Taiwan lawmakers debate changing laws on name changes

Some of the hundreds of people who legally changed their name to Salmon in exchange for free sushi have been stuck with it because Taiwanese parliamentarians have debated changing their legal limits on name changes.

In what was later dubbed Salmon chaos 331 people took part, paying a nominal administration fee to legally call themselves names such as Salmon Dream and Dancing Salmon. At the time the government was critical of the promotion, he asked people to be rational and complained that the stunt created pointless extra work for Taiwan's paperwork-heavy bureaucracy.

Some participants built social media following international media attention, while others ran small businesses that took friends to the restaurant for a fee. Most people returned to their normal names after the two-day promotion ended, but more than one year on some have hit a roadblock that the government only allows people to change their names three times.

On Thursday, lawmakers in Taiwan s national parliament debated proposed amendments to the names ordinance, with members from both the government and opposition parties calling for changes to help those stuck as Salmons, or to prevent salmon chaos. After the salmon chaos incident, some people had already changed their name three times, but now they have no way to change them back, said Chiu Hsien-chih, a New Power Party legislator.

Other legislators, including the governing Democratic Progress Party DPP and the main opposition Kuomintang, called for it to be made more difficult.

Our trust in civic rationality is too low, said Kuan Bi-ling, who opposes an increase to restrictions as an intrusion into people's daily lives.

On Taiwanese social media residents were critical of the debate, saying adults should be more responsible and that this was a waste of the legislature's time.

How can we change the law to protect those who sell their personality for the sake of benefits? One commenter said something.