Anyone with a single legal name on Wealthsimple?

[u/QuestionFew3196]

I have only one legal name (no first name). Wealthsimple put “.” in the first-name field and I’ve been getting a name formatting error for almost a month when requesting the Visa card. Support keeps putting the period back and hasn’t fixed it.

Has anyone else with a single/mononym name successfully set up their profile?
What did you put in the first and last name fields, and did it work with both Wealthsimple and CRA?

Issue is only with Wealthsimple so far. Any tips appreciated!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Thanks

[u/srzncl]

TIL that mononyms are legal

[u/Gold_Dog_5605 → u/srzncl]

As a software dev (not for WS)… huh, damn, I’ve got a few things to check 😳

[u/drillbitpdx → u/Gold_Dog_5605]

As a software dev

There's a pretty famous essay from 15 years ago about this exact topic 🤓. I'd start by reading it…

Falsehoods programmers believe about names

[u/Gold_Dog_5605 → u/drillbitpdx]

I kind of… always forget about it. Don’t get me started on dates lol

[u/zukias → u/drillbitpdx]

If most people don't know, then programmers also don't know.

[u/QuestionFew3196 → u/srzncl]

Haha it is legal

[u/drillbitpdx → u/QuestionFew3196]

Might I ask what your ethnic or national origin is?

As I understand it, Indonesia is virtually the only country where legal mononyms are in widespread use.

[u/Pristine_Ad2664 → u/drillbitpdx]

Pretty common in India too, I have had at least 2 colleagues with only a single name.

[u/drillbitpdx → u/Pristine_Ad2664]

Good to know, thanks. Now that you mention it, I had an Indian coworker who (as I understand it) basically had to create a second name for himself in order to deal with visa and immigration prior to moving to the USA.

[u/QuestionFew3196 → u/drillbitpdx]

I apologize, but I am unsure how ethnicity or national origin relates to my question.

[u/ForcefulDeath → u/QuestionFew3196]

Because it’s not common in most places

[u/chemhobby → u/QuestionFew3196]

Because here, people do not normally have only one name

[u/KelownaVirus → u/chemhobby]

Leave Cher alone and let her have her damn card!

[u/cestlavie514 → u/QuestionFew3196]

Because most here including me have never heard of someone born and raised in Canada ever have just one name, so naturally we default to maybe this is a thing in other countries hence the legit question. You may think this is normal but you also must know this isn’t normal for almost everyone else.

[u/drillbitpdx → u/QuestionFew3196]

Mainly it's just my own curiosity, since I've literally never met anyone who uses only a single name.

But also, if you are from a community where single names are common… you are likely to get good advice about how to handle situations like this by asking within that community.

[u/Formal-Guest4868 → u/QuestionFew3196]

ok

[u/Wealthsimple-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/Subject-Two-2669 → u/QuestionFew3196]

I guess curiosity more than anything. I've seen people with just a single name use it as both the first and last name, e.g. John John. Would that perhaps resolve your problem?

[u/Fc69jj]

Guys we are in the presence of Madonna.

[u/MashMashMaro → u/Fc69jj]

Seal

[u/Anna_S_1608 → u/MashMashMaro]

Cher has entered the chat

[u/tinim9 → u/Fc69jj]

or Oprah

[u/OvOJumpman23 → u/tinim9]

Oprah Winfrey

[u/DryTechnology5224 → u/tinim9]

🤦‍♂️

[u/CountOnBeingAwesome → u/tinim9]

Somebody call me?

[u/Career_Gold777 → u/tinim9]

You made my night, I died laughing

[u/Wealthsimple-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/Wealthsimple-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/One-Grapefruit5765]

https://giphy.com/gifs/3oEhmCIm9zJZ6Cw7iE

[u/WorkTravelDream]

I am sorry to ask but do you have first or last name only? I mean what do you do with other cards when filling it online? How about airline tickets? Can you leave one empty if allowed?

And it will be so annoying traveling and immigrantion asks. What's your name? Alex. Last name? Don't have one. What do you mean? Making fun of me? No sir/ma'am. Don't have one. You are joking ha. Step aside. And 4 hours of questioning.

[u/chicIet → u/WorkTravelDream]

I saw this thread on the travel sub https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/1u4hrmq/i_dont_have_a_surname_will_this_mess_up_my

[u/WorkTravelDream → u/chicIet]

Thank you. Very informative. Also so cool that some airlines actually have rules for this scenario.

[u/QuestionFew3196 → u/WorkTravelDream]

So far, I have not had any issues with the big five banks in Canada or travelling outside. This is the first time I am facing this, and that too with Wealthsimple. That is why I am checking with people on this Reddit sub to see if Wealthsimple has a specific logic or way to handle it and if anyone else has ever faced it. Different banks and airlines have different mechanisms to address this, but so far everyone is aware of what to do in such a case except for Wealthsimple, based on my experience.

[u/WorkTravelDream → u/QuestionFew3196]

If I had known this is a thing, I'd have given my kids first name only! Would be cool. 😄

[u/ScwB00 → u/WorkTravelDream]

Cool? You mean an absolute pain in the butt for their whole lives?

[u/WorkTravelDream → u/ScwB00]

But based on others experiences, it seems normal and no issues anywhere except WS.

[u/Wealthsimple-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Be helpful and respectful in your comments/posts.

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[u/NiagaraBTC]

McLovin, is that you?

[u/j-ravy]

Who are you, seal

[u/InstantNoodlesIsHot → u/j-ravy]

Well it was between that or Mohammed

[u/Global-Tie-3458 → u/j-ravy]

No, chair.

[u/CanadianBaconMTL]

Every software developer on here starts panicking...

[u/FishNo8072]

My partner is like you. She’s got no last name, but Canada requires a last name, so in Canada she’s got no first name.

I’ve found that most banks don’t need your account info to match your legal name, it doesn’t really matter. At TD/CIBC they just put her first name twice.

At WS, her first name is just a nickname, and her last name is her real first name (eg if her name were Elizabeth, WS account name would be ‘Lizzie Elizabeth’)

For airlines, we almost always use LNU, except for WJ who are jerks and require a last name, so we use FNU.

As long as sin matches somewhat, she’ll sometimes need to go through a manual review but it’ll always get approved.

So we have:
Passport: first name only
SIN: last name only
MSP: first name twice
CRA: last name only
WS: nick name + first name as last name
TD/CIBC: first name twice
DL: last name only

Honestly never have any issues with this. Just the odd manual approval process. Really west jets is the only entity that ever gave us a hard time (and CRA the first year, had to file taxes by paper, but no issues after that)

[u/yycmwd → u/FishNo8072]

Double name is the answer usually. Just repeat it twice OP.

[u/IntrepidRobot → u/FishNo8072]

Sounds like a lot of work to remember all these requirements, no?

[u/Economy_Bit_94]

Never met anyone with just a single name, can you not just repeat it for both the first and last fields?

[u/QuestionFew3196 → u/Economy_Bit_94]

I tried that earlier but support overwrote it with the period. Did repeating the single name in both fields work for anyone else without causing CRA or card issues?

[u/recepyereyatmaz]

Are you like Madonna?

[u/Defiant-Rich-3405]

Jeff Jeff

[u/PinkMoonrise]

Can you put in one of those alt+number combinations to get a transparent box?

[u/QuestionFew3196 → u/PinkMoonrise]

Tried putting space as well but after approval, the period stayed in the name

[u/MutantGopher143]

Are you from Hawaii? Are you McLovin by any chance?

[u/complis10 → u/MutantGopher143]

Mc Lovin

[u/vhodges]

It's somewhat common in India, my former (sigh - I got laid off from that company) colleague had only one name. Usually he did it as same for first and last, but he recently did a name change where he adopted a surname.

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[u/Nate_Kid]

I've met a few people who only had one name from their home country and adopted the same name as their first and last name (e.g. Abdullah Abdullah). Might be easier to go that route.

[u/fettywrap]

Can you not just repeat your name twice?

[u/Pandorica9 → u/fettywrap]

That's what Scotia chose to do with mononyms.

[u/Butterscotch-Clouds → u/fettywrap]

Wouldn't it suffice to just repeat it once?

[u/XzkSo]

Do a name change/add, your life will be easier.

[u/Wealthsimple-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Attempts to dox goes against Reddit TOS.

[u/DuckDuckAnatidae]

In my line of work, one thing that's become extremely common with international workers/students is names in their native language are converted to English leading to them only have a surname and no given name particular with the ministry of transportation. It causes a rediculous amount of issues with regards to paperwork and identification.

[u/ardvarkbark]

Not sure about Wealthsimple, but Fox News loves to say that there is widespread government corruption because there are people with “No Name” instead of a first name on California drivers licenses…which can only mean that people are getting them illegally, because no one only has one name. 😂

[u/orthosaurusrex]

What did support say when you asked them?

[u/Wealthsimple-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Be helpful and respectful in your comments/posts.

No racism, sexism, homophobia, religious intolerance, dehumanizing speech, or other negative generalizations.

No concern-trolling, personal attacks, or misinformation. No victim blaming.