What to do for my son?

[tris06]

My son was born last week.

 

My wife is Chinese and I am Australian.

 

We plan to live maybe another 5-10years in China before going to Australia for the childs high school and university education.

 

What is the best option for name ? We only can have an English name or a Chinese name on the birth certificate.

I am trying to weigh the benifits of which way we go from here.

 

Is it hard to change my son's name back to english after the birth certificate has been issued in Chinese for Australian passport and when we do move to Australia?

Any suggestions would be great. By the way my wife is from Chongqing and registered there too.

 

 

Thanks in advance

Tristan

[889]

Throughout his life, your son will find dealing with government bureaucracies and such outside China far simpler if his birth certificate shows his name in roman letters, not Chinese characters.

[Angelina]

It might be complicated to change his name later, it is better to choose a name you are planning to use forever. Especially since you want him to be an Australian citizen but he was born in China, changing his name will mean dealing with even more bureaucracy. I am sure there are strict regulations aimed at preventing illegal adoptions.

At least you have decided on him becoming an Australian citizen.

Have you tried talking to the Australian embassy in China?

[Shelley]

I have absolutely no knowledge of this sort of thing but it occurs to me that you could give your son a "western name" on his birth certificate but have a chinese name for him that is used by family and friends while you are in china for unofficial things.

 

From what I can remember, chinese children have a "baby name " till they go to school, then a name they use at school and then as they approach adulthood they take on their adult name, maybe you could follow this idea.

 

This way he will fit in in China and then be prepared for life in Australia.

[gato]

My son was born in Shanghai. His Chinese name is on his birth certificate. His mother is a Chinese citizen. We wanted him to be able to get Hukou in China, and a Chinese name birth certificate is required for that.

I'm an American citizen. For a US baby born abroad with a foreign language name on birth certificate, the US consulate allows parents to use an English name by signing a declaration. We chose a Western name as his first name and pinyin of his Chinese name as his middle name for his US passport.

Maybe Australia has a similar rule.

[XuanWu]

Tristan if you allow me to point out, that it would be best for the kid to move in your country before it starts school, so it will not affect his psychology and might having problems to adjust in his new environment and so on.

[Flickserve]

Tristan if you allow me to point out, that it would be best for the kid to move in your country before it starts school, so it will not affect his psychology and might having problems to adjust in his new environment and so on.

wow! That's quite a statement.

[Shelley]

@XuanWu

 

Kids are much better at adapting to new places and new things than you think.

 

From the age of 13 to 17 I crossed the Atlantic 3 times and lived in 4 countries before ending up settled in England. It was fun, it was an adventure, it was interesting, it broaden my horizons and opened my eyes to the fact the the world is full of new and interesting things.

 

I had no problems adjusting and no psychological effects.

 

As Flickserve says that is quite a statement you have made there.

[roddy]

That's a whole different topic, which you're all welcome to start discussing separately. This one's about the birth certificate. 

[tris06]

Some good points there.

We would prefer him to get a dual citizenship (I know its not accepted in China)

But their would make the child living in China far more simple and we do have access to

Some benefits.

Originally I was hoping I could just put the English name on the birth certificate and then get his

Australian part done. Then go to my wife's hometown and get the hukou done. Likely the name would be an issue being in English but I didn't mind if they had to change things or etc to get it done.

Anyway sounds like I am told if the birth certificate is in English this will permanently disqualify him from getting Hukou later on.

So I was looking at it the other way to get around this issue by issuing it in Chinese then changing it to English for when we get his Australian citizenship done.

Shame that they discontinued the option of having 2 names on the birth certificate about 2 years ago.

If all fails I will just get the Englisg name on the birth certificate and get him an Australian citizenship.

[gato]

Email the Australian consulate and see what they say.

[Flickserve]

I think you need to speak to the consulate. You should be able to register his birth with the Consulate. Now whether you can register with only his pinyin name or add an English name is something only they can answer.

Something I would like to clarify. What will be your son's surname in Chinese? You yourself have no official Chinese name so how do they deal with his surname in English? Does he take his mother's surname?

Is the birth certificate wholly in Chinese?

For the hukou, are they disqualifying him because he would have an English name and NO Chinese name? Can he have a hukou if he has a Chinese name mixed with an English name?

BTW, there are plenty of people who have Chinese names but add an English name for ease of use though it is not on their birth certificate. Granted it's not exactly what you want but that is an option.

[gato]

Having English name on his birth certificate would disqualify him from registering for Hukou. The system is not set up for it. We went through that decision process with our son.

[Flickserve]

Having English name on his birth certificate would disqualify him from registering for Hukou. The system is not set up for it. We went through that decision process with our son.

you did get the hukou for him..so how about his surname? You do not have an official Chinese surname yourself do you?

[gato]

I have a Chinese surname as I am a Chinese American, but we used my wife's surname for our son as I don't like my own surname.

I believe you can use any name they like for the Chinese birth certificate. Surnames don't have to match up. The same goes for the application for US citizenship report. The US government doesn't care what the child's surname (or name) is, as long as the parents sign an affidavit for the name.

[tris06]

The consulate replied and said the hospital should be able to put both Chinese and English names on the birth certificate.

Now either they are out date with recent changes I have been told. Or that you can still do it. Their email from last night.....

Thank you for your call today , I have asked the consular about your enquiries today. The best way for your kid’s name solution is put both of Chinese Name in CHINESE & Australia Name in ENGLISH on your kid’s birth certificate . You can ask the hospital to get that done for you. Normally the name on the passport will be same as the name on the citizenship certificate .

Best Regard,