First Name and Last name is misplaced in EP

[guru_krish]

All,

I've got a job in Singapore through one of the company and will be joining there mid of August. I've got my EP approval form from employer yesterday and found my First name and Last name is misplaced.

I am from India, in my Passport it mentioned as SURNMAE: Krishna, GIVEN- NAME: Guru. So my name is mentioned as GURU KRISHNA on all my records. But in EP it mentione as "KRISHNA GURU" (<SURNAME> <GIVEN>).

Could someone confirm whether or not it will trouble me at Immigration while entering in to Singapore?.

Thanks in advance.
Guru

[Strong Eagle]

Doubtful it will make any difference at all. EP's tend to always be surname, given name, no matter how your passport lists things.

[guru_krish]

Thank you very much for your reply. I've asked with some of my friends who moved from India to Singapore recently and got to know that its listed as " GIVEN NAME, SURNMAE" on EP. Thats where i got the doubt.

[ksl]

Thank you very much for your reply. I've asked with some of my friends who moved from India to Singapore recently and got to know that its listed as " GIVEN NAME, SURNMAE" on EP. Thats where i got the doubt.

Not a problem, the system uses surname first

[sundaymorningstaple]

Actually the system uses whatever you give it. Mine has my surname last, local Chinese have their's as surname first followed by middle followed by first followed by anglican OR Anglican followed by Surname followed by Middle, then First.

[therat]

actually for Chinese, we don't have middle name.

We only have surname first then follow by name.

And this standard is not only apply to local Chinese.
China Chinese , Taiwan Chinese , Malaysia Chinese all using the same format.

The name can be 1 word or 2 words.

The surname can be 1 or 2 words but generally is only 1 surname word. Seldom you will see 2 surname words.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Therein lies the translation difficulties. My PRC workers passport have their given names "combined" as a single word in English on their passports. Here in Singapore it's normally separated into two separate words. So, for native English speakers, that translates to a given & middle name (also given) and a surname. So even though in Chinese it's considered as one word, as soon as you step outside your country, it becomes two words for the rest of the world. For those who are here in Singapore quite often it's further changed in day to day usage where the surname and the "middle" name as is were, is replaced with "ah" as in "ah leong". This also caused others (English speakers) to think the given name as being two words.

I was also under the impression that the "middle" name or first part of the given name also designated the generation of that lineage. It that true?

[nakatago]

How about Arabic format names with Nur, Bin/Binte, so on...?

[therat]

I was also under the impression that the "middle" name or first part of the given name also designated the generation of that lineage. It that true?

True but depend on whether the clan has any clan / generation book which might have 20 words for 20 generation to follow.
Eg for China Qing dynasty, they has nearly 50 word to use. So when 2 person who don't know each other, when they meet. They will know whether are their distance cousin or distance uncle, etc.

Some may be given by father or grandfather.
Son will have 1 standard middle word
grandson will have it own standard middle word
But this will depend on family.

Eg, for my case.
All my uncle share the same "middle" name but not my auntie.
For grandchild generation, girl will have the same "middle" name while boy will have another same "middle" name.

[therat]

How about Arabic format names with Nur, Bin/Binte, so on...?

I don't know Nur

For Bin / Binte is to indicate is a male or female for Muslim.
Bin is Male or Son of
Binte is female or Daughter of.

They don't have last name. They use their father name as last name.
Eg
Ali Bin Ahmand
Ali is the son name
Bin is Male or Son of
Ahmand is the father name
Hence the whole meaning is Ali is the Son of Ahmand.

Then some Indian has D/O and S/O ,in the middle. That also indicate is a male or female
D/O is Daughter of
S/O is Son Of

Normally for this, they also don't have last name. They use their father name as their last name. Base on my understanding

[sundaymorningstaple]

Being married to an Indian I can vouch for the Indian one and my Malay friends & colleagues agree on your definition for Malay names. Some european names started much the same way. For instance John Williamson meant "John the son of William"

[nakatago]

How about Arabic format names with Nur, Bin/Binte, so on...?

I don't know Nur

For Bin / Binte is to indicate is a male or female for Muslim.
Bin is Male or Son of
Binte is female or Daughter of.

They don't have last name. They use their father name as last name.
Eg
Ali Bin Ahmand
Ali is the son name
Bin is Male or Son of
Ahmand is the father name
Hence the whole meaning is Ali is the Son of Ahmand.

Then some Indian has D/O and S/O ,in the middle. That also indicate is a male or female
D/O is Daughter of
S/O is Son Of

Normally for this, they also don't have last name. They use their father name as their last name. Base on my understanding

I'm familiar with the concept but how do they write their names on forms?

[therat]

I'm familiar with the concept but how do they write their names on forms?

The whole thing

son's name Bin father's name.

Surname will be father's name
first name will be son's name.
middle name will be Bin / Binte / D/O or S/O

For Muslim, if they had went to Mecca to perform the pilgrimage. They can add one more title or address right infront of their name.
That's what my Muslim classmate told me but I can't remember what it call.

[nakatago]

I'm familiar with the concept but how do they write their names on forms?

The whole thing

son's name Bin father's name.

Surname will be father's name
first name will be son's name.
middle name will be Bin / Binte / D/O or S/O

For Muslim, if they had went to Mecca to perform the pilgrimage. They can add one more title or address right infront of their name.
That's what my Muslim classmate told me but I can't remember what it call.

Ah ok. About Mecca, I think it's Haji/Hajjah.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Correct.