Hello!
This is a niche and probably difficult to answer question about naming a child.
So my kid will be born relatively soon and we want to include both of our last names in her name. Example: Hana Smith Yamada (or) Yamada Smith in the western style. The easiest way to accomplish this in Japan would be for my child to take my foreign name as a middle name, as my spouse can’t change his name because of his work and his family name will be automatically assigned to the child when she’s born 🙄. If we were all to change our last name to Smith Yamada/Yamada Smith it would be nice but that’s not possible.
The question I have is that if the foreign last name is registered as a “middle name” in Japan, would it cause problems for my kid if I got her Canadian citizenship with Smith Yamada as her family name? All spellings would be the same, but it’s essentially which box it would be entered into on various forms.
Example on Japanese documents
First: Hana Smith
Last: Yamada
Name = Yamada Hana Smith
Example on Canadian documents
First: Hana
Middle:
Last: Smith Yamada
Name = Hana Smith Yamada
Would this difference in name order cause problems? Honestly I don’t know how often we would be submitting documents between the two countries so I don’t want to saddle her with a ton of problems when it comes to documentation.
We want her to have the option of using either last name or both depending on where she wants to live/which citizenship she chooses as an adult. We talked to a couple lawyers for phone consultations and they didn’t seem to quite know the answer. At the very least they said there is no problem giving her my last name as a middle name in Japan, 🤦.
If anyone knows where to find this information/who might be a good lawyer to ask we’d be grateful for the help!
Edit:
1 The answer to the question I asked is that I can’t do anything about her legal last name in Japan without my spouse changing his name. The Canadian embassy said that we can have her name displayed as Hana Smith Yamada on her Canadian documentation as long as we have supporting documents and request it. The name has to be approved, so it is not guaranteed but there is no reason they would deny it for a baby in most cases. The best case scenario for this is to keep the names as similar as possible so there is no confusion between the two countries. Bonus fact is that it is easier to get her citizenship sorted before she’s 2 years old. The form changes and requires a few more steps after that.
2 I know the middle name is part of the first name, as shown by the examples provided. I have a middle name. Please stop explaining this to me lol.
3 I’m sorry if you’ve had a bad experience with a middle name in Japan. Personally, aside from some extra documents when I moved here I’ve had no problem by communicating and clarifying when dealing with government offices/companies. I think there’s a bit of an overdramatic reaction to a possibility of a little bureaucracy lol.
4 I will not be changing my surname unless it is to add my spouse’s name to it and he changes his name as well. My family name is important to me AND my spouse; he had been excited to change his surname to include mine before we learned Japanese citizens cannot use the legal alias system. Our identity as part of an international couple is important to both my spouse and I and we want our child to enjoy both sides of her heritage.
5 I will still be a loving parent even if I do something you don’t necessarily agree with.
Thank you to those who actually tried to answer my question instead of criticising something that’s already decided.