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SCMP Reporter

Zhu, the surname shared by millions of Chinese, might be thought to command some respect as being the name of former premier and economic tsar Zhu Rongji  .
But mainland migrants to Hong Kong prefer to write it as Chu, in a trend that sees an increasing number adopting the Hong Kong romanisation  of their surnames.
Hong Kong lawyers say they are seeing more  mainland migrants asking for legal services to change the romanisation of their name to the Hong Kong version in an effort to appear more like Hong Kong-born people and avoid discrimination.
Raymond Tang Tat-ming  said that of 100 name changes handled by his firm each month, 30 per cent were new migrants from the mainland.
'Some names in Putonghua pronunciation start with X or Z and many new migrants from the mainland want to change the spelling of their names to [local usage]  in order to sound like a Hongkonger who grew up in the city,' he said. 'Some whose names are only two characters also want to change them to three, as names with two characters are more common on the mainland.'
For expatriates working in Hong Kong and on the mainland the opposite is the case when selecting a Chinese name. 
'Names pronounced in Putonghua help expatriates to get involved in mainland circles, which strongly emphasise and rely on networks in business,' said fung shui master James Lee Shing-chak,  who often advises foreigners on choosing Chinese names.
Apart from seeking a name associated with good luck, expatriates also sought characters with fewer strokes to make them easier to write, Lee said. They also prefer names using Chinese characters that are the same in both the traditional script used in Hong Kong and Taiwan and the simplified characters used on the mainland. Characters such as Ming , meaning bright, and Hong , meaning healthy, are written the same way in both scripts.
In Hong Kong, people who want  to change their names, whether  in Chinese or English, need to arrange a deed poll from a  lawyer before submitting an application to the Immigration Department. The department's registration of persons office will tell applicants to attend an interview and verify copies of supporting documents. The total cost is about HK$1,000. 
Immigration figures show there were 948 such applications in the first nine months of the year - a monthly average of 105,  which is higher than  that for the previous four years.
Tang said that previously there had been a trend of increasing numbers of people wanting to change their name when the economy was bad, in an attempt to bring good luck. 
The number of applications for name changes received by the  department peaked in 2003 and 2004, with 1,578 and 1,320 cases, respectively, during the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome and its aftermath. 
The number of applications received in 2003 was a record high since the handover.
Some people want to change their names for personal reasons. 'Some want to be famous and insist on changing their name to the same name as a successful millionaire businessman like Li Ka-shing,' fung shui master Peter So Man-fung  said.
Lawyers said  others changed their name to avoid inconvenience. 'One of my clients is a teenage girl who came to my office asking to change her name a day after her 18th birthday,' Tang said. 
The girl's previous name was Tang Lai-yan, the same as pop singer Stephy Tang Lai-yan.  Now, she has a  an ordinary Chinese name, and is no longer a talking point or the target of jokes by her friends.
However, there are some no-go areas when changing a name. 
Firstly, a name cannot be too long. A department spokesman said a name in English must be limited to 40  characters, including punctuation and spaces. 
A  name in Chinese must not exceed six  characters on a Hong Kong identity card.
Tang said the  department had the right to refuse some names  that might be misleading in nature.  
'People cannot name themselves as some professionals, such as a lawyer or doctor,' he  said. 
For example, they cannot name themselves  'Tsang Yee-shang'  or 'Tsang Ta-shou'  , which sound the same as 'a real doctor' and 'chief executive Tsang.'
Foul-language  or triad-related characters  are also prohibited in names, Tang said. 
He said he seldom came across people making jokes of their names. 
'I remember a case in which a man wanted to change to a Japanese name written in six Chinese characters. He was approved by immigration finally,' Tang said. 
'A client who was working in the insurance industry has changed his name six times.'  
The most unexpected request for a name in a case he handled involved  a man in his 20s who wanted to add an exclamation mark to his name without explaining the reason. The application was refused.




Zhu becomes Chu as migrants play name game