Guide: How to register a 'real' English name for your Taiwanese child

[frank_hnd]

@eddiepcl7907

And I do believe there will be a system dedicated to registering name in English should the new national ID goes through.

The system is already in place and after registering my own and daughters’ name in English I found out the following:

• Every Taiwanese citizen must be registered with a Chinese name, period. (no English name required).
• When Taiwanese people apply for either: a) Passport or b) HHR English transcript, the system will automatically Romanize their Chinese name using Pinyin if they haven’t registered an English name.
• I registered my daughters English names using the English “Birth Certification” from the hospital at HRO.
• I registered my own English name directly at BOCA when I applied for NWOHR passport using my original foreign passport as evidence, but HHR English transcript or they checking the system will also work.

So I am guessing they don’t need to change the system. People who have applied for a passport or a HHR English transcript already know what their name will look like when they change to the new ID and the rest will automatically be translated by their system.

[cycleroc]

@meishijia

Only aboriginals can have non-Chinese names on their ID cards until the new design is released in 2021 which will have both Chinese and English names printed for everyone

Anyone know if they’ve started adding English yet?
And will this just follow as the romanization of the Chinese character name on a passport and vice versa?

[meishijia]

@cycleroc

Anyone know if they’ve started adding English yet?

They have not. The project to update the ID cards was cancelled I believe.

@cycleroc

And will this just follow as the romanization of the Chinese character name on a passport and vice versa?

If they ever do it, it will almost certainly be the same as the passport romanization.

[cycleroc]

Thanks. Finally getting my kids Taiwan passports this Friday so wanting to do it all while on a roll.
Any idea if the current type ID cards can include romanization on them along with the Chinese characters?

[meishijia]

@cycleroc

Any idea if the current type ID cards can include romanization on them along with the Chinese characters?

Only for aboriginals.

[papertowel]

Is that true? Do both the father and mother need to be aboriginal? Might use this to get romanization on future kids’ passports

[meishijia]

@papertowel

Is that true? Do both the father and mother need to be aboriginal? Might use this to get romanization on future kids’ passports

It’s true. Although I’m not sure if both parents need to be aboriginal, I presume only one.

This article may have more info (I didn’t read it):

Taiwan's Indigenous people allowed to use romanized name on IDs | Taiwan News...

[cycleroc]

@fifieldt

What I did:

• 中文： Chinese name
• 外文: English name (Surname, First Name Middle Name)
• 外文別名: Pinyin romanisation of Chinese name

Why I did it that way:

• Sometimes I need to travel on multiple passports in one ticket. It is necessary to have the English names on all passports line up to avoid madness.
• existing accounts refer to English name and the passport is one of a very small number of documents that can be official proof of equivalence of the English and Chinese names
• Pinyin provides a pronunciation guide for the Chinese name.
• Some systems automatically pinyin-ize the Chinese name, so it might be needed in theory.

All three are printed on the passport, but the “alias” is less prominent and has less of an official status, apparently.

Thanks for that information. That’s how I did it for my kids passports recently.

[cycleroc]

@meishijia

It is a useful document for proving parent-child relationship. In fact, it is the only photo ID available which can prove such a relationship. Having the ID card also allows you to apply for things without bringing the Household Registration Certificate. It costs NT$50 and takes no time at all, so it is a no brainer in my opinion.

Unfortunately the new ID will likely remove the parents’ names, but it will still save me from taking the HRC everywhere when I need to do stuff related to my child.

Thanks for that tip. My wife took our daughter down and did it in a few minutes.
It has both of our names on the back also.

[TaipeiGuy2000]

Hello all, and I know I am reviving an older post, but this seems to be the most authoritative thread on here, on the topic.

So for somebody married and will have a child, the steps are as follows:

1. Get a birth certificate with an English-spelling name from the hospital or clinic
2. Go to HHR to register the child’s Chinese name (within 60 days?)
3. Register birth with the home country, get a passport with an English-spelling name
4. Go to HHR and register the English name by asking for an English print-out of HHR, or request a passport for the child, providing a birth certificate and foreign passport as proof of English name

Does that sound about right? Or would I be able to do 4 together with 2?

Any other advice?

[meishijia]

@TaipeiGuy2000

would I be able to do 4 together with 2?

Yes, this is the best way to do it because then you’ll have a document with an English name to show your home country when applying for the passport there.

[rooftopclown]

@TaipeiGuy2000

So for somebody married and will have a child

Congrats, old sport!

[Brianjones]

I work with Hong Kong public customers occasionally. They still insist to use English contracts. It’s interesting.

[Mataiou]

99% of the cases the English version of any law/contract prevails on the Chinese. Only exception is the National Security Law… Where the only authoritative version is the Chinese one.

HK is China, but for biz is still very much English.

[bang168]

for those that haven’t screwed over their kids yet, don’t apply for English names / citizenship until after you setup all financial accounts in Taiwan first … all banks / institutions here are required to report annually account holdings to most other countries in the world unless you’re just a Taiwan citizen

[HongKonger]

Yeah, Hong Kong laws are written in English and then translated to Chinese, so the English version prevails if there are any conflicts.

But a more practical reason may be that most Hongkongers are more comfortable reading professional-level documents in English than they are in Chinese, since almost all university courses in HK are taught in English.

[HongKonger]

@bang168

all banks / institutions here are required to report annually account holdings to most other countries

What’s wrong with that? Most countries don’t require their citizens living abroad to pay taxes. Even Americans living in Taiwan only need to pay US taxes if they make over US$108k annually (which they most likely won’t if they’re working in Taiwan).

Besides, you could always lie to your bank and not disclose your child’s other citizenship, if you REALLY had a reason to.

[izzy]

suprising, many banks and countries recognize us as provnce of china.
getting account information for tax purposes is sort of admitting independence.

[Mataiou]

@HongKonger

since almost all university courses in HK are taught in English.

Kinda, technically yes, but so often the material is in English but then the teacher just lectures in Canto haha

[HongKonger]

And that might be why they are generally more comfortable speaking in Cantonese (unless they studied overseas) but still prefer reading and writing in English.