Please help! Have two first names and not sure how to fill up on forms!

[Kittycaramel 0]

I have always been very confused about how to write out my full name to fit the first, middle and last name category. I have both a Chinese name and an English name so they should both be considered my first name.

In the US, names are written out as First name followed by Last name, however in my birth country, my last name goes first. For example if my last name is Lee, and my chinese name is Jiaxin and my english name is Nicole, it is written in my passport and deed poll as Lee Jiaxin, Nicole. Both Jiaxin and Nicole as my first names.

However, on my Marriage certificate, my name is written out as Nicole Jiaxin Lee . Now I am confused as to whether or not I should fill in my name for my AOS paperwork as Nicole, Jiaxin OR as Jiaxin, Nicole. At the clerks office, I thought that since they were both my first names it should not matter which name came first but now I am TERRIFIED that this might cause my AOS application to be denied!!!

I just went for my immigration physicals and I have also filled in my name there as Nicole, Jiaxin (Under first name).

What should I do? :help:

[C-ma'am 684]

I have always been very confused about how to write out my full name to fit the first, middle and last name category. I have both a Chinese name and an English name so they should both be considered my first name.

In the US, names are written out as First name followed by Last name, however in my birth country, my last name goes first. For example if my last name is Lee, and my chinese name is Jiaxin and my english name is Nicole, it is written in my passport and deed poll as Lee Jiaxin, Nicole. Both Jiaxin and Nicole as my first names.

However, on my Marriage certificate, my name is written out as Nicole Jiaxin Lee . Now I am confused as to whether or not I should fill in my name for my AOS paperwork as Nicole, Jiaxin OR as Jiaxin, Nicole. At the clerks office, I thought that since they were both my first names it should not matter which name came first but now I am TERRIFIED that this might cause my AOS application to be denied!!!

I just went for my immigration physicals and I have also filled in my name there as Nicole, Jiaxin (Under first name).

What should I do? :help:

What does your name look like on your passport and what visa are you adjusting from?

[Kittycaramel 0]

What does your name look like on your passport and what visa are you adjusting from?

On my passport it looks like Lee Jiaxin, Nicole because the Last name comes before the first name. On my Marriage Certificate it is Nicole, Jiaxin Lee

I'm adjusting from an F-1 Visa that has been out of status since June 2012

Edited October 15, 2012 by Kittycaramel

[C-ma'am 684]

I moved your post to the appropriate forum for AOS from Work/Student & Tourist visas (the other is for family visas).

Oh my that one is a puzzle. I'm pretty sure that other people from China has had to do what you are doing. Let's wait for others to respond.

In the case no one does, send me a private message and I'll move your post to the regional forums to see if someone can help there. As a suggestion, please complete your profile with the F-1 visa info and the your country of origin, as it helps us help you.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

On my passport it looks like Lee Jiaxin, Nicole because the Last name comes before the first name. On my Marriage Certificate it is Nicole, Jiaxin Lee

I'm adjusting from an F-1 Visa that has been out of status since June 2012

It's your personal choice honestly. By looks of your marriage certificate they've decided your name is Nicole Jiaxin. and your last name is Lee (or your married last name). So you can either choose to have your first name as Nicole and middle as Jiaxin, or you can have your whole first name as Nicole Jiaxin. or Jiaxin Nicole, Or first name Jiaxin and middle Nicole.

Basically do you want to go through life as Nicole? Or Jiaxin? If you put Nicole first (either with Jiaxin as part of the first name or as a middle name) most people will shorten it to Nicole. If you include Jiaxin as a first name some places will call you Nicole Jiaxin (Like Jackie Lynn etc..) and official documents will put Nicole Jiaxin down as your first name. If you put Jiaxin Nicole then some will just call you Jiaxin... it's up to you...

It will NOT get you denied. They might "reject" the application if it doesn't make sense to them... which is why I think you need to put Nicole Jiaxin as first, and last name as Lee (or your married name). OR you could also easily put Nicole as first, Jiaxin as middle and USCIS wouldn't care. BUT from then on, your LEGAL name would be Nicole. Jiaxin would "just" be a middle name that most people will never know or hear. If it's important to you to have people know Jiaxin as part of your name, then have Nicole Jiaxin as your first name.

Most people have no idea what my middle name is. I have no idea what some of my friends middle names are. Middle names aren't that important or discussed.

[Kittycaramel 0]

It's your personal choice honestly. By looks of your marriage certificate they've decided your name is Nicole Jiaxin. and your last name is Lee (or your married last name). So you can either choose to have your first name as Nicole and middle as Jiaxin, or you can have your whole first name as Nicole Jiaxin. or Jiaxin Nicole, Or first name Jiaxin and middle Nicole.

Basically do you want to go through life as Nicole? Or Jiaxin? If you put Nicole first (either with Jiaxin as part of the first name or as a middle name) most people will shorten it to Nicole. If you include Jiaxin as a first name some places will call you Nicole Jiaxin (Like Jackie Lynn etc..) and official documents will put Nicole Jiaxin down as your first name. If you put Jiaxin Nicole then some will just call you Jiaxin... it's up to you...

It will NOT get you denied. They might "reject" the application if it doesn't make sense to them... which is why I think you need to put Nicole Jiaxin as first, and last name as Lee (or your married name). OR you could also easily put Nicole as first, Jiaxin as middle and USCIS wouldn't care. BUT from then on, your LEGAL name would be Nicole. Jiaxin would "just" be a middle name that most people will never know or hear. If it's important to you to have people know Jiaxin as part of your name, then have Nicole Jiaxin as your first name.

Most people have no idea what my middle name is. I have no idea what some of my friends middle names are. Middle names aren't that important or discussed.

Thank you for your response! I would like to be known as Nicole not Jiaxin, in fact I wish I didn't have a chinese name so that things wouldn't be so complicated. The problem though is that Jiaxin isn't just a middle name, it is my first name and I was known by that name for 14 years until my mom decided to change the deed poll and add in an english name for me. But I am glad to know that you believe the USCIS would not be bothered with it.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Your family name is Lee. On your passport it is first (per the custom), but "last name" refers to "family name" not necessarily the order (though of course it is the custom here to have it last). "Lee" is your family name. Put that for last/family name. Whether you think you have a first and a middle name or two first names is up to you. The "first name" is also referred to more appropriately as "given name." Nicole and Jiaxin are your given names.

[huongkhin 9]

I've seen a lot of people having similar issue. I think it's best to just pick one, put the rest as your middle name to avoid confusion.

For example: my mom name is A (First) B C (middle) D (Last). The lawyer put her name as B A (First) C (middle) D (Last). That messes up a lot of thing. Her bills, credits,... Some companies' computer systems don't even let you put 2 first names.

Same thing happened to my sister, me,.. lot of my friends. I don't get it but most Vietnamese lawyers love to do it that way.

Recently on my wife EAD, they messed up her name too. I put A (First) B C (middle) D (Last) on the application. They send her the EAD card with A C (first name) B D (last name). She had to go with that name on her driver license, SSN, bank account,... We don't want to send back the EAD because she needs it to work. We'll change it if it's wrong on the green card.

Edited October 15, 2012 by huongkhin

[Kittycaramel 0]

Your family name is Lee. On your passport it is first (per the custom), but "last name" refers to "family name" not necessarily the order (though of course it is the custom here to have it last). "Lee" is your family name. Put that for last/family name. Whether you think you have a first and a middle name or two first names is up to you. The "first name" is also referred to more appropriately as "given name." Nicole and Jiaxin are your given names.

I didn't know that it was up to me. When I was at the clerk's office applying for a marriage license, I asked the clerk if she could just put my chinese name as my middle name so that it'll be initialed like my husband's middle name. She said she couldn't do that and if it is in fact considered a first name it needs to be under the first name category. She couldn't figure out if she should have put Nicole or Jiaxin first so I told her to do it as Nicole Jiaxin Lee.

[Kittycaramel 0]

I've seen a lot of people having similar issue. I think it's best to just pick one, put the rest as your middle name to avoid confusion.

For example: my mom name is A (First) B C (middle) D (Last). The lawyer put her name as B A (First) C (middle) D (Last). That messes up a lot of thing. Her bills, credits,... Some companies' computer systems don't even let you put 2 first names.

Same thing happened to my sister, me,.. lot of my friends. I don't get it but most Vietnamese lawyers love to do it that way.

Recently on my wife EAD, they messed up her name too. I put A (First) B C (middle) D (Last) on the application. They send her the EAD card with A C (first name) B D (last name). She had to go with that name on her driver license, SSN, bank account,... We don't want to send back the EAD because she needs it to work. We'll change it if it's wrong on the green card.

So far I've been just merging the two names with a comma on the first name so it looks like this "Nicole, Jiaxin or Jiaxin, Nicole. I would rather just put my english name out there and have my chinese name as a middle name since I barely use it anymore but the clerk at the county's office did tell me I wasn't supposed to do that when I was applying for my marriage license. Thank you for sharing your wife's experience! I'm hoping that means even if my name confuses them, my application would not be denied!

[huongkhin 9]

If you go with both, put the one you prefer to use before the other. You can change it when you are naturalized anyway. My wife want to remove her middle name to make it as simple as possible.

My sister was so frustrated with it in the whole 5 years. When it was her turn to become a citizen, she changed her first name, remove the middle name.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

I didn't know that it was up to me. When I was at the clerk's office applying for a marriage license, I asked the clerk if she could just put my chinese name as my middle name so that it'll be initialed like my husband's middle name. She said she couldn't do that and if it is in fact considered a first name it needs to be under the first name category. She couldn't figure out if she should have put Nicole or Jiaxin first so I told her to do it as Nicole Jiaxin Lee.

Yeah, but what is considered a middle name v first name? They are both given names, and the only difference is the custom here is to be known as the first name and not the second name. (though of course there are exceptions, think of F. Scott Fitzgerald, he went by his middle name and his first name got an initial). In other countries, people get many given names and no middle names, but if they go by the first of the names, what is the difference really? If you are translating things across countries, I don't think there is a set way to do it, especially for something like this.

I do know on the Olympics now they capitalize the family name, so for Chinese Athletes, it says LEE Bo, so you know that Lee is the family name even though it goes first in China. I think that's a good system, but USCIS isn't set up to do that.

I honestly don't think the woman at the marriage office could make sense of what your passport said, so she was just going off of what you said to her.

If I were you I could fill out Nicole first name, Jiaxin middle name, and Lee last name. Then you have a choice to be Nicole Jiaxin Lee or Nicole J. Lee (there is usually an option on some IDs to use middle name or middle initial only).