Born abroad, passport name change
 

Dear one and all.

I have been married to my Vietnamese wife for 5 years, we had a son last year.

We registered his birth with the “foreign commonwealth and development office”

in Vietnam we are not allowed to choose a western name, it must be Vietnamese which is against our wishes, but, rules are rules.

when we registered his birth we informed the office of his Vietnamese name and of our wish to change his name, they sent us the correct form so we registered him as “Alfred Anderson”

what we want to know is, can we use his western name on the British passport application?

we have the British commonwealth and development office certificate as proof of his name.

Re: Born abroad, passport name change
 

Does he have a Vietnamese passport? If so which name does it show?

Re: Born abroad, passport name change
 

he does not have a Vietnamese passport as yet, but, when he does it will be a Vietnamese name as we are not allowed a western one.

it’s a catch 22 situation

i did read that an “official observation” can be put on his bristling passport (when he gets one) to say that he has a different name in his home country, but I don’t know how straightforward that process is.

Re: Born abroad, passport name change
 

Typically HMPO will not issue a passport in a name that differs from their name in an existing passport. Could you clarify that only his British name is listed on his consular birth certificate?