🇦🇹 Baby Naming Rules in Austria
Austria puts its naming rule in one paragraph of the civil status act. The wording is narrower than the summaries you will read elsewhere: the first name must not contradict the child's sex, and anything not customary as a first name is refused. There is no statutory limit on how many names you may give.
- Legal basis
- § 13 Personenstandsgesetz 2013 (PStG 2013)
- Authority
- The Personenstandsbehörde, the civil status authority
- Deadline
- Birth notified within one week; court involved after 40 days without a declaration
- How many names
- No number given in the statute
- Sex of the name
- At least the first name must not contradict the child's sex
- Approved list
- None. Each name is assessed on its own
What the statute actually says
Naming in Austria runs through § 13 of the Personenstandsgesetz 2013. Before the names are entered, the people entitled to choose declare in writing which names they have given the child. Where the parents choose jointly, a declaration by one of them is enough if it confirms that the other agrees.
The restriction sits in paragraph 2, and it is worth reading closely because it is routinely paraphrased too strongly. At least the first name must not contradict the sex of the child. Not match it, not indicate it: not contradict it. Alongside that, designations that are not customary as first names, or that are detrimental to the welfare of the child, may not be entered.
That second ground does more work than the first. It is what excludes surnames, titles and invented strings of characters, and it is the ground on which most objections in practice rest.
The statute names no maximum number of first names. Advice pages and individual registry offices state a limit of two, joined by a hyphen or compounded. Treat that as administrative practice rather than as the text of the law, and ask the office handling your case if it matters to you.
When the authority has to involve a court
Two situations take the decision out of the registrar's hands. One is disagreement, where several people entitled to declare the name submit declarations that do not match. The other is silence, meaning no declaration has reached the authority within forty days of the birth.
In both cases, and also where no names are given or where the names given are ones the authority considers inadmissible under paragraph 2, the authority must notify the guardianship court before the names are entered.
Separately, the birth itself has to be notified within one week under § 9. The hospital director carries that duty first, then the doctor or midwife present at the birth, then the parents.
Who the restriction applies to
Paragraph 2 does not apply to every child born in Austria. It is written for the group defined in § 35(2), which ties the rule to the child's personal status rather than to the place of birth.
If you are foreign nationals having a child in Austria, this is the point to raise with the registry office before you settle on a name, because the answer determines which country's naming rules are applied to your case.
Sources
Every statement on this page is taken from an official or judicial source. The links below go to the originals so you can check them yourself.
Last reviewed: August 2026. This page explains the rules in general terms and is not legal advice. Where a decision matters to you, ask the authority that will register the name.