TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The interior ministry is considering restoring the original name of a girl whose father changed her name to include the Chinese character “bad (壞)."
KMT Taoyuan Councilor Huang Ching-ping (黃敬平) highlighted the case at a question session on Thursday (Nov. 7). Huang said the father changed the last character of the girl's three-character name to punish her for bad behavior.
Huang said the change was made without the girl’s consent and that she “nearly collapsed” when she heard about it. He said teachers and household office staff tried to prevent the change, but it was granted as no regulations existed to prevent it.
Taoyuan Mayor Chang San-cheng (張善政) said if there are ways to reverse the name change it would be done as soon as possible. He said he hoped the girl’s legal guardians could protect her from further harm.
Taoyuan Department of Social Affairs said it requested the interior ministry to restore the girl's original name on Wednesday (Nov. 6), per CNA. The department said it requested the change despite it being made legally.
The girl’s original name should be restored because the change violated her rights and did not adhere to the spirit of protecting children, the department said.
The interior ministry told Taiwan News on Friday (Nov. 8) that it was discussing a request to restore the girl's name with local authorities but had not yet made a decision.
Taiwan’s Name Act does not prevent the use of certain characters in names. The act states that names must be taken from Chinese characters found in the education ministry’s official dictionary and other common equivalents.