Taiwan:
Married for 10 years, 40-year-olds Cheng Chun-wei (程俊瑋) and his
wife, Chuang Ya-ju (莊雅如), are not only attached at the hip wherever
they go, they like to wear matching clothes and are now prepared to
even share the same name.
A casual conversation one day brought up the topic: Since they
like to have “everything the same,” why not have the same name?
Believing that the idea of sharing a same name would greatly add
to the love they feel for one another, last month they filed for a
change of name with the Household Registration Office.
Not knowing what to do because it was the first time such a
request had been made, an official at the office forwarded the
request to the Ministry of the Interior for instructions.
As a result of the slow decisionmaking process, the couple
thought it would not be possible to go ahead with the name change
and settled for the next best thing — changing their names to have
one matching character.
After finishing the name change process on May 9 they received
their new identity cards.
However, a reply from the ministry on Thursday said that the law
does not prohibit couples from changing their names so that they
are exactly the same.
According to Population Administration Department Director Hsieh
Ai-ling (謝愛齡) the couple’s request conformed with Article 7 of the
Name Act (姓名條例) and the government is in no position to forbid them
from changing their names.
In light of the good news, the couple said they have decided to
go to the Household Registration Office today to fulfill their
wish.
After flipping through numerous books and trawling through
various Web sites, the couple settled on the name Chia-yu, making
their names, Cheng Chia-yu (程迦祐) and Cheng Chuang Chia-yu
(程莊迦祐).