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[UPDATED on Monday, Mar 22 at 3:11pm: Taiwanese authorities have clarified that Zhang still has one more chance left. Read the story here.]
Japanese sushi restaurant chain Sushiro's outlets in Taiwan ran a two-day promotion from Mar. 17 that drove many into a frenzy.
Any customer whose identification card contains the words “Gui Yu” — the Chinese characters for salmon — was entitled to an all-you-can-eat salmon sushi meal along with five friends.
Amongst those who rushed to changed their names to enjoy the promo was a Taichung university student who had unknowingly maxed out his name change quota for the promotion.
As a result, Zhang Salmon Dream ("张鲑鱼之梦"), as he is known now, would not be allowed to change his name again.
Salmon dream
Taiwanese news outlet United Daily News (UDN) reported on Mar. 18 that upon receiving his new identification card, the registration staff informed Chang that he had already changed his name three times and will not be able to change it anymore.
Image by UDN.
The male student who majors in traditional Chinese medicine was shocked upon realising that his new name is permanent.
As he had changed his name without informing his parents, he does not wish to let them know for now.
Lawyer Lin Zhi Qun (translated from Chinese) shared a viable solution via a Facebook post.
Part of his post translates to:
"Since the child has already changed his name three times, he cannot change it back.
However, there is a rule in the Name Act that says that if the father's full name is exactly the same, the name can be changed . . . Perhaps netizens may say that this is a loophole in the law, but it is not.
Every law has its intention, what lawyers do are still adhering to the legalities while resolving the issue."
Lin is referring to Article 9, Item 2 in the Name Act that states a person who fulfils the following condition may apply to change his or her given name: "The applicant has the exact same given name as an elder relative within three degrees of kinship."
This means that if Zhang wishes to change his name back to his original one, he can ask his father to change his name to "Zhang Salmon Dream".
However, Zhang said that he had secretly applied for a name change behind his parents' backs and did not dare to let them know about his predicament yet.
The Director of Legal Affairs of Taichung City, Li Shan Zhi, said some people might try to take advantage of a name change and profit from it as the administrative fees for a name change is not high. However, each person can only change their name three times and should do so prudently.
He added that every name change is recorded in the Household Registration Record, which means it will stay with the person for the rest of his or her life. Besides, if they encounter any legal disputes prior to changing back to their original names, the court will list their new names so in the future, others would be able to know that they used to have such funky names.
Sushi feast
Upon receiving his new IC, Zhang carried "a heavy heart of regret" to queue at the conveyer belt sushi restaurant, UDN reported.
Outside the door, he gathered a group of people to eat free sushi, charging each of them NTD200 to NTD300 (S$9.45 to S$14.80) to profit off his new name.
According to UDN, he said, "Everyone changed so I did too, but the outcome may not be worth it . . . I only realised that I cannot change it back after I had already changed it."
He was reportedly on the verge of tears as he did not know how to introduce himself to others, and feared to tell his parents about it.
All he could do was gather groups at the sushi restaurant, and plan to find 30 friends to dine together before the promotion ends.
On Mar. 17, the Taichung Civil Affairs Bureau had appealed to the public to "think twice before changing their name", and not to be impulsive or follow trends, lest they find themselves in the same sticky situation as Zhang.
Top image by UDN.