Do you have two middle names on your passport?

[budafam]

My dad will be going with us on his first cruise so we're attempting to get a passport for him. He has never had his birth certificate so we had to send for a copy. When it arrived, it had a different middle name than the one he's been using his entire life. I checked with our Clerk of Courts and they told me to just use the name that's on the birth certificate (obtaining a new certificate would be almost impossible since his church and school no longer exist). He just had his driver's license renewed and he got the new middle name on it.

Has anyone ever had this issue? Perhaps with an older person obtaining a passport? Since the birth certificate and driver's license will match, that's all he needs, correct?

 

[jahber]

Whatever is on the official documents needs to match. He can call himself whatever he wants--my husband goes by a completely different name in real life than his birth certificate, DL, and passport. This kind of thing isn't really that rare with older people and immigrants (like my husband's family). My mother-in-law came here from a third-world Asian country and didn't even have a last name on her birth certificate. The immigration officials gave her her father's name as her last name and voila! She now has a last name. So believe me, your dad will be fine. His situation isn't even that unusual

 

[lanejudy]

My grandmother had a similar issue. She grew up as "Sally Jane" but years later when she obtained a copy of her birth certificate it read "Jane Sally." At least in her situation, I understand that back in those days the mother remained at home on bedrest after birth and the father took the newborn for christening and such. Her father apparently wanted a different name, or simply hadn't been clued-in by her mother about the final name decision. Makes for interesting issues in today's world that's much more in-tuned with formal paperwork...

I suggest your father get his passport in the name as listed on the birth certificate. Any other name he goes by is considered "informal" like a nickname would be. As long as the documents match, it shouldn't be an issue. He can be called whatever he prefers.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[budafam]

Thank you both so much! That is very helpful! He was very worried at first but it sounds like it is very common for older people. His mom had actually passed away days after his birth so his dad may have not been aware. Thank you!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I was going to respond to your title question "Do you have two middle names on your passport?", but that's not really what you were asking.

I have two middle names on my passport: example: Mary Jane Carson Smith. I kept my maiden name as an additional middle name.

 

[krisinparis]

We pulled a copy of my husband's birth certificate and found out that his last name was spelled a different way! In that case, you can have another family member sign an affidavit that states that there was a spelling "error" and request an amended birth certificate. If it is an entirely different name, I would just use the name on the birth certificate.

 

[budafam]

Well PrincessShmoo, I thought maybe you would need to put both middle names on the passport but if just the new one will work, we'll do that. His old middle name is on his social security card.

 

[perditax]

We ran into a situation like this recently when my SO applied for his passport. Outcome still unknown.

On his BC, his FATHER's place of birth is listed as "Virginia". But he was born in Louisiana. Since forms were filled out by hand back then, my guess is some clerk saw the handwritten LA for Louisiana and misread it as VA for Virginia. His father's middle name is also spelled incorrectly by a few letters. His father is deceased and my SO is not in touch with any of that side of the family, so he went with the info as it appears on his BC. Not even sure where he would start in terms of getting it amended, plus the typos are regarding his father, not SO himself. Still kind of nervous to see how it turns out. I have no idea how far down they dig in terms of verifying each piece of parental info, and I couldn't get a straight answer online.

 

[krisinparis]

I don't think the father's name being misspelled is very important, just that all of your SO's info is the same. My DH actually had everything (minus the birth certificate) with the last name spelled one way-- social security card, school records, drivers license, passport-- I just didn't want there to be any problems in the future if his birth certificate had the last name spelled a different way. I know for a fact that his father's name as listed on my DH's birth certificate was spelled incorrectly. He always went by Alex, but his given name was Alec--- but it's listed as Alex on the birth certificate.

 

[TAK]

I worked in a Vital Records office and can pass on what we told anyone in any of these situations:

You have the right to "go by", use, or be known as any name you choose, as long as you are not doing so with intent to fraud (in other words, trying to get out of something legally, or financially, or to obtain something you are not entitled to, etc.), but you should always make sure that your legal name matches on ALL of your documents. Birth certificate, passport, driver's license, social security, your income taxes, and so on. Be consistent, when it's official. But you can use any name you like, personally, day to day. Or as an actor, or a rock star -- believe me, a lot of them file their taxes under a name you'd never recognize. ;-)

OP, they will only issue your father a passport that says what his birth certificate says. And his driver's license matches, so he's fine.

 

[Jerzee73]

What is an SO?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

What is an SO?

Maybe Significant Other?

 

[bumbershoot]

Middle names are funny things, for those of us born before, say, 1990. It was by usage for a long, long time.

My BC is First Last. That's it. In around 3rd grade I chose a middle name. When it was working-time and I got my SS card (because in a normal society you get that working-identification number once you start working), I was using my middle for everything. So my SS card has First Middle Last, as have all my DLs, all the taxes I've ever filed, and my passport.

But my BC is still First Last.

Those who are older than me, like the dad of the OP, are running into situations like this that were NEVER a problem before, because things changed over time.

OP does he have any military ID, perhaps, that might help the situation?

 

[Passholder]

I don't have a middle name on my passport. My driver's license has my middle name (from my birth certificate), my SSN card has my maiden name as my middle name, so not knowing which one to use, I left it blank.

 

[squirrel]

I have two middle names (first born) and I only use them in full (not initials) on all government documents (BC, DL, Passport). For everything else I use my middle initials or just my first and last name. Almost all of my Credit Cards just have the one middle initial, it must be too confusing for them to have two.

My youngest sister had trouble this year when she was renewing her DL. Since she was the youngest of three girls, my parents ran out of names so she didn't get a middle name. Her first name is a double name and at the motor vehicle branch they wanted to use part of her first name as her middle name. She was not impressed and tried to tell them that her name was both names. I'm not sure what happened, but they were trying to tell my sister she could only have the first part. Obviously this person has not dealt with many Catholic families as many of them have Mary as part of their first name. Going by what this person at the DL office said then my nana would have two daughters named Mary!

 

[MelSpees]

I don't think the father's name being misspelled is very important, just that all of your SO's info is the same. My DH actually had everything (minus the birth certificate) with the last name spelled one way-- social security card, school records, drivers license, passport-- I just didn't want there to be any problems in the future if his birth certificate had the last name spelled a different way. I know for a fact that his father's name as listed on my DH's birth certificate was spelled incorrectly. He always went by Alex, but his given name was Alec--- but it's listed as Alex on the birth certificate.

I had a great uncle whose name was Alexander. They pronounced the shortening, Alex, as Alec. I think it may have been indicative of the time and place (Indiana). Just for whatever it's worth.

 

[Aby]

My husband has always gone by his middle name. When we originally applied for our first passports, he filled out his actual name as First, Middle, Last, which is how it's listed on his birth certificate. However, since his drivers license at the time had his name listed as Middle, First, Last, and we were using the license as proof of identity, the passport agent made us change the passport application to match the license. Next time he renewed his drivers license, somehow they switched the name order back to what is on his birth certificate, so neither of them match the passport!

Thankfully the passport just lists first and middle names as "given" names, so it doesn't really matter, but it sort of irks my husband that not all of his documents match. Even if someone compared his passport to one of his other documents (which they never do) the names would match, they just might not be in the same order. We've never had a problem so far and I doubt we ever will. I think that all official ID should just have names listed as given and last - the order doesn't really matter, and it would sure clear up the confusion in cases like this. Of course..that'll probably never happen as it would require some sort of consensus and cooperation

Aby

 

[bcla]

My mother-in-law came here from a third-world Asian country and didn't even have a last name on her birth certificate. The immigration officials gave her her father's name as her last name and voila! She now has a last name. So believe me, your dad will be fine. His situation isn't even that unusual

Not all that unsual. I had an Indonesian coworker, and he noted that most people in Indonesia have a single name. When he arrived in the US, he used his single name as his family name and then adopted a western sounding first name. I think he adopted a western naming convention for his kids.

For a cruise, all the OP's dad will need is the passport since it serves as ID and citizenship.

 

[bcla]

Thankfully the passport just lists first and middle names as "given" names, so it doesn't really matter, but it sort of irks my husband that not all of his documents match. Even if someone compared his passport to one of his other documents (which they never do) the names would match, they just might not be in the same order. We've never had a problem so far and I doubt we ever will. I think that all official ID should just have names listed as given and last - the order doesn't really matter, and it would sure clear up the confusion in cases like this. Of course..that'll probably never happen as it would require some sort of consensus and cooperation

Aby

California's DMV was kind of strange. Driver licenses used to be first/middle/last on one line. Registration forms were always last/first/middle on one line. Neither specified order. However, the new driver licenses say "LN: <family name>" on one line, and "FN: <given name>" on the next line.

Now there are some cultures (esp Chinese, Korean, and Japanese) where the family name comes first. That makes for some interesting use in IDs. The best way I've seen to make it apparent is the way it's done in international sports with the family name in all caps. For instance, you'd see "YAO Ming". Some will use a western naming convention when they come to the US.

US passports use "surname" and not "last name". The "surname" is on one line and "given name(s)" on the next line. Whether or not the passport holder normally uses a family first or last, it goes on the passport one way with the family name on the top line.

 

[cijay]

LOL when I was living in Turkey, to get my resident card, they filled it out and because I come from Canada, they listed me as Canadian. It didn't match my European passport - which has me as a British Citizen so they had to re-do it. Because there was nobody who spoke English there, they looked at the whole name "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" and decided to list me as Irish.