For some private family reasons, my mom wanted me to change my name so began a process of finding a lawyer, getting paper work done etc. I haven't announced my new name anywhere yet other than formally changing my work email but I've been slowly making the changes on my various social media accounts, which some of you have noticed. Here's an official blog post documenting this huge change in my life, and a guide on how to change your name in Singapore, in case anyone is interested.

I never had a Chinese name in my IC and I didn't like the way my name was written in my IC either. The initial plan was simply to add my Chinese name into my official name but due some family issues, along with the fact that I never particularly liked my English name, I removed it officially.

I actually toyed with the idea of changing my English name instead of removing it but I supposed that would bring inconvenience to the people around me if they have to call me by a new name. Currently, most of my friends already call me by my Chinese name or simply my surname so that's not a huge problem.

Without a new English name on my official documents, I can still always go by my English name if the situation calls for it and my colleagues in Singapore still call me by that, which I'm fine with because I guess that's easier than having to awkwardly call me by my Chinese name.

My former Chinese name was 白宜靜, which I grew really fond of because I always felt I shared special affinity with some people with that name, however delusional that sounds hahaha, so I chose to retain the pronunciation and only had the middle character changed.

I now go by Pek Yi Tsing (白怡靜). which makes Pekyj irrelevant since it's technically Pekyt now hahaha, but hanyu pinyin wise I'm still Pekyj. Tsing instead of Jing because I didn't like how yijing looks with too many dots hahahha and also to reflect my Hokkien roots, which I've always been proud of.

Strictly speaking, 靜 would translate to ceng in Penang Hokkien (which I speak) but I'm not a fan of the initials since it would be similar to one of my ex's wth hahaha. I briefly contemplated Yi Zeng since that's how ceng sounds like anyway but thought the name looks a little too masculine for my liking so I ended up going with the alternative spelling of the Hokkien version of Jing, which is Tsing.

So there you go, a boring explanation. It feels like I'm running away from the law going through invisalign treatment, LASIK (will write about this another day) and now, name change in a span of two years, and I'd love to write an exciting story of how I'm hiding from the law as well, but I'm afraid the reason behind my name change is surprisingly straightforward and mundane.

How to change your name in Singapore?

The process was astonishingly simple and quick.

1. Decide on your new name
2. Find a lawyer to get your deed poll done up.
3. Book an appointment with your lawyer to sign your deed poll (if you're below 21, you'll need the signatures of BOTH your parents even if they're divorced)
4. And you're done!

After which, you'll have to

• You then have to apply for new IC (you can do so online and it took them only 3 days to process mine)
• Inform the Immigration so that you'll get a new passport (your new passport will only have a 8 months validity, don't ask me why)
• Bring your new documents to banks, your company's HR etc. to settle all the paperwork

The name change was simple and quick, it was all the paperwork that I had to settle days before my LASIK that worried me endlessly. But now that almost everything's done with, I can finally announce my official new name, which I've been rather excited about!

I am now contactable at tsingpekyj@gmail.com :)