Rules for names in Thailand

[todlad]

Can anyone advise me on the restrictions on registering the name of a child in Thailand?

 

Robert seems to be banned as a first name here.

 

Any ideas anyone as this seems ludicrous to me.

[johng]

26 minutes ago, todlad said:

seems ludicrous to me.

Me too...maybe they couldn't spell it,  insisting it should be Lobert  you insisting it should be Robert etc etc ????????

[BritManToo]

5 hours ago, todlad said:

Robert seems to be banned as a first name here.

Didn't have a problem naming my kid Robert, 

Edited October 30, 2018 by CharlieH
Thai script removed.

[todlad]

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Didn't have a problem naming my kid Robert, 

Thanks for that: can I ask when and where in Thailand was that?

 

In isaan they have created the most nonsense reason why it is IMPOSSIBLE!!

[johng]

25 minutes ago, todlad said:

the most nonsense reason

Well what's the reason ???

[richard_smith237]

Funniest thread for a while... 

 

The name Robert banned in Thailand !!!! - so funny...  

 

You are dealing with idiots - Tell them thats the name of the Child... no argument. 

 

They may need to transliterate it... but your Wife should be able to give them a Thai spelling of the name Robert.

 

 

[BritManToo]

3 hours ago, todlad said:

Thanks for that: can I ask when and where in Thailand was that?

 

In isaan they have created the most nonsense reason why it is IMPOSSIBLE!!

Mae Rim, near Chiang Mai about 7 years back.

Did you spell it right ? 

[todlad]

1 hour ago, johng said:

Well what's the reason ???

On behalf of Thailand I am almost too embarrassed to say but here it is.

I am away from home so cannot go and nail them to the floor yet.

They said, someone has the surname Robert so you cannot have a middle name Robert. The child's first name is a Thai name although I will suggest that his first name be Robert and see what they say to that!

They also say that the sound of the name in Thai is a deciding factor and if a middle name sounds the same as another name, bugger off! Robert ... Roberts ... Roberty ... Flobert ... Snobert.

Village people running the Ampur! 

 

[todlad]

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Mae Rim, near Chiang Mai about 7 years back.

Did you spell it right ?

Thank you. 

I am away from home so I don't know but I will check. Either way, what do these people know about Robert?

[BritManToo]

4 minutes ago, todlad said:

Thank you. 

I am away from home so I don't know but I will check. Either way, what do these people know about Robert?

They have a list of official Thai spellings of foreigner names, and they don't permit variance from their list.

[todlad]

3 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

They have a list of official Thai spellings of foreigner names, and they don't permit variance from their list.

Useful to know ... I will ask Mrs T but she confirmed your Thai spelling was Robert ... In that case I want to call the child by a name they cannot have a spelling for!!! No idea what that is yet.

[ChiangMaiLightning2143]

There are a lot of Richards here

[klauskunkel]

20 hours ago, todlad said:

Robert seems to be banned as a first name here.

that is a misunderstanding, "Robert" is allowed, "Hubert" is banned!

[henry15]

The only restrictions I know of,  is using the names of previous Kings and Queens.

[elgenon]

I thought the Thai rule was to make the name as long as possible. Then have a 3 letter nickname. No?

 

 

[meinphuket]

Don't believe that for a minute, I was refused too 18 years ago, sought legal advice, went back to the birth registrar, and arrigan c*** yelled at the b**** and got my son's birth certificate with his first and last Western name. 

[todlad]

Just now, meinphuket said:

Don't believe that for a minute, I was refused too 18 years ago, sought legal advice, went back to the birth registrar, and arrigan c*** yelled at the b**** and got my son's birth certificate with his first and last Western name. 

I have prepared myself for that kind of approach.

 

I found the law on person names for Thailand and even though I found two separate versions, the translations are astonishingly crap. I have not found the Thai versions yet.

 

Mrs T says it's all down to how the name SOUNDS. If it sounds like Raabert, can't have it. If it sounds like Robberrrt, can't have it. If it sounds like Robbert, you can have it! I said, they can do what they like in Thai, I care not one whit as I know his name in English, I know how to say it in English and I can even write and read it in English!! That will do for me.

 

The law seems to say you cannot have a middle name that is the same as someone else's family name UNLESS you change your family name too or something like that. I tried to ask why they made that law and what problem they have solved with it? I have not thought too deeply about it since I think we have the solution now.

 

Anyway, good for you and in the end, since something like 60% of families here have a unique family name, why pick on little old Robert??

[todlad]

25 minutes ago, henry15 said:

The only restrictions I know of,  is using the names of previous Kings and Queens.

Kings, queens, princes ... anything royal ... rude, stupid ...

 

They claimed, I think wrongly, that a child's first name has to be a Thai name AND meaningful.

[Bundooman]

Just call him Bob!

[HHTel]

I do believe the law states that the name has to have a meaning.  Also the name can't be of 'royals'.  That law is waived if one of the parents is a foreigner and is 'legally' the father/mother.

[Guderian]

Forget Robert and just call your kid Adolf Hitler. That's bound to be on the approved names list given the fascination many Thais seem to have for him, 555.

Edited October 31, 2018 by Guderian

[todlad]

13 minutes ago, HHTel said:

I do believe the law states that the name has to have a meaning.  Also the name can't be of 'royals'.  That law is waived if one of the parents is a foreigner and is 'legally' the father/mother.

Aha! I didn't know about the waiver but I did suggest that. I will include that in any discussion.

[PerkinsCuthbert]

Just fall in line and call him Terdsak, you know he'll be grateful one day.

[Gandtee]

19 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Funniest thread for a while... 

 

The name Robert banned in Thailand !!!! - so funny...  

 

You are dealing with idiots - Tell them thats the name of the Child... no argument. 

 

They may need to transliterate it... but your Wife should be able to give them a Thai spelling of the name Robert.

 

 

Slip them a few Bob. They'll do it.????

[Hans Rayong]

I had another problem with the name of my two boys.

Surname: "my family name"

Title / Name: Master William + "my family name"

Same with the young son.

So both boys have my family name as both name and surname.

My embassy did not accept that, so in the "farang" passport my family name is only mentioned as a surname.

[todlad]

11 minutes ago, Hans Rayong said:

I had another problem with the name of my two boys.

Surname: "my family name"

Title / Name: Master William + "my family name"

Same with the young son.

So both boys have my family name as both name and surname.

My embassy did not accept that, so in the "farang" passport my family name is only mentioned as a surname.

Where I come from, call yourself what the hell you like with just a few exceptions. So all of this nonsense over the sound of a name and your surname, my middle name ... jeez, imagine being a devout religious wallah and having to trawl through their book of fiction to find a name!

[chippendale]

Call him Robbie Robertson.

[ChiangMaiLightning2143]

I thought the Thai rule was to make the name as long as possible. Then have a 3 letter nickname. No?
 
 

I met a Thai girl with a 25 character name but her nickname was only 5 letters.

[GreasyFingers]

24 minutes ago, Hans Rayong said:

I had another problem with the name of my two boys.

Surname: "my family name"

Title / Name: Master William + "my family name"

Same with the young son.

So both boys have my family name as both name and surname.

My embassy did not accept that, so in the "farang" passport my family name is only mentioned as a surname.

My middle name is 'William' but some government departments cannot understand it or convert it to Thai, so they just ignore it. Others use it as my family name.

[khunPer]

On 10/30/2018 at 5:59 AM, todlad said:

Robert seems to be banned as a first name here.

Any ideas anyone as this seems ludicrous to me.

Yes, Western names, and Western-sounding names, are banned – they have a big black book with banned names, to check in – but you can use "Robert", and other Western names, as nick name, which Thais often does.

 

However, like with most Thai government offices, there might be slightly different procedures from area-to-area; or in some offices they don't care to check too much in the "big black book". When I registered my daughter in an office up Isaan, they were very keen on checking in the black book, but we managed to get the name the mum and I had agreed on without too much discussion, after I helped them with installing a software in their computers for the new cameras, they were supposed to use (kind of bribe?)...????

 

Family names in Thailand are unique sounds. I quote by memory from what I read in a book about Thai culture: Back in time all families had to choose a unique two syllables sound for family-name, for example "Jongthep" (a real family-name). When there were no more unique two syllables sounds available, they began using three syllables, for example "Jirakan" (also a real family-name), and so on. From the number of syllables in the family name, you should be able to know if it's an old family in the nation, or a newer immigrant family, like many families of Chinese origin has longer surnames, like "Shinawatra", which should indicate that the family settled later in the nation (or changed a Chinese family-name to Thai).

 

So it's presumably correct, when "Robert" cannot be used as middle-name, as Robert – or something that sounds like that – is already in use as a family-name, and family names need to be unique. So if the child is not member of the "Robert family" it's (probably) not allowed to use that family's name.

????