Parents hope to give their child a good name, either for good luck or convenience, but it is becoming clear that some names are too "individualized" to be recorded on their Chinese hukou (residence permit).

Beijing Morning Post reports that a Mr. Wang in Zhengzhou encountered such a problem when he went to the police station to register the hukou for his child whom he named "@ Wang" because @ is pronounced similar to "Ai Ta" (love him or her). However, the police refused his petition, saying that English letters and symbols can only be included on a hukou if they are translated into Chinese–since @ is a symbol that cannot be translated, it could not be written in the hukou.

In addition, policy states that names consisting of numbers or that do not include the family name of either parent can not be used on a hukou.