The country's Justice Minister Evelina Dobrowolska has already lodged her application, and, once it's approved, she will be called Ewelina Dobrowolska.
Lithuanian MEP Valdemar Tomasevski, leader of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania – Christian Families Alliance, and MP Beata Petkevic also plan to submit such applications.
The original name spelling is allowed in a law the Lithuanian Seimas adopted by in January after decades of debate. The law stipulates that in order to change their surname, national minority representatives need to officially declare their nationality and prove that their parents, grandparents or ancestors had the same surname.
To change their names, people will need to turn to a civil registry office of their choice, apply through an electronic system or send their application by registered mail or courier.
Civil registry offices say they have not yet recorded an influx of such applications since the changes came into force. For example, in Vilnius, there have been nine requests so far, the local municipality's representative Paulius Vaitekenas told BNS.
Meanwhile, the civil registry office n Vilnius District has not received any such requests so far.
Politicians will also change their surnames
The names and surnames of some well-known politicians will be spelled differently soon.
Speaking with BNS, Justice Minister Dobrovolska confirmed she had already submitted such a request. She will be joined by Tomasevski whose name will be spelled Waldemar Tomaszewski after the change.
MP Beata Petkevic also plans to change her surname to be spelled Pietkiewicz.
"I plan to do this, it is important to me. Our community has been seeking this for years, so I will definitely take advantage of it," the MP told BNS.
Not for everyone
Not all Poles in Lithuania, however, will be able to change their name or surname to its original spelling for the time being as the existing legislation does not yet provide for the possibility to use diacritics to spell names and surnames on ID documents.
Before the law was adopted in January, Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte and Justice Minister Dobrovolska voiced their support for the proposal to allow the use of diacritics on ID documents, but said the debate on this issue could be continued later.
They said at the time allowing diacritics in personal names would require upgrading the country's registers, which would hamper the faster implementation of the decision to allow the letters q, w and x in passports.
Dobrovolska now says decisions on diacritics also need to wait for a clear court case practice.
Tomasevski says his two sons, Pavel and Vladislav, whose original names contain letters with a non-Lithuanian diacritic "ł" will not be able to spell their surnames in their original form for the time being.