Is Char Seow Pao the same as Seow Pao Char?

The other day, on Facebook, I accidentally read a friend’s friend unpleasant experience opening a banking account in UK.  The reason was: Chee Cheong Fan is not the same as Cheong Fan Chee. 

I believe many Malaysian Chinese, Singaporeans or Hong Kist have 3-syllabus names, such as Chee Cheong Fan where the surname a.k.a. last name is Chee and the given name a.k.a. first name is Cheong Fan.  Our passports clearly state that the name is Chee Cheong Fan.  When it comes to filling up forms in countries such as UK and US, we have to split the name into First Name, Middle Name and Last Name.  Hence, Chee Cheong Fan <> Cheong Fan Chee.

I used to be very naive.  I insist on writing my First Name=Seow Pao, Last Name=Char with no Middle Name.  But some computer system does not allow a space, “ ”, in between names and it automatically concatenates the two words of my first name.  Hence, on some of my important documents, I’m known as Seowpao Char, totally different from Char Seow Pao or Seow Pao Char.  As of this point, I’m Char Seow Pao, I’m Seow Pao Char and I’m also Seowpao Char.

Back in Malaysia or Singapore, if you are Char Seow Pao, then you carry the name of Char Seow Pao regardless of your marital status.  Here in the US, a married woman has to drop her last name and replace it with her husband’s surname, upon getting married.  If Seow Pao Char is married to Mai Chee Loh, she has to change her name to Seow Pao Loh.  Now, all my governmental documents bear the name of Seow Pao Loh.  Char Seow Pao = Seow Pao Char = Seowpao Char = Seow Pao Loh. 

Congratulations to Chee Cheong Fan.  He finally managed to open a banking account in UK on his 4th visit to the bank.