I would like to ask a foreigner (any nationality) who is married to a Mainland Chinese woman. Can both Chinese & English name be officially printed on the Birth Certificate of your child who is born here in China?

Technically and theoretically, it is possible to list both the Chinese and western names, assuming the computer field can hold that many characters - but the reality - impossible to get the hospital staff to enter BOTH the english and Chinese names - as it would look like one really really long name and that will create infinitely many complications for your kid in China.

We used Chinese names on their Chinese birth certificates, then used the officially translated and notarized translations to registered our kid(s) (USA) with English language names on their USA birth certificates aka Consular Report of Birth Abroad certificate (NOT inexpensive). You can also get baby passports - truly expensive baby passports - that are only good for 12 months for babies. The birth certificate is sufficient to get a passport later, which is the option we chose. Also - if you're a US Citizen - you can register the baby for a social security number at the same time. That's a point in good stead for the US Embassy/Consular Services.

IF you use the kid's US passport for residency in China - you'll need to have the birth certificate authenticated by the US State Department. They control Consular Reports of Births Abroad certificates. There are SO MANY REASONS why you would NOT want to do this, to include the expense, insurance, schooling, health insurance benefits, etc etc etc ad infinitum.

The problem with US Consular Reports of Birth Abroad certificates - the US State Department refuses to authenticate the birth certificates that they ultimately issue - they've had this insane policy since around 2012. It's well known and not expected to change within our lifetimes, POTUS Trump notwithstanding.

If you fall into this frustrating abyss - use a US visa agent (I can give you a referral) and they can get your consular report of birth abroad directly authenticated by the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC. NOT INEXPENSIVE but it's the only workaround that I know of.

Other countries - dunno.

and..um...congrats on having this problem (birth of a healthy peeing, pooping and hopefully NOT vomiting bio-machine).

Four years ago there was only space for 4 characters on the Chinese birth certificate (so no options for Western Names) but I gather the computer field is longer now. I agree with @Michael that putting both would cause you umpteen problems in future.

My wife, a Chinese national, and I, an American, had a baby in Xiamen back in 2009. We had her English and Chinese name entered on the birth certificate. Later our daughter was legally granted Chinese and a US passports. It's rare, and maybe not even possible anymore, so we feel lucky. May the luck be with you!

@Stratocaster: Did you ever run into any such problems (mentioned above) that authorties in China or elsewhere would not understand that the birth certificate contains two different language names, instead of one very long name?

@michael2015: "We used Chinese names on their Chinese birth certificates, then used the officially translated and notarized translations to registered our kid(s) (USA) with English language names on their USA birth certificates"

Can you elaborate on this - in your children's case were the English language names just pinyin versions of the Chinese names, or is there more freedom to choose?

For example, if child's Chinese name is some random Chinese, can the English language name be notarized as Jack Reacher or whatever? Or does it have to follow the pinyin of original Chinese name?

In our case, we would like to use regular Chinese name in Chinese birth certificate, but in foreign birth certificate we would like to use my family name - for which there is no Chinese equivalent phonetically or otherwise (plus it's long), so we cannot incorporate it into the Chinese name...

@JanJal We've never had any problems with our child's birth certificate. There are logistical problems with having two passports, however. Since our daughter was born in China to a Chinese mother, she must reside in China using only her Chinese passport. If we want to travel, she, like my wife, must have a visa from the country of destination in order to be allowed to leave the PRC*. Once we are out of the country, she is free to go anywhere Americans can go using her US passport. But the catch is she must return to China before the visa in her Chinese passport expires. *Some countries, such as Thailand or Cambodia now have visas on arrival for Chinese citizens. In those cases, we just show our plane tickets when exiting the PRC.

Thanks Strato - that hassle of travelling with two passports is something we are considering too!

@janjal
A translated birth certificate is required by the embassy/consulate as evidence we're the birth parents. As for the name - that's on a separate form (consular report of birth abroad form) and THAT's where we recorded the child's non-Chinese name. In our case, utterly unrelated to the Chinese name.

It might be worth mentioning that for British citizens, you can't get a British visa for your Chinese passport if you also hold a British passport. Seems like US is different.