Lithuania’s justice minister, who originates from the country’s large ethnic Polish minority, has announced that she finally managed to officially change the spelling of her to make it match its original Polish form. Her decision follows a recent amendment to Lithuania’s law in the field of name spelling

“Thirty-three years, 130 lawsuits [representing people fighting for the Polish spelling of their names], two years in politics: it took me that long to write my name in its original form,” the 33-years-old politician wrote on her Facebook page.

Previously, the minister had been known officially as Evelina Dobrovolska, using the Lithuanian spelling of her name (which replaces the Polish “w” – a letter that does not exist in the Lithuanian alphabet – with “v”).

The new legislation has an important symbolic meaning. For the last three decades, only the Lithuanian spelling of names had to be used in official documents. 

In early May this year, that rule established in 1991 was amended, allowing the use of non-Lithuanian spelling, as the Polish Press Agency (PAP) reports. 

Such an amendment was long-awaited by the numerous Polish minority of Lithuania. It is estimated that ethnic Poles make up close to 7% of the country’s population with over 180,000 members according to last year’s national census.

Image: Ignacy Skrobia-Jaworski

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen