Latvian Translation

Your name may appear twice on a Latvian document: once in its Latvianised form and once in the original spelling. That is the country's deliberate solution, and it makes document matching easier.

4 min readLast updated 2 September 2026

Short answer

Latvian adapts foreign names to its sound and ending system: Mehmet becomes Mehmets. In return, Latvian passports show the original spelling of the name on a separate line, so both forms appear on the document.

Name adaptation: Foreign names take Latvian endings
Original spelling: Shown on a separate passport line
Long vowels: Written with a macron: ā ē ī ū
Apostille: Latvia and Türkiye are both parties

Foreign names take Latvian endings

Every noun in Latvian must belong to a grammatical gender and a declension class, and that includes names. When a name enters a Latvian text it takes the appropriate ending. Male names generally end in -s or -is, female names in -a or -e.

Forms Turkish names take on a Latvian document
Turkish name	Latvianised	Ending applied
Mehmet	Mehmets	-s (masculine)
Ali	Alis	-s (masculine)
Ayşe	Aiše	-e (feminine)
Fatma	Fatma	Already ends in -a
Yılmaz	Jilmazs	-s (masculine)

Forms Turkish names take on a Latvian document

The translation shows the adapted form and the original together. For a Turkish institution the spelling in your Turkish passport governs; the Latvian form appears as information.

Long vowels with macrons

Vowel length distinguishes meaning in Latvian, and long vowels are marked with a line above the letter: ā, ē, ī, ū. Dropping the macron changes the word; it is not decorative but part of the letter.

Marks in the Latvian alphabet absent from Turkish
Letter	What it marks	Example
ā, ē, ī, ū	A long vowel	Rīga, not Riga
č, š, ž	ch, sh and zh sounds	Čaks, Šmits, Žanis
ģ, ķ, ļ, ņ	Palatal consonants	Ģērmanis, Ķemeri

Marks in the Latvian alphabet absent from Turkish

Passports simplify these marks: Rīga becomes RIGA, Šmits becomes SMITS. The translation follows the passport spelling while also showing the original Latvian form. The difference between them is not an inconsistency but the result of two spelling rules.

Gender and declension: surnames change too

Latvian surnames also change form by sex. Male surnames end in -s or -is, female ones in -a or -e. A father and his daughter therefore never carry identically spelled surnames.

Surname forms within one family
Person	Surname	Ending
Father	Bērziņš	-š (masculine)
Son	Bērziņš	-š (masculine)
Mother	Bērziņa	-a (feminine)
Daughter	Bērziņa	-a (feminine)

Surname forms within one family

The Lithuanian page also discusses surname endings, but there the ending additionally signals marital status. Latvian makes no such distinction: the ending shows sex alone, and married and unmarried women carry the same form.

Latvian also has seven cases, and proper nouns decline. In a power of attorney the same person's name can appear with different endings; in translation these are reduced to a single nominative form.

letters in the Latvian alphabet: 33letters in the Latvian alphabet
grammatical cases: 7grammatical cases
on which the name appears in a passport: 2 lineson which the name appears in a passport

Latvian documents and how we render them

Frequently seen documents
Document	What it is	Our approach
Dzimšanas apliecība	Birth certificate	The name is shown in both adapted and original forms
Personas apliecība	Identity card	The personal code field is stated separately
Izziņa par sodāmību	Criminal record certificate	Its validity period is highlighted
Diploms / Diploma pielikums	Diploma and supplement	Two separate documents
Izziņa par deklarēto dzīvesvietu	Certificate of declared residence	Based on a declaration, not a verification

Frequently seen documents

Frequently asked questions

My Latvian document says Mehmets. Can that be put right?

A translation carries across what the document says; it cannot rewrite it. But because a Latvian passport shows the original spelling on a separate line, we can present both. Send your Turkish passport too and we will settle which spelling governs.

My mother's surname is Bērziņa and my father's Bērziņš. Are they different?

No, they are the feminine and masculine forms of one surname. Latvian surnames take an ending according to the bearer's sex. We state this explicitly in the translation; otherwise a family document appears to show two surnames.

Can one translator handle both Latvian and Lithuanian?

Not for official procedures. Both are Baltic languages but they are not mutually intelligible, and separate oath records are required. Their alphabets differ too: Latvian has macronned vowels, Lithuanian has nasal ones (ą, ę, į, ų).

Is an apostille enough for a document going to Latvia?

Yes. Latvia is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so sworn translation, notarisation and an apostille are valid; consular legalisation is not required.