want to be accused of stealing the benefit of the name. Also, I am a guy and both me and my wife come from environments which have a more traditional view of partnerships, so me giving up my name would generally be frowned upon by both my in-laws and relatives back home.

Taking a Swedish equivalent (Smedson, I suppose?) or even a Russian equivalent (Kuzniecov) which is much easier to pronounce for Finns than my original name would be other enticing options, yes. I do have the same reservations as I would for the Finnish last name, though. I am neither Swedish nor Russian, nor am I fluent in the respective languages. At least English is something I identify with. If anything, I would change it to the Russian version. I'm afraid though that being Russian in Finland doesn't really carry that many positive social implications....

As for whether it matters or not, well, to me, on a day-to-day basis, it does seem to matter. People don't remember my name, they can't pronounce it, they give me funny looks when they see my papers, etc. As for there being no preconceptions in natural sciences, well, I wish that there were none, but apparently there are. Given the choice between Finnish candidates and foreign candidates, people here usually give the Finnish people a leg up in job applications, research grants etc. I have seen some people from the UK land some very prestigious research and academic positions, but I haven't seen a single person from Africa, South Europe or similar climb to the top in my field, or natural sciences in general here. In IT it's a bit different, I believe the current head of Microsoft's division here in Finland is Serbian, but that's as far as my knowledge goes.

[biscayne]

so, is your name Kovacjevic or Kovacovic? with the "stresek" or "hacek" of course. why not just get married and then you can be Virtanen or whatever..........men can take wives names too....

[biscayne]

ah sorry, missed that, you are married

[Bavarian]

Besides, why do you have to change your name officially? You can always mock up a Finnish friendly nick name and live with it perfectly. How often you passport is checked here? If a police officer asks your name you give it to him , as it is written in your documents. If a person who you may work with asks your name give him your nick name...as easy as that

I'd say no. First name, OK, but, ignoring singers and a like, the idea that somebody is living with different last name than what is officially his feels badly fake and basically here would be creating a real problem instead of a more imaginary one.

There is one big exception to this: women who advance in the professional world before they get married and take either their husband's name or a hyphenated name.

When I was growing up, one of my best friends had a mother who was a ballet teacher. Her legal name was Mrs. S****, but since she had been doing ballet since her youth it was the [Maiden Name] School of Ballet. I finally got the chance to ask her about it once I was an adult, and she said the only people who called her Mrs. S**** were her son's friends and the telephone company.

[Rip]

I'd say no. First name, OK, but, ignoring singers and a like, the idea that somebody is living with different last name than what is officially his feels badly fake and basically here would be creating a real problem instead of a more imaginary one.

There is one big exception to this: women who advance in the professional world before they get married and take either their husband's name or a hyphenated name.

When I was growing up, one of my best friends had a mother who was a ballet teacher. Her legal name was Mrs. S****, but since she had been doing ballet since her youth it was the [Maiden Name] School of Ballet. I finally got the chance to ask her about it once I was an adult, and she said the only people who called her Mrs. S**** were her son's friends and the telephone company.

I'd think in Finland the simple and in practice taken option would be to keep the original name also officially. (Some decades ago there was time when this wasn't a leagl option, and what you say makes sense as such)

[Rip]

Given the choice between Finnish candidates and foreign candidates, people here usually give the Finnish people a leg up in job applications, research grants etc. I have seen some people from the UK land some very prestigious research and academic positions, but I haven't seen a single person from Africa, South Europe or similar climb to the top in my field, or natural sciences in general here. In IT it's a bit different, I believe the current head of Microsoft's division here in Finland is Serbian, but that's as far as my knowledge goes.

If somebody that is considering hiring or promoting you has problem with your (ethnic) background , he'll see it from your CV anyway, right?

[Pursuivant]

so, is your name Kovacjevic or Kovacovic? with the "stresek" or "hacek" of course..

We had a girl in school that had a Polish surname. She was just Minna K...

Now its not that difficult, try spell Ben Zys... Ummm... Sano Zysse vaan....

[Pursuivant]

Just change it to "Kovanen"

[Bavarian]

so, is your name Kovacjevic or Kovacovic? with the "stresek" or "hacek" of course..

We had a girl in school that had a Polish surname. She was just Minna K...

Now its not that difficult, try spell Ben Zys... Ummm... Sano Zysse vaan....

No more difficult than Väyrynen.

[Pursuivant]

Just remember back in the day reading of a Finnish guy who had moved to the UK and was driving a red London bus. He was also slightly perturbed about people having problems with his surname being "difficult" to pronounce and write with ä, so he'd changed it to "Mac Inen"

[Hippo]

Echoing some of what has already been said, an exclusively Finnish name on an obvious non-Finn would look weird. That said, I say go for a name that is universal and ancient (familiar to anyone and everyone), so it wouldn't call for many questions. Like a variant of Jacob. Or Alexander.

I myself have an unpronounceable, unspellable and consequently unmemorizable name, so I've given this topic some thought.

[onkko]

so, is your name Kovacjevic or Kovacovic? with the "stresek" or "hacek" of course..

We had a girl in school that had a Polish surname. She was just Minna K...

Now its not that difficult, try spell Ben Zys... Ummm... Sano Zysse vaan....

No more difficult than Väyrynen.

http://hikipedia.info/wiki/Kuinka_monel ... 3%A4rin%3F