Name Changes

[kimnjake]

Now, I know we are in the minority here by being USC-Female/Chinese-Male which might pose a little different challenge for me and him in this part of the venture, but I was just wondering if anyone knew when the right time is to officially change his name. since he is the male, i will be taking his chinese last name, but i dont have a clue how or when to change his chinese first name to an american name.

 

any ideas or experience?

[warpedbored]

I have seen discussions on this before. As I recall the best way is to do it on the wedding license and follow through during AOS. Many women keep their last name as a middle name then.

[bobmal99]

I agree doing it at the time you apply for a marriage license in one way. However, if you change his name, know that all his Chinese paperwork will not have any of his newly chosen American names.

 

I suggest you leave his name as is for now, and change it after you have applied for, and been approved for your AOS. Otherwise if you travel outside of the country his Passport name will not match any American name he may choose. As an ACitizen, it will not make much difference, as it will be much easier for you to change things like your Passport, Driver's License etc.. Just consider everything before you make any decisions.

 

Just imagine what you may go through with the new USCIS, even if his name is changed legally!!!! I mean we all know how ORGANIZED, USCIS is!!

 

Good luck, and have fun.

[warpedbored]

It may be more of an issue for Kim and Jacob since he is male and changing his first name. As far as the wives go I would assume they are used to them taking the husbands last name. Call me old fashioned but I insist on Bing taking my last name when we are married.

[skibum]

I do not believe that he would actually have to change his name. I think that he can use what ever name he wishes as long as there is no intent to defraud.

Never have understood why Chinese want to change names anyway. Are English names a fad. I was even asked to pick one for a girl in China. Then she did not like it!

[skibum]

I must admit that I do call my wife "Honey" after the girl in Doonesbury.

[keelec]

Kim,

 

I would suggest using Jake/Jacob as your fiance's nickname. It would be the name you would introduce him to friends as. Since it is similar to his name, Jiayou, you could probably use it without a formal name change. I am not sure about banking and such things, but you can certainly sign a check however you want.

 

As far as the last name.

 

Kim & Jake Du

 

That sounds fine. The name is simple enough that it shouldn't be an issue for people to pronounce or remember. And, there is certainly no need to renounce all past cultures. I still think you should also consider keeping your maiden name rather than making up a new last name. In that case, I presume all you would have to do is put the correct last name on the marriage license.

 

----- Clifford -----

[kimnjake]

thanks for the replies.

here is what i plan for us to do.

 

we will keep Du.

 

we will be kim and jacob du. i will change everything (accounts and such) that is currently in my name to my new last name, keeping my maiden name as the middle name. this is not big deal, it is normal here in america.

 

as some of you commented on, the issue is with his first name.

 

i dont want it to have to appear on checking accounts, credit cards, whatever, as jiayou. i do not mind this, but he will. we will keep Du, but want to change jiayou to jacob.

 

so if we put his name down as Jacob on the marriage license, that makes it official?? will they put that on the marriage license even though his passport and ss# will say du, jiayou? we want it to be jacob du. can we ask the SS people to put him has Jacob instead of Jiayou, or something like that? i am not sure where we change it to make it "official", you know what i mean. like what does it need to appear on to be considered his real name?

 

i will introduce him as jacob, and well, everyone else already knows him as jacob. i dont know why so many chinese want english names. as far as it is with jacob and his situation, EVERYONE calls him jacob. even chinese people in china. if they speak english, they call him jacob. it was strange to me at first, but it is as though that is truly his name and always has been.

 

[bob]

Legal name change is done when he becomes a US citizen. We asked this at our AOS interview. He can use whatever alias he likes, but all his legal papers for INS and federal government must be in his legal name.

[bobmal99]

Good luck with your interview.

 

Where will you be living? Just curious/nosy.

[kimnjake]

Good luck with your interview. 

 

Where will you be living?  Just curious/nosy.

thanks! i hope everything goes smooth with the interview. i wish i could go there, but he says he will be fine! hehe

 

anyway, we will be living in Louisiana, where i currently live.

i wouldn't mind going back to live in China, but I want to get all of his immigration "stuff" complete before we explore that option. but by then we will be ready to have kids and i DONT want to raise my children in China. i taught there and lived there for a while and just dont think i can handle watching the disrespect for human life in general, and kids especially, for very long with my own kids. so anyway, we will probably stay in america, but again, i would LOVE to go there to live. we will see! I know God has a special plan for us. We will seek Him to find out just exactly what it is.

[kimnjake]

Legal name change is done when he becomes a US citizen. We asked this at our AOS interview. He can use whatever alias he likes, but all his legal papers for INS and federal government must be in his legal name.

becomes a US Citizen??? what??? oh my goodness, we truly have to wait until then? wow, i didn't expect that one.

 

so, you said we can use whatever alias he wants, so does that mean on bank accounts and stuff we can use his alias of Jacob??? marriage license? neither of those is federal, is it?

[tonyontherock]

He can change his name any time he wants. Go to court and file a name change case. It is easy, unless you have to do all the publications becuase of professional licenses. With three states, one federal and one foreign, I would never want to do it. But if you want Jake to change his name, just file a petition in court. Get that piece of paper together with all this documents, just show both if a question ever arise.

[kimnjake]

thanks tony!

 

do you mind telling me what level court i do this at?

[robhon]

Ahh... I think Jacob should have taken the the English name of Cain.

 

Cain Du. As in "He's a Cain Du kind of guy."

 

Or maybe Don.

 

Don Du. As in "Please Don Du that!"

 

What a fun name!!