6% of babies born in Taiwan this year took mother's surname: MOI

Taipei, Nov. 23 (CNA) A record 6 percent of babies born in Taiwan in the first nine months of 2025 took their mother's surname, mostly as the result of an agreement between the mother and father, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) said Sunday.

Through the end of September, 4,884 of the 81,381 babies born in Taiwan in 2025 took their mother's surname, or around 6 percent, up from 5.2 during the same period in 2020, the MOI said in newly released population data.

Meanwhile, 93.9 percent of babies took the father's surname, while less than 0.1 percent were given a traditional Indigenous name, the data showed.

By municipality, Taitung and Hualien in eastern Taiwan had the most children take their mother's surname, with 16.8 percent and 16.5 percent, respectively, followed by Pingtung (9.0 percent), Nantou (7.4 percent) and Keelung (7.3 percent), the ministry said.

Yang Wen-shan (楊文山), an adjunct research fellow at Academia Sinica's Institute of Sociology, told the Taiwan Public Television Service (PTS) that the high totals in Taitung and Hualien were due to their large Indigenous populations, which tend to be more matriarchal in nature.

Breaking the statistics down another way, the MOI said that 79,175 babies (97.3 percent of the total) born through the end of September this year had their surnames chosen via an agreement between the mother and father.

Of the babies named by both parents, 96.5 percent took the father's surname, while 3.4 percent took the mother's surname, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, of the 2,037 babies (2.5 percent of the total) who had their surname chosen by only one parent, 99.0 percent took the mother's surname, while only 0.8 percent took the father's surname, the data showed.

Under Article 1059 of Taiwan's Civil Code, mothers and fathers are required to jointly decide whose surname their child will take before the child is registered at a Household Registration Office.

If the parents cannot reach an agreement, the child's surname is determined by drawing lots at the registration office, the article states.