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Naming Advice

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Sirach3311
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Naming Advice

Post by Sirach3311 » Sat, 15 Jul 2017 8:37 am

Hi mummies and mummies-to-be,

Would like your advice (or hopefully experience) on this matter. My wife is Chinese from PRC, I'm Filipino. We want our baby to have a Chinese passport, but to have both English and Chinese names. I know that in SG, birth certificate can accommodate 2 types of names (i.e. John Tan Xiao Ming, where Tan is the last name, John is the western first name, and Xiao Ming is the Chinese first name), but here's my challenge:

1) The Chinese passport can only accommodate Chinese characters and their pinyin (romanized) equivalents (I.e. Tan Xiao Ming)
2) The Chinese passport can then only use my wife's last name (I.e. Tan)
3) We both would like to have my last name on an official document of the baby (I.e. Cruz)

So my questions are:
1) Could baby have a full "Western" name of John Tan-Cruz, where it is "translated" as John = Xiao Ming, Tan-Cruz = Tan?
2) Will Chinese embassy just pick out the Chinese characters without looking at the "English" translation?

Would appreciate any advice! (Hope my narration wasn't too confusing :???: )

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ecureilx
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Re: Naming Advice

Post by ecureilx » Sun, 16 Jul 2017 2:06 am

Sirach3311 wrote:Hi mummies and mummies-to-be,

Would like your advice (or hopefully experience) on this matter. My wife is Chinese from PRC, I'm Filipino. We want our baby to have a Chinese passport, but to have both English and Chinese names. I know that in SG, birth certificate can accommodate 2 types of names (i.e. John Tan Xiao Ming, where Tan is the last name, John is the western first name, and Xiao Ming is the Chinese first name), but here's my challenge:

1) The Chinese passport can only accommodate Chinese characters and their pinyin (romanized) equivalents (I.e. Tan Xiao Ming)
2) The Chinese passport can then only use my wife's last name (I.e. Tan)
3) We both would like to have my last name on an official document of the baby (I.e. Cruz)

So my questions are:
1) Could baby have a full "Western" name of John Tan-Cruz, where it is "translated" as John = Xiao Ming, Tan-Cruz = Tan?
2) Will Chinese embassy just pick out the Chinese characters without looking at the "English" translation?

Would appreciate any advice! (Hope my narration wasn't too confusing :???: )
Can't tell what.. but make sure your child has a middle name.

Of late a lot of know it alls in Pinas insist no middle name = fake name or illegitimate child. Your child's gonna be bullied and taunted in school if studied in Ph.

I saw a pinay recently insisting everybody in the world must have a middle name or they are illegitimate.. I and sad to say, she's a teacher as well :o

Sirach3311
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Re: Naming Advice

Post by Sirach3311 » Sun, 16 Jul 2017 7:27 am

ecureilx wrote:
Sirach3311 wrote:Hi mummies and mummies-to-be,

Would like your advice (or hopefully experience) on this matter. My wife is Chinese from PRC, I'm Filipino. We want our baby to have a Chinese passport, but to have both English and Chinese names. I know that in SG, birth certificate can accommodate 2 types of names (i.e. John Tan Xiao Ming, where Tan is the last name, John is the western first name, and Xiao Ming is the Chinese first name), but here's my challenge:

1) The Chinese passport can only accommodate Chinese characters and their pinyin (romanized) equivalents (I.e. Tan Xiao Ming)
2) The Chinese passport can then only use my wife's last name (I.e. Tan)
3) We both would like to have my last name on an official document of the baby (I.e. Cruz)

So my questions are:
1) Could baby have a full "Western" name of John Tan-Cruz, where it is "translated" as John = Xiao Ming, Tan-Cruz = Tan?
2) Will Chinese embassy just pick out the Chinese characters without looking at the "English" translation?

Would appreciate any advice! (Hope my narration wasn't too confusing :???: )
Can't tell what.. but make sure your child has a middle name.

Of late a lot of know it alls in Pinas insist no middle name = fake name or illegitimate child. Your child's gonna be bullied and taunted in school if studied in Ph.

I saw a pinay recently insisting everybody in the world must have a middle name or they are illegitimate.. I and sad to say, she's a teacher as well :o
It's both sad and frustrating to hear about such ignorance. Suffice it to say, I don't care about what PH thinks because I'm not gonna have any documents done there. The only important countries in this circumstance are SG (for the birth certificate) and CN (for the passport).

One possibility could have been:
First name: John Xiao Ming
Middle Name: Tan
Last Name: Cruz

That would have been in the PH style with mother's maiden name as Middle Name... but how would registering a Chinese passport be like? Could they perhaps consider the Middle Name for Last Name purposes?

Sigh.. I guess I'll only find out once I'm actually in the process!

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ecureilx
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Re: Naming Advice

Post by ecureilx » Sun, 16 Jul 2017 11:52 am

Sirach3311 wrote:
It's both sad and frustrating to hear about such ignorance. Suffice it to say, I don't care about what PH thinks because I'm not gonna have any documents done there. The only important countries in this circumstance are SG (for the birth certificate) and CN (for the passport).
what citizenship will the child hold ?

Sirach3311
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Re: Naming Advice

Post by Sirach3311 » Sun, 16 Jul 2017 12:02 pm

ecureilx wrote: what citizenship will the child hold ?
Chinese. This is why I'm asking about the conventions of a Chinese passport and I'm not bothered about the PH conventions. :D

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ecureilx
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Re: Naming Advice

Post by ecureilx » Sun, 16 Jul 2017 1:32 pm

Sirach3311 wrote:
ecureilx wrote: what citizenship will the child hold ?
Chinese. This is why I'm asking about the conventions of a Chinese passport and I'm not bothered about the PH conventions. :D
Just curious.

You don't plan to get the child PH birth certificate?

Sirach3311
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Re: Naming Advice

Post by Sirach3311 » Sun, 16 Jul 2017 2:17 pm

ecureilx wrote: Just curious.

You don't plan to get the child PH birth certificate?
No.

The child will be born in SG, thus will have an SG birth certificate. The child will be a Chinese citizen, thus will have a Chinese passport.

This is why my question only revolves around SG and CN. There is no relation to PH except for my last name.

The main question remains to be what last name can be used in the SG birth certificate that can be used in the CN passport as well. Or do I give up hope of having my last name anywhere in the child's legal documents.

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