Hong Kong name

Personal names in Hong Kong reflect the co-official status of Cantonese and English in Hong Kong. A total of 25.8% of Hongkongers have English given names as part of their legal names; a further 38.3% of Hongkongers go by English given names even though those are not part of their legal names. The two figures add up to a total of 64.1% of Hongkongers having English names, according to a survey of 2049 respondents in 2015.[1]

For example, a person who has Kuo as his surname, Chi Yung as his Cantonese given name and Peter as his legal English given name, would have his name rendered as either "KUO Chi Yung Peter" or "KUO Chi Yung, Peter" (with comma) on court papers,[2] in the format of "Surname + Cantonese given name + optional comma + English given name", though non-court commentaries might render his name as Peter Kuo Chi-yung (with hyphen) or Peter Kuo.[3]

  1. ^ Bacon-Shone, John; Bolton, Kingsley; Luke, Kang Kwong (2015). Language use, proficiency and attitudes in Hong Kong (PDF). Hong Kong: Social Sciences Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong. p. 29.
  2. ^ Dataprep (HK) Ltd v. KUO Chi Yung Peter [1974], Hong Kong Law Reports 383.
  3. ^ "Transfers from the Labour Tribunal and Procedural Problems in the Supreme Court - Dataprep (H.K.) Ltd. v. Peter Kuo Chi-yung". Hong Kong Law Journal. 5. 1975.