Surname Question - ski/ska

OMZ

2 Jun 2019 / #1

Hi, I have had a look through the forums but can't find something that is specific to my question:
I have been with my Polish partner for seven years and we have just had a daughter together - when we went to register her birth we put the 'ski' ending as we both thought that, with that being her fathers name, we had to use the suffix. The registrar actually asked us if we would prefer the correct 'ska' , and she told us that we could actually use any name we wanted on the birth certificate.

Now, my question is, if my partner and I married in the UK, could I take the 'ska' ending so that our daughter and I had the same name? Or do I have to take my husbands name? The 'ski' for me wouldn't even make sense in Poland, would it? I think I read somewhere that I had to take his name but that I could change it by deed poll which seems a faff when our daughter already has the correct name!

Thank you in advance :)

RubasznyRumcajs 5 | 495

2 Jun 2019 / #2

According to Polish rules feminine names end with - ska.
If you were married in the UK it would be easier for you to have the same surname as your hubby, in a masculine version.

same about your daughter.
it really depends if you wish to go and live in Poland. If not (or "maybe in the future") than don't bother with different versions.

alternatively all of you could get a surname without ski ending but something "gender neutral"

jgrabner 1 | 73

2 Jun 2019 / #3

Parents may give a child a completely different surname, or take that of one, or both, of the parents.

bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39417074

amazing. You can really give any surname. I at first thought that any refers to either father's or mother's surname, but it's really any. So nothing stands against the correct -ska ending.

OP OMZ

2 Jun 2019 / #4

We did register our daughter with 'ska' , but what about if I married my partner? Would I have to take 'ski' or could I choose 'ska'?

terri 1 | 1661

3 Jun 2019 / #5

If you married your partner in UK, then it would be easier to tell them that you want 'ska', as if ever you need to register your marriage in Poland, they could only register you as the surname on the British certificate and that would be 'ska'. If you were a 'ski' then there would be problems as your daughter is a 'ska'.

mafketis 38 | 10832

3 Jun 2019 / #6

Would I have to take 'ski' or could I choose 'ska'?

In the UK it would probably be better to use 'ski' so that it matches your husband. People in Poland (and the bureaucracy) realize that outside the slavic world women are likely to have names in -ski rather than -ska...

On the other hand it might make it easier to travel with your daughter if the last names match....

Up to you.