Hi,
my son medical birth certificate is english name (Carl Yohan) and they translate into chinese name to his chinese passport
(kaeryuehan) are different. It is okay its different? i am worried when he started go to school.
its possible will be complicated to hus documents?
any advice please what should I do. many thanks!
English or foreign name can be different from Chinese name. If you wish to add your son to your family hukou, you should give him a chinese name and quickly try to correct the birth certificate asap. Chinese passport implies Chinese name - translated into pinyin.
For foreign passport - you merely need supply his birth certificate with chinese name to your embassy or consulate along with his chosen English (or other foreign language) name. Each embassy/consulate has different rules to prove your son is the person identified on the birth certificate.
@michael2015: "birth certificate with chinese name to your embassy or consulate along with his chosen English (or other foreign language) name"
To add to that, different countries also have different policies for managing the name itself.
For example in case of our son, if/when we were to apply for his foreign nationality and passport via my consulate, that would initially come with direct Pinyin transliteration of the Chinese first and middle names - we can not choose a better match at that point.
That would then be combined with my foreign last name.
If we (or he) want a better matching foreign name, we can then later separately file for name change to the name we want, same as any other citizen.
CHINESE BIRTH CERTIFICATE NAMES
We did the standard Chinese 中文 names for both our children born in China - with Chinese citizenship. Their formal Chinese names are on wife's hukou - with my family name and on their Chinese hospital birth certificates.
USA PASSPORT NAMES CHILDREN
For US passports - we have the option to designate the child's primary English name in the US passport - which is whatever we want. We chose to not bother trying to do a phonetic match and used conventional names.
We only need to bring the child's birth certificate and the child (and related docs such as pics, etc) to the embassy or consulate as physical presence, proof of ID - along with the parents' passports or ID cards. But US citizens should check with their consulate or embassy for the latest rules, policies, and guidelines. The US State Department has been doing some rather strange if not sketchy things lately (pre-Trump).
The passport application form has an entry for "other names or aliases used" and you're supposed to enter the Chinese Pinyin name from the chinese birth certificate there.
JAPAN BIRTH CERTIFICATES
We used the Japanese English version (katakana) of their passport names - because they have that "ability" in their government registration systems, which was also recorded on their hospital birth certificates and their Japanese government residency and birth certificate documents. Unlike the USA, Japan and China do not grant citizenship to children born on sovereign soil.
Don't know about other countries.
Hopefully this will help other expecting parents navigate the name game for children born in China, with dual citizenship options.
As @Jan noted, his country didn't give him that option for his child.
@michael2015 I already put in hukuo. but his medical birth certificate still english and I already report of birth certificate at consulate.
@Karyl
There's an extremely limited window of opportunity to change a birth certificate name - mainly because it's an official numbered document and is apparently exceedingly painful for the staff to correct.
Usually the only way you can get a birth certificate amended is if there is actually an error in the child's name (hint hint hint). For example, the hospital made an error entering his western name as opposed to his legal (in China) hukou name.
I can only wish you good luck if you want to align his birth certificate name with his hukou name, but is definitely worth the effort if you plan to stay in china for school. Nothing's worse in China than having a hukou name which doesn't match the birth certificate name.
