Any advice: I am British and my wife is Chinese and we want to change the name on my 18-year daughter's original Chinese birth certificate name to a new English name that includes her father's family name and new first name. Her English name has a direct translation to Chinese characters. The challenge is her UK and Chinese birth certificates have completely different names and she cannot get a passport from either country. Does anyone know or have experience how to do this in China?

Your daughter is 18yo and is legally an adult in both China and the UK. She'll have to do this herself unless you have some kind of legally recognized proxy (power of attorney) or guardianship.

It's better to use a Chinese attorney on the China side and a UK attorney/barrister for the UK side. We used Beijing Yingke Law Firm (Kunming Office). You can look them up in the LISTINGS section of Gokm. The firm has excellent service and results on multiple occasions and walked us through the various processes flawlessly. Your mileage may vary depending on complexity and documentation.

The law firm will tell you what paperwork you'll need to prepare and then take care of the processes for you and with you...on the china side.

Best of luck...

Between the lines I read that there is more to the question/challenge of getting her passport than the name on either of the birth certificates.

Is it that you want the passport, but more specifically you want the passport with name of your choice on it, rather than any/current name? Or is this a question of questionable nationality rather than birth name? Like, does she have Chinese citizenship and ID?

I am pretty sure that the ORIGINAL birth certificate cannot be altered now, 18 years after birth, so this would be more like a process of acquiring a name change. I don't know how that goes in China.

Might be different in UK, but in my home country within EU, it doesn't matter what name our son had´s on his Chinese birth certificate. There is no requirement of having my family name on it, for him to be recognized as my descendant, and obtaining EU passport or other privileges with that recognition.

It was only that the first passport (and other registrations) had to be done with the exact Pinyin transliteration of the Chinese name. If we/he later wants to change the name, he can do that and then get new passport/other documents with the new name. We might do that, because the direct Pinyin version results in a bit incorrect spelling. But as far as just getting a passport goes, that's has not been a problem.

Consult with the Chinese embassy or local notary office for guidance on the legal process of amending birth certificates in China. They can provide specific steps and documentation needed for changing your daughter's name to include her new English name and your family name. clansnames.co.za/twala-clan-names/