About the dual English/Chinese names on official documents

[mrg9192]

Our first baby was born in Shenzhen. On the birth certificate, all crammed into one space, was her English name immediately followed by her Chinese name. On her US passport is her English name, with my wife's family name as one of her two middle names. On her Chinese passport, it is just her Chinese name--using my wife's family name. I wanted my family name on the Chinese passport, but my wife said that the passport data entry could only take Chinese characters, then put out the pinyin for that character. There is no name on that passport linking her to me.

Our next baby will be born in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, for the passport or the birth certificate, what is customary for families that have a foreign father and a Chinese/Hong Kong mother? Is it usual for the surname in the Chinese to be the mother's surname, or just to leave the Chinese surname space blank? I suppose it doesn't matter as much here, because any document will at least have the English name on it, just curious.

 

[Portia]

For the surname in Chinese, some people in your situation use the mother's surname or some people use a translation of the father's surname. I used the first method as to me it made more sense for my baby's surname to be the same as mine rather than a translation of my husband's (ie, not his real name anyway). In English, the baby has my husband's surname.

 

[mrg9192]

Portia> I guess we will probably go that route too. With the first baby, my wife's father (who only had daughters) was tickled pink to know that in Chinese the baby had his surname. Didn't seem right for me to just make up some Chinese surname that vaguely approximated my surname.