Taiwan’s Interior Ministry intervened Wednesday and urged people to think twice before changing their name after an increase in applications.
Under the country’s Names Act, people have the right to do so only three times, meaning in theory, someone could get stuck with the name.
According to Taiwan’s official Central News Agency (CNA), nearly 100 people have registered to change their name as part of a promotion of the Sushiro restaurant chain, which runs until the end of Thursday.
On Monday, the chain announced that it would give away free sushi to anyone whose name included the characters 鮭 and 魚, which CNA said together means “salmon” in Chinese, a key ingredient in the delicacy.
This person, in addition to five guests, could receive a free meal, as long as they prove the name change using the official ID.
In a post on Facebook, Sushiro said he would also offer minor discounts to anyone who added just one of those Chinese characters to his name as part of the promotion, CNA said.
The promotion sparked a name change at Taiwan’s home registry offices, according to CNA.
CNA reported that a man who changed his name on Wednesday told officials he planned to change it once he took advantage of the promotion.
Another registry office, according to the CNA, said it had managed to deter another man from changing it completely, while a third man said a separate man was moving forward with an official name change to “salmon,” though he had already changed his name once before.