Sorry, I'm sure this has been asked before but I can't find it.

I have looked after my stepson since he was a baby. I married his Thai mum when he was 4 years old, more than 10 years ago. I had expected it to be quite easy to change to my surname which is what he wants. His mum wants and the natural father, though he has long since relinquished all contact, says yes too.

So we all trot to the amphur and they say 'no way'. This has puzzled all the local relatives who tried to pitch in and lobby for us but to no avail.

Anyone managed to do this? Or do we all get knocked back? Would appreciate any advice.

The problem is that you are not the legal father of the child and a child can only have a foreign name if at least one of his parents is a foreigner. The rule is that a Thai person must have a name that has a meaning in Thai.

What you need to do is to adopt the child, if the child currently has no legal father you can ask the amphur to be recognized as the legal father. If they deny, which is probably the case, you will have to adopt the child as yours.