The ABCs of the Law

After you reach the age of sixteen, you have the right to lake the name not only of your great-grandmother but any other last name, even one having nothing to do with your forebears. Moreover, you can change not only your family name, but also your first name and patronymic. In this connection, a law entitled "On Procedures for Changing the Family Names, Given Names, and Patronymics of Citizens of the USSR" was adopted last year and went into effect on 1 September 1991.