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Last Names

Zel-kun

後輩
26 Aug 2007
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Hi guys, I have a question that has been bothering me: which last name do japanese children get? their father's one or their mother's one?
 
As far as I know, it is usually the father's family name that they get, in that the wife usually takes that name. In cases where the husband marries into the woman's family, and takes that family name, then the children get that family name--the wife's last name.

Any other cases would likely be far too few to be concerned with. MM
 
I won't profess to be 100% certain, but I am almost positive that according to Japanese law, Japanese-Japanese marriages force the woman to take the man's name and be put on his 戸籍 (koseki - family register) which the kids would take too. The exception is Japanese-foreign marriages in which case the foreigner doesn't have a koseki, can keep his/her last name, and God only knows what the rule is regarding the children (they can probably adopt either or both names when they register the birth in Japan).
 
I won't profess to be 100% certain, but I am almost positive that according to Japanese law, Japanese-Japanese marriages force the woman to take the man's name and be put on his ナ津仰静 (koseki - family register) which the kids would take too. The exception is Japanese-foreign marriages in which case the foreigner doesn't have a koseki, can keep his/her last name, and God only knows what the rule is regarding the children (they can probably adopt either or both names when they register the birth in Japan).

While it is true that the couple must choose either of their family name to register, it is up to the couple to decide which family name to use.
Usually husband's family name is used, but sometimes wife's family name is registered.
Children also use the same family name as their parents.
(I don't think this system is so extraordinary, I'm sure there are many countries who has the same/similar system.)

Currently 窶「v窶「w窶「テ環青ゥ (separate family names for married couples) is being discussed, though the law has not been changed yet. It is also very common that women who get married not to change their family name at work, even their official family names were changed on the documents.
 
I had no idea that they could pick either family name. Well I'll be. Thanks for the info.

I got very confused in my current job when I started delivering mail for my group, and saw a letter for someone I had never heard of before. When the nenkyu form came by to stamp each month, there was an employee in my group that I had certainly never been introduced to. Then I put two and two together and realized it must be her 'official' name.

I also had someone in my last job who changed her name from 山田 to 山川 which was just a horrid transition she shouldn't have bothered with. People who worked with her before the marriage would have trouble remembering the new one, and people who worked with her after the marriage only knew the new one, and it confused everyone because she'd get called two different names with relatively equal authority.
 
Realize, too, that some women will marry but keep their maiden names in the office, as undrentide wrote, because it is less confusing, and it offers some privacy.

Can't say about J-J marriages, but in my own marriage, my wife had 6 months or so to decide whether to take my name or keep her own. That change is pretty simple, and I think if she had waited longer than that, she still could have changed, but it would have taken a heckuva lot of paper chasing.

2002 article on J husband taking J wife's name.
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms...d=2930&purchase_type=ITM&item_id=0286-7386839
(FYI, my American cousin took his J wife's name. Didn't seem to be such an uproar.)

This (undated) report says husband and wife can take either person'S name, but that 98% of the time it is the husband's name. Sadly, this report's reference for that tidbit is a dead link.
Network Communication Brings Opportunity for Minority: Identity of Woman at Home

This (ca.2001) article also says they can take either name, but cites no references.
Whose Family Name Upon Marriage? | The Law Office of Jeremy D. Morley
 
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