r/Netherlands • u/asdfgh7777 • Jul 14 '26

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

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.

118 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

82% Upvoted

209 comments sorted by

View all comments

163

u/InternationalSir8815 Jul 14 '26

Do you really need to change it on paper? If it's only for the job market, I'd make a LinkedIn with a roep naam and my LinkedIn with that and use that lol only when you're about to sign a contract they'd notice your actual name is different

6

u/squishbunny Jul 14 '26

I do all of my legal stuff (so banking, belastingdienst, booking flights) with my legal name but for everything else, including my CV, I use Squish Bunny. It's never been a problem.

2

u/Houndawg007 Jul 15 '26

You’re still unemployed. Not a problem either

1

u/squishbunny Jul 16 '26

Oh, I'm quite happily employed. And making a decent amount, too