The man wanted to reclaim the surname his grandfather abandoned in the 1950s, but was blocked by a lower court which argued it was a non-Austrian invented name.

His last family member with the name “Zebra” died in 1991.

The judge in the lower court ruled that “Zebra” could only refer to “a type of horse living in the African savannah”.

However, the man took his case to the Constitutional Court, which ruled that it was valid as it had been used by the family for centuries.