Filipinas and two first names

[Bill_McC]

It was a bit confusing to me when I first learned how most Filipinas are named. They have two first names, then their middle name is their mothers maiden name followed by their surname. When they marry they drop their fathers name and take their husbands surname. So the mothers maiden name always follows the daughters. I was thinking about how this would work here in the states and I wondered if this is confusing to the bureaucrats when it's time for AOS. What have those that have dealt with this done? Do they keep both first names, mothers maiden, and pick up your surname; thereby keeping everything as they are used to, or do they drop a first name and keep the other first name, the mothers maiden, and your surname; do they drop the mother's maiden and keep both first names and your surname, or is it something else?


Dazed and confused...


Bill

[piglett]

Bill my wife kept her last name as her middle name & dropped her mothers maiden name which was her middle name before getting married
 
 
Bill are you getting any of this
 
 
pig

[Jeff S]

They can be anyone they want when they apply. Japanese have no middle names, but my wife and daughter applied for their their US visas and green cards using my wife's family name as their middle name with my last name as a surname - including my daughter, who had a different surname from my wife's previous husband. I didn't adopt her, she just applied using my name and now it's hers. My sister-in-law used an anglicized first name also, not the difficult to pronounce given name she was born with.


As I understand it you can keep or change any of your names, first, middle or last when you apply. Have her think it through before applying, because once you change it there's no easy way to change it back.


I don't know if you remember that scene in Godfather II when Vito was going through Ellis Island arriving in the US. His name was Vito Andolini from the town of Corleone in Sicily. He spoke not a word of English and just memorized what he was supposed to say. 'Vito Andolini' (then wait for the next question) and 'Corleone' but it came out fast and he didn't wait for teh next question, so immigration agent thought he was saying his name was Vito Andolini Corleone.

[robert angel]

Re:
>>>Bill my wife kept her last name as her middle name & dropped her mothers maiden name which was her middle name before getting married.<<<

Same thing with us and it's the same way they do it 'back home', regardless of if they marry a Filipino or foreigner.
So she still has, as is fairly common, her two word first name, but as is custom, after getting married, subsituted her father's last name (her maiden name) for her mothers, no longer using her mom's as her middle name and used my last name as her new last name.
Try and be use the consistent in how you do this, because if you don't and she has different names on different official govt. documents, it can hang you up and be a pain to fix later.

 

[thekfc]

Same here.
My wife drop her middle name (mother's maiden), her previous last name (father's name) became her middle name & my last name become her last name.

Example:  (not her/our real names) -  Mary Angela Cabas became Mary Cabas thekfc.

[robert angel]

Re:
>>They can be anyone they want when they apply. <<
 
Jeff S,

That might be true, but my wife refused to change the first part of her given name to :

"Robert's slave for life",
 
But it's still working out OK--we pretty much call each other 'Honey'  ( or a couple 'pet names' regretably mentioned here in previous posts) all the time anyway, although she can call me anything she wants, as long as she's doesn't call me 'late for dinner'....

[Ray]

A couple of corrections Bill…
　
Not all Filipinos have two first names. It’s optional.
　
And as others have already mentioned, when a Filipina marries, she drops her mothers maiden name and uses her single surname (father’s surname) as her new middle name, while taking her husband’s surname as her own. There are a few rare exceptions to that rule, like hyphenated last names, but that’s the way it’s written into Filipino law. Ask Tess B... 
　
Because of some of the completely ridiculous first names some Filipinos were given by their parents (like Ding Dong for example), Filipino law was revised a few years back to make it easy to change one’s first name without going through all the court red tape.
　
Note: There is one time when a Filipino can change his/her name to just about anything they want... when they are naturalized as US citizens.
 
 
Ray
　

[Bob_S]

Isn't the extra names a Catholic thing anyway?  It reminds me of the scene in the "From Prada to Nada" trailer where a young man introduces himself to a woman (at 2:13 into the trailer, almost the very end).  Each person seemed to have 4 or 5 names.

My missus also made her Japanese surname into her middle name for documents here in the U.S.

[Ray]

Isn't the extra names a Catholic thing anyway?

No, I think it's more a Spanish thing than anything else.
 
I know a lot of Filipinas have two first names especially when "Maria" (or Mary) is included as one of the names.
 
Another popular weird first name over there is "Lusviminda" (or Luzvimindo), for the 3 main regions of the Philippines... Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao.
 
Or some families like to make up stupid-sounding firat names made up from a combination of shorcuts of 2 or 3 names of parents or relatives combined together.
 
I have noticed that most Filipino families living here in the States tend to use more traditional American-sounding or biblical first names for tehir children born here.
 
Note: If a girl uses "Ma.", thats a nickname which is short for "Maria"
 
Ray
 
 

[michaelb]

That sounds as complicated as the Spanish system of two "last" names (or "apellidos" as they call them).....at least I understand the Spanish system.

BTW, Ray's message came in while I was typing. A little aside, in Mexico almost every woman is named "Maria Something" and often as not in informal situations they go by the "Something" name...otherwise nobody would know which one they were talking to.

The very poor women who sell fruit, cigarettes, chewing gum, etc. on the sidewalks of big cities, especially Mexico City, are collectively referred to as "Las Marias".

[Ray]

 
From the Civil Code of the Philippines…
 
 
Art. 370. A married woman may use:
 
(1) Her maiden first name and surname and add her husband's surname, or
 
(2) Her maiden first name and her husband's surname or
 
(3) Her husband's full name, but prefixing a word indicating that she is his wife, such as "Mrs."
 
I believe that now a married woman may also choose to keep her maiden name without using her husband’s name.
　
Ray
　

[Jhengsman]

It was a bit confusing to me when I first learned how most Filipinas are named. They have two first names, then their middle name is their mothers maiden name followed by their surname. When they marry they drop their fathers name and take their husbands surname. So the mothers maiden name always follows the daughters. I was thinking about how this would work here in the states and I wondered if this is confusing to the bureaucrats when it's time for AOS. What have those that have dealt with this done? Do they keep both first names, mothers maiden, and pick up your surname; thereby keeping everything as they are used to, or do they drop a first name and keep the other first name, the mothers maiden, and your surname; do they drop the mother's maiden and keep both first names and your surname, or is it something else?


Dazed and confused...


Bill

It is more confusing trying to deal with automated computer systems when she tries to leave a space for the second first name the default settings often tries to make it a middle name. The bureaucrats are used to dealing with people from different cultures and odd sounding names. The last time names were assigned was when the Vietnamese boat people came after the fall of Saigon Vietnamese

[Jhengsman]

No, I think it's more a Spanish thing than anything else.
 
I know a lot of Filipinas have two first names especially when "Maria" (or Mary) is included as one of the names.
 
Another popular weird first name over there is "Lusviminda" (or Luzvimindo), for the 3 main regions of the Philippines... Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao.
 
Or some families like to make up stupid-sounding firat names made up from a combination of shorcuts of 2 or 3 names of parents or relatives combined together.
 
I have noticed that most Filipino families living here in the States tend to use more traditional American-sounding or biblical first names for tehir children born here.
 
Note: If a girl uses "Ma.", thats a nickname which is short for "Maria"
 
Ray

I thought it was just the standard abbreviation for Maria as most would use their second first name or an actual nickname like Marites for Maria Teresa. Then once in America, and perhaps other countries as well, people read Maria and call her "Maria" instead of reading Ma. and knowing to use the second first name.

[Ray]

I thought it was just the standard abbreviation for Maria as most would use their second first name or an actual nickname like Marites for Maria Teresa. Then once in America, and perhaps other countries as well, people read Maria and call her "Maria" instead of reading Ma. and knowing to use the second first name.

Yeah, I guess that makes sense...
 
 
Ray