Sunday, October 15, 2006

They Changed Our Names!!!

The Filipino law states that a child born here can be given a first name, but the child's middle name will be the mother's maiden name. Since we had already picked William Drew as the first and middle name, and since our son was not going to be given Filipino citizenship, I balked when they told me this. The kind lady at the records dept. offered to let me go to the government office and plead my case, I did, and lost. I called the embassy and they explained that though he would become William Drew Greathouse Devonshire (William Drew being a two part first name) when they made the American birth certificate they would drop the Greathouse. So, when I returned to the hospital, I agreed to go along with this. When they called me to sign the birth certificate, I was shocked to find out that they had changed all of our names! I was now David Charles Yanssens Devonshire and my wife was now Christine Penelope Bryant Greathouse. I explained that though that was the custom and law here, that in America it wasn't and those are not our names. She didn't seem to understand my complaint, and after a fruitless discussion, I let it go. Hmmm...I came here to hopefully help change some lives, and got my name changed! Maybe I should have wrestled with the records dept. lady til the breaking of the day and gotten a better name....Gen 32:24-28

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is so weird!!!! Think of it this way, now you can say "it's true, I really do have another name" if someone asks.
I am not sure how that will go as Will gets older. Maybe you can get the problem fixed next time you are Stateside. I am sorry the Embassy didn't help you....I thought that's what they are there for, to help Americans in other countries...hmmmm..
Well I hope there is a way around this situation and it gets resolved soon.
Blessings from Deutschland!
Sis Dawn

Anonymous said...

Lol! You will have many stories to share with William one day!!

Anonymous said...

Wow that is really crazy. Hopefully they can fix it later on!