Chinese names

[david_dawei]

And I will also concede that for the purpose of a middle name designation in the US, it is different from the Chinese middle character. Most people in the US don't go around referring to their Given Name as both their first and middle name, whereas the Chinese people will indeed refer to themselves with a Given Name which includes both their first and second character. Some Chinese people only have one character Given Names. e.g. WANG, Ling as compared to WANG, Xioa Ling

 

In the past, Chinese immigrants have often hyphenized their names upon arriving to the US because they didn't want to put their middle name (character) into the middle name fields generally used in the US.

just to avoid quoting too much... I generally agree with all your comments.. particularly that this is a 'changed' standard... I guess it's even possible there could be those with older passport standard which reflect their name differently than what the current standard is? (hypenating was more common before)

 

In any case, try to be consistent throughout the process and on all documents.

[Guest Rob & Jin]

And I will also concede that for the purpose of a middle name designation in the US, it is different from the Chinese middle character. Most people in the US don't go around referring to their Given Name as both their first and middle name, whereas the Chinese people will indeed refer to themselves with a Given Name which includes both their first and second character. Some Chinese people only have one character Given Names. e.g. WANG, Ling as compared to WANG, Xioa Ling

 

In the past, Chinese immigrants have often hyphenized their names upon arriving to the US because they didn't want to put their middle name (character) into the middle name fields generally used in the US.

just to avoid quoting too much... I generally agree with all your comments.. particularly that this is a 'changed' standard... I guess it's even possible there could be those with older passport standard which reflect their name differently than what the current standard is? (hypenating was more common before)

 

In any case, try to be consistent throughout the process and on all documents.

 

I agree, I think consistency is they key to a smooth passage, and of course no doggy docs, or mistruths, haha, may well bite you in the ass

Edited August 25, 2007 by Rob & Jin (see edit history)

[a&p]

Hi. My husband is Tibetan and we have been debating what to enter as his name on the I-130, etc. His name is Penpa Tsering, his ID card and all Chinese documents list his name as Bian ba Ci Ren (phonetic pinyin of the Tibetan name). Tibetans do not traditionally have family names. We use Penpa as his first name and Tsering as his family name. Does anyone have any advice regarding what name we should use? We'd like to use his real name and don't want our last name to be "Ciren" if we can help it as it is just a phonetic spelling of his name and has a different meaning. Also, Chinese names usually have family names first, right? We want to make sure he doesn't end up Mr. Ciren Bianba!

 

I considered filling in his name as "Penpa Tsering" then writing his Chinese name, "Bian ba Ci Ren on the question for "any other names used". I assume that his future Chinese passport will list his name as "Bianba Ci Ren" and not "Penpa Tsering". What is the general consensus out there? We don't want to make it too complicated and slow the process down. I appreciate any help you can give us! Thanks to everyone for the great advice and quick responses, I'm so happy I found this website/forum!

 

A

[Guest Rob & Jin]

Use the same name thats in his passport, ID card, household registry, school and work records.

[a&p]

Use the same name thats in his passport, ID card, household registry, school and work records.

 

 

 

Thank you!

[shanghaigale]

It just dawned upon me when helping my finance filling out forms that they ask for middle names, how has everyone else filled this out?

 

What if your fiance or wife never had a English name and decided to get one? I've heard from co-workers that if there is a name change after coming to the US, you're required to pay a couple hundred bucks to do a name change...unlike a few years ago when it didn't cost a penny to change.

 

On the name change. If you have to go to court to get your name changed, then most probably you will have to pay a fee for it. However, if your wife files for citizenship and gets approved, she can request that the name change be performed at the swearing in ceremony on the original N-400 and the cost is zero. That is what my wife chose to do. We then took the naturalization certificate down to the SS office and had her name changed on her card which was relatively painless.

Gale

[Guest Rob & Jin]

chinese dont have middle names

[Urkidding]

However, if your wife files for citizenship and gets approved, she can request that the name change be performed at the swearing in ceremony on the original N-400 and the cost is zero.

Gale

 

We did this and used her last name as her middle name.

[jim_julian]

We changed our K-2 daughter's given and family names at the Green Card interview by submitting a declaration asserting the name change under common law. If your state accepts common law name changes, and many do (eg California, Illinois), you may be able to do this. The federal government does accept common law name changes.

 

No courts, no fees, no waiting, no problem ... details are here.