Chinese Name

jaceesperanza

jaceesperanza

Registered User
Hello! My son's due to be born on the 9th of April and I'm just wondering what will we fill in my son's chinese name. Our case is like this, I'm an HK resident obviously I have a chinese name and a surname. Whereas my husband is a Filipino citizen. His passort doesn't reflect any chinese name nor surname. But my mother in law is insisting that we use my husband's grandfather's chinese surname for our son. Is that possible? Even if without any document to support the use of that chinese surname? Any advice would be appreciated.
 
you can choose any name that you like for given names, however, most kid's have the surname of their father.

what you could do is this:

english/filipino given name- middle name-chinese name (could include grandfather's surname) -family name of father
 
My husband does not have a Chinese name on his HKID nor on his Canadian passport, but we were able to use his family's Chinese surname as the Chinese surname of our kids. We did not even have to provide any document to prove that the Chinese surname is really his. Note: Both of us went to the birth registry office and my husband was the one who signed on the application form. I don't know if it would have been as hassle-free if either of us had shown up alone to do the birth registration.

Good luck.
 
my understanding is that the father's side always choses the chinese name for the grandchild...is this not the case? Also if you have neices and nephews with chinese names, that must also be taken into consideration as our son's was a variation of theirs....
 
Hi jaceesperanza.
I am assuming that your husband is not Chinese and if so, here is another option for you to consider which some of my mixed couple friends have opted for:

English/Foreign name and surname on the English portion of the Birth Cert and a completely different Chinese name with Chinese surname from the ethnic Chinese spouses' side on the Chinese portion of the birth cert. (Yes, two separate names in different languages.)

This way, both cultures got represented and had equal importance in their own languages and ultimately, your child, is able to trace back the roots of his traditional, clan and heritage both on the foreign and Chinese side.

Hope this helps. Good luck.
 
Hi coastal, This is helpful for me as we are also in the process of choosing names for our baby son.

It's helpful to know that baby name in Chinese script can be totally different from the one in English on the birth certificate.

I have Chinese name and my husband has English name. So, my son would have my surname in Chinese script and my husband's surname in English script. Given names are also different in the two languages.

Thank you.
 
Correct me if I am wrong... I think in the OP's case, her husband does have a Chinese (character) surname --grandfather has a Chinese surname and as in other nationalities, this surname is "passed down" and carried by the next generations, --but it just isn't indicated on his Filipino passport. Many Filipino-Chinese have Chinese names + surnames, but because their Filipino passports do not allow for Chinese characters, their Chinese names are not on there.

We have friends whose babies are still able to have a Chinese surname different from the surname of the parent who is the ethnic Chinese of the couple, the one who has a Chinese surname. If they are able to use a "made-up" surname (a somewhat translation of the father's English surname), then I don't think it will be an issue if you use your husband's grandfather's Chinese surname.

I remember the birth registry officer asking us what he should put down for my children's Chinese surname and I told him to use my husband's Chinese surname and he asked if I was sure, because my husband doesn't have any Chinese name on his passport or on his HKID. I said yes, and that was that. :)
 
my kids have their chinese name written in english lettering PLUS the chinese characters on their B.C. when we got the BC's my hubby had to ensure that the gov't dept had the correct chinese characters on them and i had to provide the english lettering/spelling for the chinese names.

so... my son's appears like this:

Liam Zachary Ga Lim Ng
for his chinese name, hubby just wrote Ng Ga Lim using the correct characters.
 
As carey pointed out, you don't necessarily have to have the Chinese name included in the English name as what carang has done. You can simply be John Esperanza, but be Cai Xiao Hong (in Chinese characters) or you can also be John Xiao Hong Esperanza. The Chinese name is a separate name from the English name.
 
Buckeroo my case is indeed like what you've mentioned previously. My husband does have a chinese surname but it's just not reflected in his passport since he's using a Filipino passport. He is chinese in ethnicity so we're kinda hoping we can use his chinese surname that came from his grandfather in our son's passport and id card. This thread has been extremely helpful. Thanks guys! This really helped us a lot. Now we know how to go about it! ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top