Question: A foreigner got married with a Vietnamese citizen. They are living in Viet Nam. The couple had a baby and decided to select Vietnamese nationality for their son. 

They hoped to change the middle name in the child’s name. However, the judicial office under the Vinh City People’s Committee refused to recognize the new name and they argued that a Vietnamese citizen who has a foreign mother or father is allowed to have only a single English word in their name. In this case, the son’s name includes only his father’s family name without any other English word. 

What are the regulations on foreign given names?

Answer: According to the Ministry of Justice, under Point 1 and Point 3, Article 26, the 2015 Civil Code, each natural person has right to have a family name and a given name (including a middle name, if any). The family and given names of a person shall be the family and given names in the birth certificate of such person.  

The naming is restricted in case it violates lawful rights and interests of other people and contravenes basic principles of civil law prescribed in Article 3 of this Code.

The name of each Vietnamese citizen must be in Vietnamese or other ethnic minority languages of Vietnam and not include any figure or any symbol other than a letter.

Hence, in this case, the family is not allowed to change the middle name of their son./.