A Taiwanese official has been urging people to stop changing their names to ‘Salmon’ – yes, I am not joking.
What caused this salmon mayhem in the first place? It all started with a particular promotion from a sushi chain called Sushiro. For two days only, as long as your name on your ID consists of the characters of ‘gui yu’, (gui yu is salmon in Mandarin), you and up to five other friends can have an all-you-can-eat salmon feast for free.
If your name has characters with the same sound as ‘gui’ or ‘yu’ (but not the actual characters that make up the word salmon) you’re also in luck – you can get 30-50% off your meal.
So, would you change your name legally to ‘salmon’ to get a free meal? More than 100+ Taiwanese residents, mainly youngsters, have changed their name to consist of the two characters.
Taiwan allows people to change their name up to three times officially in their lifetime, but, do you see yourself doing so?
Fun side stories:
- A man changed his name to salmon, rocked up to the restaurant and satisfied his salmon cravings, then later found out he indeed went to the wrong sushi chain at the counter.
- A Taiwanese resident went along with the name changing salmon hype. Found out from his mother his name had already been changed twice when he was little. He is now stuck with the name, Salmon, forever.
- Another resident decided to break the record of the longest name. Their name consists of 36 characters that include names of seafood like salmon, sea urchin, lobster and scallop.
