Birth of a child

If your child is born in Finland and in a hospital, you do not need to report the child to the Population Information System, as this is done by the hospital where the child is delivered.

If your child was born in Finland without the help of a health care professional, notify a health care professional of the child’s birth. A health care professional is obliged to report the birth of a child to the Population Information System.

If your child was born abroad, request that the Digital and Population Data Services Agency register the child in the Population Information System.

Once your child has been born, a form will automatically be sent to your home which you must use to provide notification of: 

• your child's first names
• surname
• mother tongue.

Submit your child’s name to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. If the child is baptised as a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland or the Orthodox Church of Finland, you can send the completed form to your parish. Return the form within three months of the child’s birth.

Your child can have between one and four first names. Two names connected with a hyphen are considered a single first name.

You cannot give your child a first name or a combination of first names that may cause harm to the child. The first name must also be in accordance with the well-established name practice. Girls must be given girls’ names and boys must be given boys’ names. Gender-neutral first names can be given to anyone. 

The Digital and Population Data Services Agency or your parish will check whether the names that you are proposing for your child are in accordance with the law. If the parish has doubts about the legality of the name, it will ask the Digital and Population Data Services Agency to decide on the matter.

Go to the name service of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency to check the popularity of specific first names in Finland.

If you and your spouse have a common surname or a common compound surname, it will also become the surname of your common child. If the child has only one parent, the parent’s surname will also become the surname of the child.

If the parents have different surnames but the child’s elder sibling is their common child, the surname of the elder sibling also becomes the surname of the younger sibling. 

When parents getting their first common child have different surnames, they can choose the child’s surname from the following options:

• Surname of one of the parents.
• One name in the compound surname of one of the parents.
• A new compound surname based on the parents’ surnames.

Parents of newborn children born in Finland need not take any measures to obtain a personal identity code for the child. The hospital provides the necessary details of all births to the national Population Information System, and when the child’s birth is registered, a personal identity code is issued for him or her.

For a Finnish citizen born abroad, a personal identity code is issued when the Digital and Population Data Services Agency, by request of the parents, registers the child in the Population Information System.

A child is born with Finnish citizenship when the mother who gave birth to the child is a Finnish citizen. If the mother is not a citizen of Finland but the father is, the child will receive Finnish citizenship if the parents are married.

If the non-Finnish mother and the Finnish father are not married, factors that will affect the child's Finnish citizenship include:

• whether the father’s paternity has been confirmed
• the country in which the child was born

A child may also be granted Finnish citizenship if the mother who gave birth to the child is not a Finnish citizen, but the child's other mother is. In this case, factors that will affect the child's Finnish citizenship include:

• whether the other mother's maternity has been confirmed
• the country in which the child was born.

In certain cases, a child born in Finland may also be granted Finnish citizenship when neither of the parents is a Finnish citizen.

Read more on the determination of the child's citizenship on the Finnish Immigration Service's Citizenship for Children webpageOpens in a new window..

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