Middles names and security accounts

[RetireJapan]

Good news! I went to the city office again and manage to register my alias this time! Didn't even need my wife, just needed to be served by someone who knew what they were doing

Now I need to change the name of all of my accounts to match, as the alias is in katakana (you can't use English letters). Bit of a hassle, but once it is done I should be good to go.

Possibly the news is not quite as good as you think it is: some banks/companies refuse to use aliases for account names. My alias is kanji, and some banks will let me use it and others will not.

Good luck!

[Quinoa]

What Ben said, unfortunately... Tried this a few years ago, but both MUFJ and SMBC Nikko refused to use my alias (even though it would save them the headache of having to manage all 14 Katakana in my name).

[jcherni]

And to think that there are foreign friends of mine who willingly give middle names to their kids (which are going to be raised in Japan)...


I recently applied for PR, and while gathering the documents I could see the sheer amount of different variations of my name across several documents.
It's amazing.

[imaginatorium]

Yes, I have been amazed at some of the choices made by people I know. One thing is the "John Taro Smith" / 山田太郎 idea. (Did you hear that recently there was some movement in France towards giving all children both parents' names, with the interesting consequence that in 10 generations people will have to remember 1024 surnames, probably including different spellings of several common ones.)

We have three kids, and they have exactly 11 letters between them, or 8 letters and one kanji. I hope we didn't overdo it, but Terry has had encephalonobashiboumondai syndrome.

[dango]

My name change on Rakuten Shouken has gone through, so it now matches my alias.

I'm pretty sure my Card name change will be fine, the only worry is Bank. As it is not my main bank account (my plan was to make it so once everything else is set up), if the name change isn't accepted, I could try closing the account and creating a new one with the alias name.

I plan to have kids soon and will not be giving them middle names.

[jcherni]

Did you hear that recently there was some movement in France towards giving all children both parents' names

In my home country it is customary (but not obligatory) to give the kids both the father and mother surnames (as I have myself), but the following generation only gets the surnames (very last name) of their immediate parents. So you rarely have more than 2 surnames.
I believe it is common on many countries as well, especially on Europe and Latin America, isn't it?.

[jcherni]

I'm pretty sure my Card name change will be fine, the only worry is Bank. As it is not my main bank account (my plan was to make it so once everything else is set up), if the name change isn't accepted, I could try closing the account and creating a new one with the alias name.

Actually, I remembered I did a name change on Yucho several years ago, and it was actually a quite smooth and painless process.
My name is registered there complete (albeit in katakana and in a weird order, see below).

When I renewed my Zairyuu Card at the time the person in the immigration office changed the order of my names to FIRST, LAST, MIDDLE NAMES for some unknown reason, and when I went to Yucho the clerk suggested me to change the name in the account to match the Zairyuu Card to prevent headaches in the future. It took one hour in the agency maybe? (and then a couple of days for them to send the updated card and book)

However it turned out that my current Zairyuu Card has my name yet in a different order (which surprisingly matches my passport! yey), so the change I did at the time was for nothing, really...

[captainspoke]

Some years ago when the tax office wanted to deduct money for that, at first there was a catch and it wouldn't go thru because my bank account name was different. I talked to the bank (local/regional), and without changing anything, account name or tax name, I guess it was solved in the back somehow, and has worked ever since.

Meantime, reading about all the troubles people have with banks, investment accounts, credit cards, and so on, I've avoided applying for another card. (Just got a renewed one in the mail, new date, and didn't have to show ID to receive it.)

For a black/macabre angle, imagine a spouse having to deal with a different name on a death certificate, and having to somehow close out various cards and accounts...

Besides leaving behind a file containing passwords, account numbers, and all that, I wonder if there's any way to smooth out the issue of differing names for survivors. Can you imagine trying to close an account, or turn off a pension, healthcare billing, or whatever, and being told "sorry the names don't match we can't do that"?

Maybe a part of the instructions left behind should read, "make sure my name is like this on the death certificate."

[dango]

Some years ago when the tax office wanted to deduct money for that, at first there was a catch and it wouldn't go thru because my bank account name was different. I talked to the bank (local/regional), and without changing anything, account name or tax name, I guess it was solved in the back somehow, and has worked ever since.

Meantime, reading about all the troubles people have with banks, investment accounts, credit cards, and so on, I've avoided applying for another card. (Just got a renewed one in the mail, new date, and didn't have to show ID to receive it.)

For a black/macabre angle, imagine a spouse having to deal with a different name on a death certificate, and having to somehow close out various cards and accounts...

Besides leaving behind a file containing passwords, account numbers, and all that, I wonder if there's any way to smooth out the issue of differing names for survivors. Can you imagine trying to close an account, or turn off a pension, healthcare billing, or whatever, and being told "sorry the names don't match we can't do that"?

Maybe a part of the instructions left behind should read, "make sure my name is like this on the death certificate."

This is what a will is for. If you are married, have kids or own property, you should talk to a lawyer and get a will prepared.

My wife and I will prepare wills of our own when we build a house (hopefully within the next few years).

[captainspoke]

Some years ago when the tax office wanted to deduct money for that, at first there was a catch and it wouldn't go thru because my bank account name was different. I talked to the bank (local/regional), and without changing anything, account name or tax name, I guess it was solved in the back somehow, and has worked ever since.

Meantime, reading about all the troubles people have with banks, investment accounts, credit cards, and so on, I've avoided applying for another card. (Just got a renewed one in the mail, new date, and didn't have to show ID to receive it.)

For a black/macabre angle, imagine a spouse having to deal with a different name on a death certificate, and having to somehow close out various cards and accounts...

Besides leaving behind a file containing passwords, account numbers, and all that, I wonder if there's any way to smooth out the issue of differing names for survivors. Can you imagine trying to close an account, or turn off a pension, healthcare billing, or whatever, and being told "sorry the names don't match we can't do that"?

Maybe a part of the instructions left behind should read, "make sure my name is like this on the death certificate."

This is what a will is for. If you are married, have kids or own property, you should talk to a lawyer and get a will prepared.

My wife and I will prepare wills of our own when we build a house (hopefully within the next few years).

How would a will help with different names on different accounts? Eg, my will kind of matches the name in my passport (different order), and neither of those are in katakana. One bank acct is in english, but no middle name (first, last); another is in katakana (last, first), and the credit card connected to that is in english (but first, last).

I don't see how a will would help if the differences needed to be resolved.