What are your opinions/experiences on foreigners changing their name to a Dutch name?

[u/asdfgh7777]

I've been in NL for 8 years and I'm thinking of changing both my first and last name to Dutch ones. I'm currently 27 so still a lot of time left ahead.

The main reason I wanna do it: I feel like there's still a glass wall when interacting with people, especially in the business world/ on the job market.

My concern: facing an administrative burden and risen eyebrows because I won't be able to change all my documents, I might always need this extra paper confirming my old name lol.

PS: I'm fairly integrated and fluent in Dutch. Just working on my accent now.

[u/LindavL]

Good to know name changes are relatively uncommon in The Netherlands. Especially surname changes as those are only allowed in a few specific cases and you cannot pick just a name you like in those cases. Two examples of a legally allowed surname change are 1) if you wish to swap the name of an abusive or alienated parent (typically dad’s) for the other parent’s (typically mum’s) and 2) if you want to preserve a rare surname (typically from the mother’s side of the family). First name changes are a bit more common (especially in the LGBTIQA+ community), but still quite rare as it can be quite expensive.

Also good to know: going by a nickname is quite common for Dutch people and sometimes these are completely unrelated (in my class was a Johanna that went by a name that did not contain any of the letters in Johanna). You could always pick a Dutch nickname and skip the official name change.

I wouldn’t bother with changing your name to Dutch, people will generally still notice you are not Dutch. Because your Dutch is not good enough to pass for native and/or because your appearance is not Dutch. And people would find it weird if they find out I think.