{"id":130668,"date":"2025-05-09T11:09:34","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T11:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/would-change-one-letter-in-by-the-name-it-was-not-so-easy-news-kveeni\/"},"modified":"2025-05-09T11:09:36","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T11:09:36","slug":"would-change-one-letter-in-by-the-name-it-was-not-so-easy-news-kveeni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/would-change-one-letter-in-by-the-name-it-was-not-so-easy-news-kveeni\/","title":{"rendered":"Would change one letter in by the name – it was not so easy – news kveeni"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The case summarized: Reidar Harju wanted to change his last name from “Harjo” to “Harju”, the correct Finnish\/Kven way of writing, but met opposition from the Tax Administration. The Name Act, which regulates what names in Norway can use, can be a challenge for those who want to take back Finnish family names, especially if the name is a protected surname (a name with which 200 or fewer people are registered in Norway). The Storting has decided to consider changes in the Name Act to make it easier for descendants to take back old family names. The Ministry of Justice and Emergency Management will return to the Storting on the work on the Name Act. – I was visiting some relatives in Finland. They wondered why I didn’t spell Harjo with U. that was the right way, they said. That’s what Reidar Harju says. He wanted to correct and change the last name, so it was written in the Finnish way. But the process was not as easy as he had imagined. – I submitted an application to change my last name. I thought it was going to go well. – It’s the same last name, just written incorrectly. But it wasn’t that easy, says Harju. It is the Tax Administration that processes applications for name change. They treated “Harjo” and “Harju” as two different names. In a letter to Harju, they wrote: “When the way of writing and pronunciation of the surname Harjo and Harju is different, this must be treated as two surnames.” Photo: B\u00e5rd Nafstad \/ news They also indicate that Harju is a protected surname. They therefore asked for documentation that he has a connection to the last name or ask 13 strangers for consent for him to take the last name. There were 13 people registered with the surname Harju in Norway in 2019, according to the agency. Reidar Harju believes it must be easier for Kven to take back their old family names. Photo: B\u00e5rd Nafstad \/ news The biggest challenge the Name Act regulates what names in Norway can use. This put some restrictions on what names people can take. Gunnar Eriksen is a professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Troms\u00f8. He says that the biggest obstacle to taking back Finnish place names is section 3 of the Name Act, which is about protected surnames. Whether there are 200, or fewer, people who have a surname, it is considered a protected surname, according to the Name Act. To use such a surname, you have two options, according to Eriksen. You must either be able to document that your family has used the name or obtain the consent of everyone registered with the name in Norway. Professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Troms\u00f8, Gunnar Eriksen. Photo: Simen Wingstad \/ news – You can document this, among other things, through regular genealogy or, for example, church books, he says. Harju finally found the baptismal register in Kemij\u00e4rvi in \u200b\u200bFinland. It showed that his great -grandfather had Harju to the surname. This is how he got the name change approved. If changes are to be considered When the report to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was dealt with last year, several decisions were made by the Storting. They decided, among other things, that changes in the names law should be considered. So that it can be easier for descendants to take back old family names decision 26 The Storting asks the government to review and assess changes in the Name Act, so that descendants of indigenous peoples and\/or national minorities can more easily take back their family’s original surname. Source: Regjeringen.no Eriksen believes a solution to this could have been an exception to the name protection for, among other things, Kven\/Finnish surnames. – The Ministry of Justice can probably make a regulation for section 3 of the Name Act which states that national minorities can take back their Norwegian surnames, regardless of whether it is a protected surname, he says. news has been in contact with the Ministry of Justice and Emergency Management. In an e-mail to news, they respond that they will return to the Storting on the work on the name law. They believe that the name law, as it is today, is well prepared for people to take back old family names. – It is open for the tax authorities, which case manager reports on name changes in the first instance, can exercise a wide discretion. This is what the ministry advisor, Linda Hafstad, writes to news. When asked what they think about Eriksen’s proposal, they answer:- The Ministry of Justice and Emergency Management will return to the Storting in connection with the ordinary budget process. It is not natural to go into this more closely before that time, Hafstad writes. Published 09.05.2025, at. 12.28 Updated 09.05.2025, at. 12.57
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The case summarized: Reidar Harju wanted to change his last name from “Harjo” to “Harju”, the correct Finnish\/Kven way of writing, but met opposition from the Tax Administration. The Name Act, which regulates what names in Norway can use, can be a challenge for those who want to take back Finnish family names, especially if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":130669,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[113,285,5117,3975,16],"class_list":["post-130668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-change","tag-easy","tag-kveeni","tag-letter","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}