I’ve read some conflicting things on the internet where sometimes you can just approximate a western last name with Chinese characters, based on the phonetics, but other times you want to have a Chinese last name. My last name doesn’t transition well into other languages at all. What do you guys think, what did you do? Incidentally, there is a Chinese version of my first name so I can use that.
Yeah, you need a Chinese name. Sooner or later you’ll run into many problems if you don’t have one, so it’s best to have one chosen from the start. It doesn’t need to be related to your real name, you can choose pretty much anything; just make sure the characters are not too uncommon because later you’ll end up explaining how to write it every time, and that is an annoying thing to do. Also have someone check it for you that it doesn’t sound too stupid. 
You need both a surname (generally one character, with a few two-character exceptions, but don’t give yourself trouble by choosing any of these), and a given name (two characters; can be just one, but that’s very unusual in Taiwan, so if your name otherwise looks Chinese enough and someone sees it on paper, you’ll be labeled as a “mainlander” (大陸人), and that is not an endearing term here).
As a side note, isn’t it quite funny that while all the Taiwanese must have an “English” name, the foreigners have to adopt a Chinese one?
If you PM me your name, I’ll choose a nice Chinese name for you. Basically, there are only a few hundred surnames to choose from, but the possibilities for given names are practically endless.
What issues here require a Chinese name? I’ve lived in Taiwan for years and never needed one - not for work, studies, health, driving licenses, membership cards or any of my everyday life stuff.
What issues here require a Chinese name? I’ve lived in Taiwan for years and never needed one - not for work, studies, health, driving licenses, membership cards or any of my everyday life stuff.[/quote]
Ya, I’m not sure how I would manage it all legally speaking. But I thought it might make some things easier? Maybe the Chinese name would just be for casual use? Or I could give someone the choice of using my western or Chinese name?
You don’t need to officially declare a Chinese name unless you (A) get married, or (B) get citizenship. The Chinese name on your ARC can be changed at any time, as long as it’s not a marriage ARC. I’d say don’t pick one right now, and wait until you understand more about how it works, then pick one you like.
Atomist: a Chinese name is practical for all kinds of official stuff. If you want people to use it to address you casually, you’ll need to fight for it (unless it’s in a Chinese class); otherwise, they’ll just call you with your English name.
There’s no legal procedure to assume a Chinese name, just start using it and Bob’s your uncle. I’m not sure how one would go about changing it though once it’s been registered in many places, so think twice before you pick yours. Although changing it should be doable in principle, as the locals do it quite often, it’d probably be a hassle; and once you already started using one, just switching to another could actually put you in some trouble (especially if you also have a car accident, flee the scene, and the copy of Windows on your computer is not properly licensed, but I digress).
The Boss: I’m not claiming it’s totally impossible to live without a Chinese name. I guess it very much depends on what things you do. If you’ve been able to get everything you want without adopting one, good for you. I actually applaud your decision if you made it on principle.
From my experience however: although as a student of the language I wanted to have a Chinese name eventually anyway, I was forced to adopt one before I could even be accepted for the exchange semester at the NTU, so in my case it was definitely necessary for my studies. I don’t think there was any space for a non-Chinese name on my NTU student ID. Out of curiosity, do you have your name written in the Latin alphabet on the health insurance card? Does it fit?
My observation is that many databases only allow 8 or 9 characters at most: sometimes the rest is totally cut off, and sometimes it’s still there but never printed out because there’s no space left, especially as ＴＨＥＹ ＡＬＷＡＹＳ ＵＳＥ Ａ ＦＵＬＬ－ＷＩＤＴＨ ＦＯＮＴ. So even if your name is very short, let’s say “First Last,” you’ll be getting letters addressed to “ＦＩＲＳＴ ＬＡ”.
Most often it’s not that a non-Chinese name will be rejected outright, a more likely scenario is that problems will start popping up after some time in the most unexpected of places because no-one envisioned a non-Chinese name being used. If you want to use automated service systems by yourself (such as online), sometimes you’ll find out they don’t work for you because of this. If you are waiting to be called out somewhere, the staff will not know how to read your name and will not call you, so you might lose your place in the queue or be waiting longer than necessary. If you register for an appointment with a doctor, when the names of all patients are posted on the wall next to the entrance, whose name is it that will stand out?
Just last month I got a pay-as-you-go account with Taiwan Mobile, and they forced me to register under my “English” name, because I’m a “foreigner.” Then it turned out the account could not be topped up online due to some glitch in their system. To make them do something about an issue like this, you need to call their customer service center, and before you can actually report anything, they need to confirm your identity by… yeah, you guessed it. So after I spelled out my full name, observing all the usual conventions (西 for ‘c’, “eh-foo” for ‘f’, etc.) the guy on the other side actually told me “No, that’s not your name.” To which I said, “It is. I know what my name is.” He then asked me to spell it again, and couldn’t get it right again. After a few more rounds of such ping-pong I hung up on him and eventually solved the problem by going to another Taiwan Mobile branch and asking them to replace my “English” name with the Chinese one, which they did. I could then call the customer service again, introduce myself with my Chinese name this time, and report the actual problem, which in the end got fixed. It’s things like this why I think it’s convenient to have a Chinese name, although I understand and respect it if someone is opposed to the idea as such.
[hr][/hr]
Update (to a post already too long): one more reason why a Chinese name comes handy is that to for many contractual things here you don’t use your signature but a chop (a kind of stamp). The chop is carved with your Chinese name. Sometimes there’s a choice but then it’s better to choose the chop, as then you can have someone else do the stuff, without the need for you to be physically present (a poor man’s power-of-attorney). One situation when you’ll run into this if you’re buying or selling a car.
I’ve lived in Taiwan for 14 years and have never needed a “Chinese name”.
Not once. 
I even have a phone. :discodance:
And I can book airplane tickets on the internet! 
Well, this is kind of what I was talking about. Some places on the internet highly recommend it and other people have never heard of it. I won’t be adopting a Chinese name before I show up or anything but I’ll keep it in mind
If everything goes according to plan, I also want to do business on mainland China, which might also appreciate a Chinese name.
Seeing that your name is Atomist, I’ve come up with a Chinese name for you: 阿豆米斯特. The 阿豆 part is just gravy.
With the help of Taiwanese friends, I chose a Chinese name not long after I arrived in Taiwan, just because I thought it was cool. I needed to have a Chinese name chop the two times I transferred ownership when buying a scooter. Other than that, I’ve never been required to have one. However, just as Doraemonster said above, you’ll come across situations where it’s just less mafan if you have a Chinese name.
My English surname is hyphenated and extremely long, especially for some Chinese databases that allow only a few characters at most, so I often need to reduce my given name to an initial. This convention is no problem in English speaking countries, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been eyed with suspicion here because my English name on one document did not match exactly with my name on another. In a clerk’s mind, John Q. Smith-Jones and John Quincy Smith-Jones couldn’t possibly be the same person. This can be avoided by using a simple 3-character Chinese name.
Or how about 阿兜 Mr.
Way to go, Doraemonster, you are now an honorary citizen of the Republic of Chabuduo.