Taiwanese people stuck with the name ‘Salmon’ after sushi promotion

The government was critical of the sushi promotion at the time, and one year later it is still causing problems Photograph: Alina Buzunova/Alamy

Taiwanese parliamentarians have debated changing legal limits on name changes, after some of the hundreds of people who legally altered their name to “Salmon” in return for free sushi reportedly became stuck with it.

In March 2021 restaurant chain Sushiro ran a promotion offering free all-you-can-eat sushi for a whole table to anyone with the Chinese characters for salmon, “gui yu”, in their name. In what was later dubbed “Salmon chaos”, 331 people took part, paying a nominal administration fee to legally call themselves names including “Salmon Dream” and “Dancing Salmon”.