Korean Job Discussion Forums

ABC KID · Joined: 14 Sep 2007

My Korean wife went to register our baby's name the other day at a local office. She took the necessary documents and was happily ready to register the western name that we had chosen.

However, when it was her turn the staff told her she couldn't register a foreign name and must register a name that had Chinese characters. Not only that but they thrust a book of Chinese characters into her hands and demanded she choose on the spot!
She was effectively forced to choose the first half-decent name that came into her head, with us having given such a name virtually no prior thought whatsoever. Given advance warning we could have made a name together that both of us would have liked a lot more instead of this ridiculous scenario.

The next day, a Korean teacher at my school said that they were wrong and that western names can be registered using Korean characters only. Does anyone know if this is true? Did they make a big mistake? And if so, is there anything we can do about it?

The implications of this should not be too severe, as we are still able to register our desired western name at the embassy later on and get her western name on her future passport. However, if she goes to a Korean school in the future she might have to use this name chosen at a moment's notice.

Hanson · Joined: 20 Oct 2004

Wow, I've never heard of this happening.

There's a fully Korean student in one of my classes whose name is Sean Andrew ___ (last name), and it's written in Hangul. Unusual, but I can't see how that could be written in Chinese characters... Confused

mercury · Joined: 05 Dec 2004 Location: Pusan

halfmanhalfbiscuit · Joined: 13 Oct 2007 Location: Seoul

CentralCali · Joined: 17 May 2007

Tell them to piss off and you're not going to doom your child to the possibility of getting drafted into the Korean military. You're just going to register the child's birth at your embassy thereby getting him the passport you need anyway.

That's what I'd do unless the local law actually requires my child to be added to the family register. By the way, what's taking the legislature so long to can that thing since the Korean Supreme Court declared it unconstitutinal?

TheMrCul · Joined: 09 May 2003 Location: Korea, finally...

There are fully Korean names with no Chinese character links (albeit rare, mostly artsy or "forward thinkers" give names to their children like that in Korea). I've met two girls before where that was the case. Regardless, the person at the desk should know that! I know that, and I'm a foreigner!

Kimchi Cha Cha · Joined: 15 May 2003 Location: was Suncheon, now Brisbane

Yeah, that's pretty crazy.

Names like Iseul (이슬; dew) and Haneul (하늘; heaven, sky) are Pure Korean and can't be written in Hanja, plus I've also known of a couple of kids with Western, usually Biblical, names.

Seems the person you dealt with was just an incompetent fool, just because 98% of the population have names with Chinese characters, doesn't make it a rule to use them.

CentralCali · Joined: 17 May 2007

I believe the rule is if the parents choose one of the names from the list with characters, they must use the characters to register the name. If they choose any other name, then they must register the name with the Hangeul letters.

And what's the law on foreigner married to Korean and a child is born here? Does the child have to be registered onto the family register?

Newbie · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

Person was wrong

My mixed daughter is registered in Korea with English names written in Hangeul

BigBuds · Joined: 15 Sep 2005 Location: Changwon

Same thing happened to my wife and I only last week. We just kept asking for someone higher up the food chain till we got someone who actually knew what was going on and registered our son's western name.

I have friends here who have gone through the process before so I knew what was being told to us was complete crap.

Just go back and ask for their superviors or managers.

jbpatlanta · Joined: 02 Jun 2007 Location: Daejeon

We registered my son's name. We just spelled his western name in Korean characters. We had no problems registering his name. The only catch was that they limit you to 5 syllables.

tzechuk · Joined: 20 Dec 2004

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

I've had several students who said they had changed their names. According to them, it was not difficult.

bigscott · Joined: 08 Oct 2005 Location: Incheon

Both of my daughters are registered without Chinese characters....sounds like the person on the other end of the counter doesn't know what they are on about....

NightSky · Joined: 19 Apr 2005

No offense but your wife sounds...um...a little special?

Why didn't she tell them to piss off and at the very least come back after talking to you about it?