Thai wife now wants to change her name to mine

[Jazofobe 101]

Forgive me if this is a silly question, but: I married Thai lady ten years ago (not in Thailand) and she opted to keep her name for ID house papers and passport, etc. Now there are reasons why she wants to change to my farang name. Is this a simple procedure? I have heard you can't do it unless the farang name has a 'meaning' in Thai. Is this right? Or is it a simple procedure up the amphur? I know we could go through the marriage legalisation procedure with the MFA but that is a real headache (we were married in Hog Kong and so I would have to go to HKG to get all the cerification and verifiaction, etc) so if anyone has a good clue of whether a farang name is accepted at the amphur, I'd be grateful for input.

[Bernard Flint]

Jazofobe ?>???

[tifino]

any farang surname is good to go, as having a farang surname denotes/displays good luck has come her way.

I've seen that name change to a farang one does work okay. One day missus had her then latest new Thai passport in maiden name, then after her 1st marriage to her then-fat-nowEx-farang, she got a replacement, showing her then-farang surname.

Any common dogpoop farang name is considered 'lucky' - even 'Smith' will do...

This farang Surname also appears on her I.D. card

Luckily she owned no property in Thailand, as she described to me as a problem if she had to go through that.

Years later, after re-marriage, she had to renew her ID card, but there was resistance to them again changing her details on it.

I reckoned to her she should have just dumped all marriage surnames, and go back to maiden, but she insists that would be unlucky and lose face.

so yes, whatever you/she wants, can be done.

In Australia it's simple, in that she could carry both surnames, all three actually... due to her marriage certificates.

It only looks messy to me whenever she makes different choices as to which (Aust or Thai) passport she will travel/visit Thailand with, as each show different names, and her ID card shows she is mrs somebody else

We do have fun at Immigration at BKK though...

[asdecas]

Why does she want to be called Ken?

[firefox999uk]

My M I L is called Ken

Have A Nice Day

[hansnl]

Changing a family name is a quite easy process, even more if she is married.

Bring the paperwok for the marriage.

Better to legalise that paperwork, but maybe a certified translation might be enough.

Even so, you have to agree to her accepting your family name.

After the official change of family name make a new ID card.

Then go for a new passport with the new family name plus the new ID

If she is mentioned in a blue Tambien Baan, also change the name in there, including the verification on one of the last pages.

Can all be done in one day, clearing all hurdles in the registration at the amphur.

Remains the difference between the Thai and foreign registration........

[nithisa78]

Amphur. It is pretty simple. Congratulations and best of everything. Enjoy the day.

Edited June 21, 2014 by nithisa78

[PETERTHEEATER]

It is easy to forget other things that need to be amended to fir the name change such a motor vehicle, personal accident and health insurance policies, bank accounts, club cards, credit and debit cards. My wife changed her given name (first name) about twenty years ago, she already had my surname (changed after marriage). Decades later I still find queries arising that I had overlooked mostly because she has dual nationality with one PP showing her original first name and the other her later first name. Consequently I carry the two Thai documents (name change certificates) when we travel.

[bonobo]

Quite easy to do. It took my wife less than an hour.

[PoorSucker]

20 min, 20 baht for my wife to change her name.

Now has a blue name change certificate.

[Guitar God]

What about hyphened last names? Mrs. G wants to have my last name, i.e. Patchrapa Chaichua-God.

Do they do that in Thailand? It's popular in the UK but I've never seen a hyphenated Thai last name.

[myluckythai]

simple procedure at the amphur. done in 5 min. (and 2 hours waiting time....555)

[ianf]

Very easy to do and many Thai women change their names without problems.

If you live in Thailand, my wife (who has my farang surname) gets upset that once people see she is married to a farang then they want more money. For example, she was stopped on a friend's motor scooter and once the policeman found out that she was married to a farang (because of the surname) the fine for no helmet went from 200 to 1000 (this was in Pai). She's had numerous other problems too. But if you live in farangland, I see no reason why not!

[ronthai]

What's he name of the song again?

Oh Yeh,

Love is in the air ... Bla Bla Bla Bla bla bbla bla

or was it

TROUBLE is in the air ...................................................

[Globeman]

What about hyphened last names? Mrs. G wants to have my last name, i.e. Patchrapa Chaichua-God.

Do they do that in Thailand? It's popular in the UK but I've never seen a hyphenated Thai last name.

Really? How about Prayuth Chan-ocha? Heard of him?

[Richard W]

It's popular in the UK but I've never seen a hyphenated Thai last name.

How about Prayuth Chan-ocha? Heard of him?

The hyphen appears in the transliteration to show that the division into syllables is chan-o-cha, not cha-no-cha. The hyphen actually corresponds to a glottal stop.

[inzman]

Shouldn't be a problem.

[laislica]

simple procedure at the amphur. done in 5 min. (and 2 hours waiting time....555)

Indeed.

On arrival at the office, declare that she needs a name change and new ID as well.

My Missus asked for the name change, waited the two hours or so and then found she needed another ticket for the ID Card, so it took two trips.....

Good Luck

[gerry123]

up the amphur sounds like a carry on film title

[Jazofobe 101]

simple procedure at the amphur. done in 5 min. (and 2 hours waiting time....555)

Indeed.

On arrival at the office, declare that she needs a name change and new ID as well.

My Missus asked for the name change, waited the two hours or so and then found she needed another ticket for the ID Card, so it took two trips.....

Good Luck

Thanks. So no docs needed (beyond current ID and house paper)? I guess a translation of the marriage registration from HKG would be useful?

[Pattaya Pat]

I am getting married soon and have been thinking about this myself. Is there an arguement that it's a lot less hassle just for your wife just to retain her own surname, after all a lot of woman keep their surnames now when gettng married?

When people say it's easy to do and it's just 10 minute trip to the amphur, but surely it can't be that simple? They have to change their passport, ID card, name in blue house book, bank accounts, insurance docs, etc...that seems likea big hassle to me!?

[SantiSuk]

It would be less hassle for her to keep her own name, but it is not a major hassle if she changes her name. Let's not forget, most Thais do it on marriage, whether it is to a foreigner or Thai, so the system is geared up to make it relatively straightforward.

Keep the change of name cert safely stored and scan it to your hard disk - you will need it when it comes to visa applications etc

[Pattaya Pat]

It would be less hassle for her to keep her own name, but it is not a major hassle if she changes her name. Let's not forget, most Thais do it on marriage, whether it is to a foreigner or Thai, so the system is geared up to make it relatively straightforward.

Keep the change of name cert safely stored and scan it to your hard disk - you will need it when it comes to visa applications etc

Yep, good point about Thais doing it anyway.

At what point would they receive a change of name cert?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I am getting married soon and have been thinking about this myself. Is there an arguement that it's a lot less hassle just for your wife just to retain her own surname, after all a lot of woman keep their surnames now when gettng married?

When people say it's easy to do and it's just 10 minute trip to the amphur, but surely it can't be that simple? They have to change their passport, ID card, name in blue house book, bank accounts, insurance docs, etc...that seems likea big hassle to me!?

My Thai wife and I just registered our marriage at an amphur office in Bangkok. And as part of the marriage registration process, she had to decide and say on the marriage forms whether she wanted to keep her Thai maiden name or change to a new married name. She also had to say whether she wanted to be listed, once married as "Miss" or "Mrs." Apparently, a Thai lady can be married and still listed as "Miss".

So, on our marriage papers, she's now listed as Mrs. FirstName TallGuyJohn. And yet, her existing Thai ID still has her original "Miss Maiden Name."

So now, after we've finished the marriage process, she needs to go to the Amphur where she's listed in her family's tabien ban -- not where we currently live in Bangkok -- and get that Amphur upcountry to issue her a new Thai ID with her chosen new name of "Mrs. FirstName TallGuyJohn." She tells me, that's not a difficult or complicated process to do at the Amphur.

My wife used to handle ID cards at the Amphur office where she used to work. So, the part about the name change at the amphur office being simple is correct. However, as you pointed out, there's also a lot of grunt follow-up work after that that will take more time in other places, such as passports, bank accounts, other official uses.

The OP's situation and question is a bit more complicated because his original marriage to a Thai was done outside Thailand (Hong Kong), and thus those marriage documents presumably won't exist in Thai language. That's probably where he'll have to end up getting the Hong Kong marriage documents and having them translated into Thai and then legalized by the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I don't know for certain, but I'm guessing the Thai Amphur office would require that.

As for the married farang's last name, as I understand it, when you get married to a Thai and have the marriage registered here, the translator has to do a Thai language version of your farang last name (whatever it may be). And then that's how your farang family name will get written in Thai from then on, including on your Thai wife's newly issued ID in the case she chooses to use your last name as her own.

Edited June 22, 2014 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[German Viking]

I recommend she take a double family name(her maiden + man name) into the Farang Passport this makes sence.

If she having properties etc., then all this must not be changed.

She keeping her Thai Passport in her maiden name.

Farang Passport double name as link to housebook, properties etc.

These procedure avoid a lot of hassle.