R-U-Lucid

Hello, My fiancee hails from Indonesia and many there, including her, have only one
name. My question is: Where on the form do I put her name? Under first name? Middle
name? Last name? Also, do I leave the other name fields blank, or put "none" or "N/A"? I
don't want them calling her "None Fasiyanti". I can't seem to get through to the INS to
ask this question (Gee, what a surprise!). Any help would be GREATLY appreciated...
Thanks in advance.

CountingDays

I have no direct knowledge about Indonesia but it seems logical that her name should match
(and be supported by) her birth certificate.

In article <[email protected]>,

> Hello, My fiancee hails from Indonesia and many there, including her, have
only one
> name. My question is: Where on the form do I put her name? Under
first name?
> Middle name? Last name? Also, do I leave the other name fields blank,
or put
> "none" or "N/A"? I don't want them calling her "None Fasiyanti". I
can't
> seem to get through to the INS to ask this question (Gee, what a
surprise!).
> Any help would be GREATLY appreciated... Thanks in advance.

jeffreyh1

R-U,

It would be interesting to see how the heading for the 'Name' line of her birth
certificate translates into English - does it simply read "Name" or something more
elaborate?

Having only one name, I presume that her name must be different from the names of other
family members in order that they can address each other without undue confusion, in which
case her name would effectively be what we call a 'given' or 'first' name.

If, on the otherhand, all family members have the same name on their birth certificate,
then it would be a 'family' or 'last' name. And, if this is the case, do the family
members then have a 'nickname' that does not appear on the birth certificate to
distinguish themselves one from another?

However you decide to enter her name on the form, an accompanying letter of explanation
may be useful.

Regards, JEff there are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots
-------------------------------------------
In article <[email protected]>,

> Hello, My fiancee hails from Indonesia and many there, including her, have
only one
> name. My question is: Where on the form do I put her name? Under first
name?
> Middle name? Last name? Also, do I leave the other name fields blank,
or put
> "none" or "N/A"? I don't want them calling her "None Fasiyanti". I
can't
> seem to get through to the INS to ask this question (Gee, what a
surprise!).
> Any help would be GREATLY appreciated... Thanks in advance.
>
>

--

R-U-Lucid

Jeff,

You are very insightful. Yes, it is very interesting to see literal translations from
Bahasa Indonesia to English. The nearest translation I could come up with is; "Who are
you" on the name section of her birth certificate. You are correct, her name is a given
name. And, as such, I have decided to enter this under the section "first name" on all
forms and putting "N/A" under middle and last name while including a cover letter
referencing the question with a detailed explanation as to the Indonesian naming customs.

While her name IS different from others in her family, this is not the case with many
families in Indonesia. I have learned a great deal about their culture during this process
and it seems many do have the same name as other family members. They just refer to them
as "Junior", "Senior", "Auntie", etc., in their everyday conversation. This culture
difference certainly makes it difficult when trying to understand what to enter on these
generic forms.

I am certain that others must have run into this same predicament, which is why I posted
on this news group. I was hoping to eliminate the inevitable "clarification letter" that
will assuredly appear in my mailbox.

Thanks for your guidance. People like you are an invaluable resource to this inane
process...

Chris

Onigiri

If your indonesian fiancee has a passport look to see what the name(s) are on that ID
page. Remember that the president of Indonesia is Abdurrahman Wahid, an interesting fellow
with two names. There are many who are named as daughter-of-their-father: Megawati
Sukarnaputri simply translates to Angel-of-the-clouds Daughter-of-Surkarno. Dig deeper for
a name with the family of your fiancee and not use
N/A or None or any of the variants. Check out the existence of a wide variety of
Bhumiputra lastnames in the CalPoly site for a guide to name pronunciation.
http://www.csupomona.edu/~faculty_co...ions/Pronuncia
tion/indonesian.html

Good luck.

> Jeff,
>
> You are very insightful. Yes, it is very interesting to see literal translations from
> Bahasa Indonesia to English. The nearest
translation I
> could come up with is; "Who are you" on the name section of her birth certificate. You
> are correct, her name is a given name. And, as such,
I have
> decided to enter this under the section "first name" on all forms and putting "N/A"
> under middle and last name while including a cover
letter
> referencing the question with a detailed explanation as to the
Indonesian
> naming customs.
>
> While her name IS different from others in her family, this is not
the case
> with many families in Indonesia. I have learned a great deal about
their
> culture during this process and it seems many do have the same name
as other
> family members. They just refer to them
as "Junior", "Senior", "Auntie",
> etc., in their everyday conversation. This culture difference
certainly
> makes it difficult when trying to understand what to enter on these
generic
> forms.
>
> I am certain that others must have run into this same predicament,
which is
> why I posted on this news group. I was hoping to eliminate the
inevitable
> "clarification letter" that will assuredly appear in my mailbox.
>
> Thanks for your guidance. People like you are an invaluable resource
to this
> inane process...
>
> Chris