Most Vietnamese names have three or four words, so Nguyễn Thị Kim Hoàng Linh Phương has had a lot of problems thanks to her long name with six words.

As well as her 'friends' teasing her over the name, Phương couldn't get an ATM card from her bank as the lender's maximum name length was 26 letters, whereas her name has 33.

Due to such inconveniences, Phương desperately wanted a shorter name.

Phương, last Thursday told the Pháp luật TP HCM (HCM City Law) newspaper that Nhơn Trạch District People’s Committee in the southern province of Đồng Nai had made her dream come true and agreed to shorten her name to Nguyễn Thị Kim Phương.

On the same day, Võ Thị Xuân Đào, director of the Đồng Nai Department of Justice, told the newspaper that after the department received requests from Phương, it discussed with the Nhơn Trạch People’s Committee to help Phương complete procedure to shorten her name.

“Changing a name relates to many different important papers such as family record book and identity card. So every procedure must be done very carefully,” said Đào.

So while each child is special and unique, maybe for their sake it's best if they don't have a unique name. — VNS