Birth Registration Issue Bangkok - Amphur Refusing Name

[Crip]

Hi,

Was hoping someone could help me with this issue.

The birth of our second child occurred in Bangkok last week and Amphur Bangrak is refusing to allow the registration of the name we chose. The name is we chose Rex Paradorn "Surname" . They say that the name Paradorn is already someone else's surname so we cannot use it as a middle name. The will only register the name Paradorn Rex "Surname". The Amphur said that they will only register the name if Paradorn is the First name and not the middle name.

Does anyone have any ideas if this is in fact a rule or not?

[tomwct]

This is Thailand. They don't want a farang name first!

[kannot]

The whole name thing is farcical, ..............upset them and put TWO "n's" on the end

PARADORNN........3 N's if they say no etc etc

Edited April 20, 2016 by kannot

[richard_smith237]

Well I guess it prevents people from changing their childs Middle-Surname to 'Na-Ayudhaya-Something'

Is it possible to try a different Amphur office?

There may simply be a valid regulation that you can't use an existing 'someone else's surname' as a middle name and is widely and universally enforced.

But, I wonder how people go about changing their whole name (which is not uncommon after a spell of bad luck or just something as simple as a fortunetellers suggestion after a relationship breakup !)... There can't be unlimited surnames...

Sometimes (and its happened to me before example below) you can walk into an Amphur office and the person you are dealing with is having a bad day, had decided that for whatever reason they don't like you and are more than unwilling to assist you in anyway.

Example (But off Topic): Getting married: A lady at nearest Amphur office wouldn't marry my Wife and I and was quite rude about it (they said my Thai wasn't good enough and we needed witnesses - my Thai was good enough), we walked out and went straight into another Amphur office who interviewed me in Thai and and processed our marriage application / registration on the spot.

Someone (tomwct) wrote that 'they' don't want a Farang (English) name first - thats just daft paranoia... the same barstool paranoia that tells you foreigners are always at fault in an accident etc etc...

Edited April 20, 2016 by richard_smith237

[KhunBENQ]

Don't be cruel to name a Thai child "Rex".

Almost no Thai will be able to pronounce it correct.

Will sound like "lek", a female nickname.

[Mosha]

Our Mon rubber tappers wanted to give their son a Thai name. They were told they couldn't.

Sent from my SMART_4G_Speedy_5inch using Tapatalk

[GuestHouse]

The OP is lucky nobody at the Amphur office has Latin.

[laolover88]

Both my daughters have French first names, Thai middle names and an English/French surname. The amphur did, though object when we wanted also Thai and English middle names but that was because they came to 15 characters and their forms could not cope.!

[ubonjoe]

Moved to the Family and Children forum.

[hanuman2543]

My son has a Western first name and a Thai family name. No problems with the Amphoe or Family court(when I applied to be regarded as the father) here in CM.

[NanLaew]

My son has a Western first name and a Thai family name. No problems with the Amphoe or Family court(when I applied to be regarded as the father) here in CM.

Happy for you but the OP is about a middle name and it appears that Paradorn may already be the family name of one of the parents? Hence their objection to it being used as a middle name. How else would they object on the basis that it is someone elses name already? There's hundreds of Paradorns all over Thailand but there probably isn't one called Rex. But probably the objection is grounded in some arcane law since to be honest, the diversity of family names in Thailand is immense. There's no equivalent of 'Smith', 'Baker' or any semblance of what would be called a common family name in the west.

[Trembly]

Plenty of Thai officials make up all kinds of bullshyt on the spot to suit their prejudices, especially when it's to do with names and citizenship. I say this as a loog-krueng with a multicultural name who has years of first hand experience in dealing with this type of nonsense.

Paradorn is a fairly popular given name, so the "it's taken as a surname" trope is out. Ask them about the Thai tennis champion Paradorn Srichaphan or Lt. Gen. Paradorn Phattanathabutr.

It is possible that they regard Rex as a nickname (chue-len) and not a real name (chue-jing). Assure them that where you come from Rex is a very forking real name.

If I was feeling confrontational I would demand to see the chapter and verse that they are supposedly going by or just take the path of least resistance and go to another amphoe / city ward office.

Stick to your guns though.


Edit : I've never come across Paradorn as a surname, but if it happens to be the surname of your wife or something then you may have to comply because double-barreled surnames don't work in Thailand.

Edited April 21, 2016 by Trembly

[Asheron]

My son has three names and my surname* and had no issues in Ubon. His second middle name is also his mothers surname

*"european name", "european middle name (my fathers name)", "Thai surname as middle name" and "european surname".

[Lannig]

Will sound like "lek", a female nickname.

Female? I've certainly heard boys from my neighborhood being called by that nickname over the years.

Edited April 24, 2016 by Lannig

[metisdead]

A non helpful post has been removed.

[Crip]

For those who are interested, we just changed the Thai spelling and they accepted the name. The name is still Rex Paradorn "Surname", just changed the Thai spelling from ภราดร to ภราดอน. The letter อ does not change the sound nor the meaning of the word so it makes no difference. We contacted the Head Office of Administration in charge of all districts and spoke to the Chief District Officer. It turns out there is a general ruling that applies to all birth registrations in Thailand that if the surname already exists as registered it cannot also be used as a middle name but can be used as a first name. All the Amphur's are now online and can crosscheck. So the woman at Bangrak new her stuff. All you have to do is change the spelling slightly. Lucky for us that ร can transform into the mouse (น).

Thanks for all your replies.

[lemonjelly]

Will sound like "lek", a female nickname.

Female? I've certainly heard boys from my neighborhood being called by that nickname over the years.

It happens to be the nickname of King Bhumipol Adulyadej. Edited May 4, 2016 by lemonjelly

[Asheron]

For those who are interested, we just changed the Thai spelling and they accepted the name. The name is still Rex Paradorn "Surname", just changed the Thai spelling from ภราดร to ภราดอน. The letter อ does not change the sound nor the meaning of the word so it makes no difference. We contacted the Head Office of Administration in charge of all districts and spoke to the Chief District Officer. It turns out there is a general ruling that applies to all birth registrations in Thailand that if the surname already exists as registered it cannot also be used as a middle name but can be used as a first name. All the Amphur's are now online and can crosscheck. So the woman at Bangrak new her stuff. All you have to do is change the spelling slightly. Lucky for us that ร can transform into the mouse (น).

Thanks for all your replies.

Then that rule about surname can't be used as middle name is pretty new as my son born 2009 has his mothers surname as a middle name both in my country and Thailand.

[Crip]

For those who are interested, we just changed the Thai spelling and they accepted the name. The name is still Rex Paradorn "Surname", just changed the Thai spelling from ภราดร to ภราดอน. The letter อ does not change the sound nor the meaning of the word so it makes no difference. We contacted the Head Office of Administration in charge of all districts and spoke to the Chief District Officer. It turns out there is a general ruling that applies to all birth registrations in Thailand that if the surname already exists as registered it cannot also be used as a middle name but can be used as a first name. All the Amphur's are now online and can crosscheck. So the woman at Bangrak new her stuff. All you have to do is change the spelling slightly. Lucky for us that ร can transform into the mouse (น).

Thanks for all your replies.

Then that rule about surname can't be used as middle name is pretty new as my son born 2009 has his mothers surname as a middle name both in my country and Thailand.

If you goto an Amphur that in not yet online, they cannot check. Many of the countryside ones are not yet online. This would be a loop-hole in their system,