What's in a name?

[jtoh]

I was reading The New Paper today and journalist Eugene Wee had written a column about how he tried to register his son’s name. He wanted to name his son Kai David Wee - Kai being the first name, David the middle name and Wee his surname.


The officer at the registration counter told him it was not possible, as Kai was a given name, not a Christian name. He could only name his son Wee Kai David or David Wee Kai. Reason being that people could mistake Kai for his surname. The journalist then asked if he were to name his son Fish David Wee would that be fine. And the officer said yes.

I didn’t know there were such naming conventions in Singapore. So let’s say someone with the surname Tan wanted to give his dd a first name of Ling, only Tan Ling would be allowed, not Ling Tan?

[Nebbermind]

Interesting.


Something just came to my mind the other day.

If a Sikh convert to some other religion, do they still retain 'Singh' as the family name for their children? Anyone here has friends who converted fro Sikhism? :?

[MummyThreeStreams]

jtoh:

I was reading The New Paper today and journalist Eugene Wee had written a column about how he tried to register his son's name. He wanted to name his son Kai David Wee - Kai being the first name, David the middle name and Wee his surname.


The officer at the registration counter told him it was not possible, as Kai was a given name, not a Christian name. He could only name his son Wee Kai David or David Wee Kai. Reason being that people could mistake Kai for his surname. The journalist then asked if he were to name his son Fish David Wee would that be fine. And the officer said yes.

I didn't know there were such naming conventions in Singapore. So let's say someone with the surname Tan wanted to give his dd a first name of Ling, only Tan Ling would be allowed, not Ling Tan?

Is that because he's Chinese? I know of children of mixed marriages, where the child has a Chinese name (e.g. Mei Mei) and caucasian family name (e.g. Smith), the name is reflected as Mei Mei Smith. Of course, I didn't see the birthcert, but that's the way their names are registered at school. I wonder if their names are actually registered as Smith Mei Mei? Cannot be right?

[jtoh]

MummyThreeStreams:

jtoh:

I was reading The New Paper today and journalist Eugene Wee had written a column about how he tried to register his son's name. He wanted to name his son Kai David Wee - Kai being the first name, David the middle name and Wee his surname.


The officer at the registration counter told him it was not possible, as Kai was a given name, not a Christian name. He could only name his son Wee Kai David or David Wee Kai. Reason being that people could mistake Kai for his surname. The journalist then asked if he were to name his son Fish David Wee would that be fine. And the officer said yes.

I didn't know there were such naming conventions in Singapore. So let's say someone with the surname Tan wanted to give his dd a first name of Ling, only Tan Ling would be allowed, not Ling Tan?

Is that because he's Chinese? I know of children of where marriages, where the child has a Chinese name (e.g. Mei Mei) and caucasian family name (e.g. Smith), the name is reflected as Mei Mei Smith. Of course, I didn't see the birthcert, but that's the way their names are registered at school. I wonder if their names are actually registered as Smith Mei Mei? Cannot be right?

Smith Mei Mei would be odd. So the convention is you can have a given (Chinese) name before your surname if you're not Chinese?

[jtoh]

Nebbermind:

Interesting.


Something just came to my mind the other day.

If a Sikh convert to some other religion, do they still retain 'Singh' as the family name for their children? Anyone here has friends who converted fro Sikhism? :?

I know of someone who removed the 'Singh' from the family name because they converted to Christianity. But this was done via deed poll because the kids were already a few years old when they decided to drop the Singh.

[Nebbermind]

While trying to find out more abt ‘Singh’, I came to know that ‘Singh’ = lion, as in Singapore!! Today, I learn something new!

[jtoh]

Nebbermind:

While trying to find out more abt 'Singh', I came to know that 'Singh' = lion, as in Singapore!! Today, I learn something new!

No lah. Singa = Lion in Malay.

[Nebbermind]

jtoh:

No lah. Singa = Lion in Malay.

it says so here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singh

[Strparent]

Jtoh,


I think if your friend has tried David Kai Wee, instead of KDW, it would have been okay.
David is a recognized 1st name, whereas Kai is not.

jtoh:

Nebbermind:

While trying to find out more abt 'Singh', I came to know that 'Singh' = lion, as in Singapore!! Today, I learn something new!

No lah. Singa = Lion in Malay.

Nebbermind,

Singh does not mean Lion. It just derives from the Sanskrit word Simha, which means lion.

http://i52.tinypic.com/fwkuwh.jpg\">


But nevermind ..( or nebbermind ) :evil: what's in a name ?

[jtoh]

Strparent:

Jtoh,


I think if your friend has tried David Kai Wee, instead of KDW, it would have been okay.
David is a recognized 1st name, whereas Kai is not.


.

Not my friend. I was recounting the article by a journalist in TNP.

According to his article, David Kai Wee was not allowed either. It was either David Wee Kai or Wee Kai David. I suppose their rationale is that in the Chinese convention the surname always comes before the given name.