Estonian name

In Estonia, a person must have a surname and one or more given names. One or two given names are common, whereas the legally permitted maximum number (three) given names is nowadays very rarely used. Surname is inherited from one of the parents, and given names must be chosen by the parents at birth. The calling name, by which the person is normally identified in conversation, is one of the given names, typically the first. For example, the former president Lennart Georg Meri was usually called Lennart, and became widely known as Lennart Meri.

There is no patronymic part and multiple given names are used rarely. During the Soviet occupation, the official names of Estonians followed the East Slavic naming customs of "given name"/"patronymic"/"family name", but this custom was abandoned in the post-Soviet Estonia.