Saw a comment about this recently, wanted some more advice if anyone has experience.
When a Child is born to a married international couple in Japan, where one of the parents is Japanese and has retained their Family name – how would someone go about having separate family names on either passport?
For example: Japanese passport and documentation reads: Ken Satou
Foreign passport and documentation reads: Ken Smith
After some reading, I am under the impression that the ~~the Child’s Japanese birth certificate should be registered in the name of the Foreign spouse and then changed to the Japanese name in Japan, for use in Japan.~~
~~This is because I think Name changes in Japan can be done “informally” eg. in cases where Japanese women have retained their maiden name for work etc. Whereas my home country (UK) uses Deedpoll, which seems to be more legally binding and thus might affect the Japanese passport as well?~~
Then there’s the issue of koseki and foreigners apparently not being listed, which confuses me a bit.
Edit: Apparently, Japanese naming convention dictates that the child take name on the Japanese family register, the UK (my case) has an exception where [the local naming convention does not allow parents to choose the surname of their child](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/birth-registration-name-confirmation-form) and can thus select to register the child in the UK spouses name.
Honestly I have no idea and would love to hear from someone who’s been through the process.
10 comments
It entirely depends on the laws from your home country.
My country lets me choose the last name of my child as the father’s or mother’s name or a hyphenated composite name in whichever order, this is regardless of what is written on the birth certificate. The only rule is that once you choose a name, it will apply for all future children from the same couple so as not to have brothers & sisters with different names.
For France, if you register the child within X days to the embassy, you can register whatever name you want, and get passport for it.
Then you go register the koseki the name you want on it, doesn’t have to be the same.
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> Then there’s the issue of koseki and foreigners apparently not being listed, which confuses me a bit.
Foreigners ARE listed on the koseki, and not just as a footnote (which apparently used to be the case). I’m listed under the spouse section of my wife’s koseki.
Rules/laws will vary country to country,
But in the context of Japan, the UK only allows the exemption of having 2 legal names due to Japan’s laws making the Japanese Child have to have the Japanese national parent’s name.
Which obviously is quite oppressive should the Japanese national chose not to take the foreign parent’s name. As it means the couple have no choice over their child’s surname Japan side (unless they legally change the child’s name)
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/birth-registration-name-confirmation-form
“Details
The name entered on a consular birth registration must match the name on a locally-issued birth certificate.
In instances where discrepancies in your child’s name occur, or where the name of your child was not chosen at the time of birth, you must have the relevant documentation reissued by the issuing authority – or make a legal change of name (eg by deed poll).
However, in the case of British nationals born abroad, we can make 3 exceptions:
1) Where the local naming convention does not allow parents to choose the surname of their child, and the birth certificate shows the child as having the foreign parent’s surname. In this case, we can register the birth with either the British parent’s surname or a double-barrelled surname composed of both parent’s surnames.
2) Middle names not shown on the locally-issued birth certificate because they are not permissible in the country of birth can be added, but the name order cannot be changed.
3) A given name that is a clear Anglicisation of the foreign name may be registered (eg John in place of Jean).”
Worth adding that having two legal names *could* have negative effects on your child administration processes in adult life (driving license conversion, university degree, Covid vaccination passport etc etc) and could cause issues if caught when traveling through a 3rd country (one they are not a citizen of) with both passports with two separate legal names, as people are not supposed to have two legal names.
Birth certificate should be based on the Japanese spouse as that is who is on the Koeseki as the foreign spouse is just a footnote. You then go through whatever process your foreign country uses to register the birth. In the case of the US, you can choose what you would like them to be known as in the US.
In my son’s case, his Japanese name is Japanese first name, my wife’s last name His US name is Japanese first name, American middle name, my last name.
As far as passports go, his US passport is exactly his US name. His Japanese passport is Japanese first and last name with American last name in parentheses.
Assuming the child is born in Japan, the child automatically takes the surname of the Japanese parent.
If their surname is スミス、then that’s the child’s name.
In my case, my wife and I have different surnames and our child (born in Japan) took his mother’s surname.
When I registered his birth in the UK I was able to register a legal surname which matches mine. The UK gives you a choice, as the choice of choosing the child’s surname was denied to you.
An appropriate romanization of the child’s name is also ok. るい —> Louis etc。
You can also add middle names, as again you have no choice in the matter in Japan.
His Japanese passport is;
Leo Tanaka (Smith)
His UK passport will be/is;
Leo John Smith
His birth in Japan was registered as;
田中 れお
Different names for both countries, no problems at all.
Note the use of L on his Japanese passport. Not usually acceptable as they have standard romanization. They intially wanted to put Reo. I stood my ground and got Leo.
As others have said, it depends entirely on the countries in question.
For example, Canada requires you to register the name on the child’s birth certificate, so it is not possible for a child to be registered with a different name.
This didn’t use to be the case, so you’ll occasionally get people with older children advising new parents to register a different name when applying for their child’s Canadian passport. (You can no longer do this.) I believe there are also other countries trying to close loopholes that have previously allowed children to essentially have two different legal names.
I feel like I’m in the minority of taking my spouse’s family name and just using my kids names (which we worked hard to make fairly bilingual in Japanese and English) to avoid having to deal with different passports with different names. The names in the two passports are the same.
My parents split when I (UK) was a kid and there were issues with my school and mum suddenly having a different family name to me. Decided I wasn’t going to do that to my own kids based on my experience.
For me:
JPN Passport is in the format of: Ken Smith (Satou)
EU Passport: Ken Smith
All official documentation in Japan is under Satou and it makes many things like apartment hunting easier tbh.
I recently got married however and tried to get Smith (Satou) for my wife, but this was declined. She can only be Satou. So if I ever live in the EU with my wife we will have different surnames and getting a visa for her may be complicated (as our JPN marriage certificate only mentions Satou for both of us) Half Kids Problems!