taxidriver Posted July 26, 2005 Share Posted July 26, 2005 We got our child's birth certificate back and they had spelt his name wrong which was meant to be Callum, but they spelt it Cwallum (in Thai).This was the hospital's fault for the misspelling. So today we went on a mission to her Ampher office to change the one letter, I waited at her family's house while she went there and then 2 hours later she came back with a name change document saying his name is now Tawan, which was originally his nick name. She explained that they told her that they can't change a farang name to another farang name that isn't known in Thai language. I was pissed off and raved on for a while at disbeleif of the whole drama, this made matters worse for everyone, so we had no choice but to use this name. It seems that Thai law is very strange and I couldn't imagine this happening in the west. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daleyboy Posted July 26, 2005 Share Posted July 26, 2005 Man that seems very bizzare. You will have to get it changed somehow otherwise this could have implications in later life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle paul Posted July 26, 2005 Share Posted July 26, 2005 a lawyer will sort this out for you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxidriver Posted July 26, 2005 Author Share Posted July 26, 2005 There would have been no problem if his name was spelt right first (which wasn't our fault). It's all done now, because we had to choose from a Thai name and we chose Tawan, then after that we went and applied for his Thai passport and very soon I will get him his Aussie passport and I haven't got time to mess around. I guess we will use Callum as his nick name instead. I can put up with a lot of Thai stupidity, bit this one has to be the stupidist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle paul Posted July 26, 2005 Share Posted July 26, 2005 you should also think about going to the office yourself as they are more likely to take notice of your wanting a farang name whereas when a thai woman goes alone they tend to take less notice unless larege sums of money change hands Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khun Jean Posted July 26, 2005 Share Posted July 26, 2005 I suggest you try it again, i had the same problem and it took me two tries to get it fixed. It is not the Thai law that is working against you, but the people behind the desk without knowledge or they do not have the right level to make that decision. Just stay friendly and explain it is very important for you and your wife that the babies name is spelled right. In my case i had to call for the manager because some sort of decision has to be made or approved and only the manager can do that. I gave my child the name of my grandmother and mother. Explaining this and what it means in our culture helped a lot. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxidriver Posted July 26, 2005 Author Share Posted July 26, 2005 (edited) What you guys are saying is right, but we got it changed in the morning and then got him a passport in the afternoon, all in his new name so it's kind of too late. We like his new name, but it's the principle. I mean if the hospital spelt one letter wrong you'd think it would be a simple matter of going and fixing the problem and coming home with his corrected birth cert, not a new name. Amazing Thailand... When my missus told me they spelled his name wrong the first time, I just said 'of course they did, you didn't think they'ld get right did you?' Mind you she spelled it clearly and neatly in Thai... bloody idiot can't even copy it onto the computer in thai. Edited July 26, 2005 by taxidriver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samran Posted July 26, 2005 Share Posted July 26, 2005 When you head down to the Aussie embassy ask if they can issue his papers with the name properly spelt in English. My Aussie passport does not include my Thai name, but my Thai PP does include 'Samran' in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khun Jean Posted July 26, 2005 Share Posted July 26, 2005 I will nominate my own embassy where the most stupidest of stupid things can happen. When i took my daughters birthcertificate and had it translated i filled in the form for her first passport. Unfortunately my plane was leaving before the passport was finished. My wife picked up the passport and checked the spelling of the names and birthdate. It all looked good and we're happy it went so quick. Soon after my wife and daughter followed me and had no problems whatsoever. When i went to register my wife and daughter at my house address a mistake was found. Some idiot had changed the first and last names on her passport. Unfortunately this was not noticed by my wife, but understandable because she can not read my language and is unfamiliar with the layout of my countries passport. My daughter had 3 lastnames and 1 first name. Amazing Embassy! This resulted in that my daughter could not be registered and officially is NOT our daughter. As feared this had a lot of consequences. Especially getting medical insurance. Now after 3 years it is finally corrected. How? Well lets say i suddenly could not find my daughters passport and had to get a new one. On the Thai birthcertificate we had to change the spelling of the 'Farang' names. Someone decide in all his wisdom that there are only 24 characters allowed to enter a persons first names. My second child had even a longer name but getting it done in your own country at the Thai embassy was the solution. Here they used a typewriter which of course has no limitations. It was a test of having patience but all is well now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas_Merton Posted July 26, 2005 Share Posted July 26, 2005 What you guys are saying is right, but we got it changed in the morning and then got him a passport in the afternoon, all in his new name so it's kind of too late. We like his new name, but it's the principle. I mean if the hospital spelt one letter wrong you'd think it would be a simple matter of going and fixing the problem and coming home with his corrected birth cert, not a new name. Amazing Thailand...When my missus told me they spelled his name wrong the first time, I just said 'of course they did, you didn't think they'ld get right did you?' Mind you she spelled it clearly and neatly in Thai... bloody idiot can't even copy it onto the computer in thai. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> A similar error occurred with us: Our son was named Martin at birth in Thailand. What we didn't notice is that his name was transliterated from the Thai of his birth certificate to Matin on his English birth certificate - and from there to Matin on his passport. This "error" has caused us no end of problems with airlines, police and immigration authorities, as initially all airline tickets and visas etc. were applied for in Martin's name. As we did not discover the problem until leaving Thailand, we have reluctantly resigned ourselves to always spelling Martin's name on airline tickets etc as Matin, until we officially change his name in the UK So advice to others: ALWAYS, ALWAYS check the spelling on birth certificates and passports before taking possession of them from the authorities in Thailand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TokyoT Posted July 27, 2005 Share Posted July 27, 2005 Luckily no problem with the spelling of my daughter’s name. After she was born the hospital had both my wife and I review all the information on the birth certificate to make sure the spellings were all correct (my name as well as my daughters name). They were adamant that both my wife and I had to review the document before they would issue the official birth certificate – so maybe they have had similar problems in the past and now want take some extra precaution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thaibebop Posted July 27, 2005 Share Posted July 27, 2005 Luckily no problem with the spelling of my daughter’s name. After she was born the hospital had both my wife and I review all the information on the birth certificate to make sure the spellings were all correct (my name as well as my daughters name). They were adamant that both my wife and I had to review the document before they would issue the official birth certificate – so maybe they have had similar problems in the past and now want take some extra precaution. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Maybe some people complained? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jibber Posted July 27, 2005 Share Posted July 27, 2005 I feel for you mate, totaly infuriating. Thank god your wife didnt give the hospital your user name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDB Posted November 1, 2005 Share Posted November 1, 2005 I'm currently trying to get my son an Irish passport and am stymied by the fact that his Thai birth certifcate claims I come from "Iceland" rather than "Ireland". My girlfriend did spell "Ireland" correctly and they ignored her protestations that they had gotten the country name wrong. When I complained to the hospital (St. Louis) they insisted that there could not have been an error since they enter codes for each country rather than type in the name! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMguy Posted November 1, 2005 Share Posted November 1, 2005 I'm currently trying to get my son an Irish passport and am stymied by the fact that his Thai birth certifcate claims I come from "Iceland" rather than "Ireland". My girlfriend did spell "Ireland" correctly and they ignored her protestations that they had gotten the country name wrong.When I complained to the hospital (St. Louis) they insisted that there could not have been an error since they enter codes for each country rather than type in the name! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Since your girlfriend spelled Ireland correctly , Perhaps the Hospital staff now recognize Ireland as a colony of Iceland, After all the Hospital staff could not possibly make an error All joking aside you will be able to get it sorted in the end however you will certainly need patience and persistance, good luck. Just say no to kraing Jai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kringle Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 Should have done this at the hospital before leaving. They made a mistake with my daughters' name but got it all fixed before we left. Now she has her US passport and both Thai and US birth certificates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barryofthailand Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 When we got our sons Thai passport they asked my wife how to spell his name in English. As you know, in English you can spell your name any way you want. Thier can be several different ways to spell your name. Names don't necesarily need to be translated. If you want to change the spelling of his name on his Thai passport just take his Aussie passport with the correct spelling and have it changed. Shouldn't be a problem. Eventually you should get his birth certificate changed. Have your wife ask for the director of the Amphur. Barry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryHacker Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 So advice to others:[/b] ALWAYS, ALWAYS check the spelling on birth certificates and passports before taking possession of them from the authorities in Thailand. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> ...how true, very true, this just has to be a pinned piece of advice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felix Lynn Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 This is probably the stupidest law I have ever heard of...no, I take that back...It's certainly the studipest law I have ever heard of... The question is: who wastes taxpayer time thinking of such inane ways to infuriate the general public? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felix Lynn Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 Does anyone know the history of this law? Was this part of the Thai crackdown on the Chinese, when they forced all the Chinese to take Thai names? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldAsiaHand Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 We had a similar problem. 'No can, no can,' we heard over and over. Then, a miracle occurred. My wife laid a few thousand baht into some senior hands at the District Office and all we heard after that was, 'Can! Can!' Welcome to Thailand..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meadish_sweetball Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 We had a similar problem. 'No can, no can,' we heard over and over. Then, a miracle occurred. My wife laid a few thousand baht into some senior hands at the District Office and all we heard after that was, 'Can! Can!'Welcome to Thailand..... Shouldnt have to go down that route for simple things like this. The same old method works best: Remain calm (no matter how pissed off you are inside), state your case politely, over and over again if required, until somebody has to take action to get you off their face. Losing your calm or acting impolitely gives them the chance to ignore you or tell you to leave, but if you remain composed they can not ward you off. It *really* works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbk Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 I remember reading somewhere it is Thai law that a child has a Thai name. Is this true or just another myth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neeranam Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 This is probably the stupidest law I have ever heard of...no, I take that back...It's certainly the studipest law I have ever heard of...The question is: who wastes taxpayer time thinking of such inane ways to infuriate the general public? \Felix, I don't think this is a law. 1,000 baht, or so, should be enough for the officer in the Amphur to correct it. As long as you tell them the farang name and check the spelling it is ok. My daughter has a farang name on her Thai BC. The hospital she was born in, Bamrungrad, were very good and did it all checking a few times and telling us how important it was. It's about the only good thing I can say about them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neeranam Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 I remember reading somewhere it is Thai law that a child has a Thai name. Is this true or just another myth? Its a myth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuky Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 Our daughter was supposed to be named "Kitty" but the hospital decided to call her Christty (with a double t). We still call her Kitty, but we have all sorts of trouble explaining to airlines ect. that her name is spelt with a double t. Anyway, Christty isn't a bad name, I wonder how our next baby will go. Candy or Corey.....who will be next? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAWP Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 (edited) My wife says it's some law or 'rules' anyway. She tried to change her name 3 years ago to a western one (to match our sir-name ) and she was told she couldn't, since Thai names where protected. I.e. to stop western influenses, they wouldn't allow anyone to change from thai-name to western-style name. Would explain the wide usage of nicknames here. Edited November 2, 2005 by TAWP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMexpat Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Very interesting discussion. But does anyone really know the legal situation? Can a child born in Thailand have a farang name? When I tried to register our son 10 years ago they refused a farang first name!! I am still disapointed about it and want to change it, but we have repeatedly come accross resistance at the amphur. They do accept a Thai - farang - family name combination but not farang - thai - family name or farang - family name (do i confuse anyone here?) I agree with a previous posting that it is crucial to keep your cool when at the amphur. But again I would like to really really know the legal situation. I cannot accept that some government officer puts this upon us for no legal reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
singa-traz Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Very interesting discussion. But does anyone really know the legal situation? Can a child born in Thailand have a farang name?When I tried to register our son 10 years ago they refused a farang first name!! I am still disapointed about it and want to change it, but we have repeatedly come accross resistance at the amphur. They do accept a Thai - farang - family name combination but not farang - thai - family name or farang - family name (do i confuse anyone here?) I agree with a previous posting that it is crucial to keep your cool when at the amphur. But again I would like to really really know the legal situation. I cannot accept that some government officer puts this upon us for no legal reason. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> My sons have a Farang - Thai - Family Name. One born in Bangkok and one oversea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
too true Posted November 3, 2005 Share Posted November 3, 2005 Both my sons were born in Thailand and they've both got farang names and a Thai surname. I didn't take my husband's name when we got married (we were really busy and moving house and i couldn't go through the hassle of changing passports and credit cards and driver's license...), but when my first son was born, I wasn't given the choice of giving him my surname - the birth certificate came back with his father's surname. Not an issue, of course, since we're still together, but they might have asked me.... With my second son they asked, but I figured the first one had the Thai name, might as well keep it consistent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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