TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Legislative Yuan Tuesday (March 14) passed legislation allowing Taiwanese Indigenous people to register their native names in official documentation.

The Legislative Yuan passed amendments to the Name Act (姓名條例) enabling Indigenous people to use their native language for their names on household registrations and passports. 

Previous regulations stipulated that Indigenous names could only be registered as "Han Chinese names," "Han Chinese names with Romanization," "Chinese traditional names," or "Chinese traditional names with Romanization." The amendments said Indigenous peoples may register native names following their cultural customs using Indigenous scripts as standalone names. 

In addition, the amendments said that when Indigenous peoples change their names according to their cultural customs and not for personal reasons, these changes will not be counted toward the limit on the number of name changes allowed.

The legislation specifies that Mandarin traditional names of Taiwan's Indigenous peoples may be registered along with the Indigenous native names, without being subject to the limitation stated in Article 1 of the Name Act, which requires citizens of Taiwan to register only one name.

Additionally, the amended legislation adds that the Council of Indigenous Peoples will confirm the cultural customs surrounding the native names of Indigenous peoples, and the connotations and usage for such names will be jointly determined by the Ministry of the Interior and the council. 

Individuals registered with native names at birth or during the initial household registration may apply for a change to a Mandarin name. Conversely, those who have changed to a Mandarin name may apply to revert to their native name, but both changes are limited to one time.