Traditionally, the father's family name is the first choice for a Chinese kid's surname, although the use of the mother's name is not uncommon¹.

But babies could soon have a surname combining the parents' family names.

So, if a father's family name is Zhou, and the mother, Zhu, the baby could have four options for the surname: Zhou, Zhu, Zhouzhu or Zhuzhou.

A regulation on name registration² drafted by the Ministry³ of Public Security (MPS) allows a baby to have the combined surname.

The ministry said it had distributed the draft to police departments across the country for comments.

The Marriage Law stipulates⁴ that a newborn can have the surname of either the father or the mother, but does not mention a combined surname.

A nationwide survey released by the MPS in April shows that about 85 percent of the Chinese share only 100 surnames, with Wang being the most popular.

There are 93 million Wangs in China, followed closely by 92 million with the family name Li and 88 million called Zhang.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences has reported that at least 100,000 people share the name of "Wang Tao", making it the most popular.

Such names cause great trouble in daily life; and the new regulation can vastly reduce name repetition , said a household registration officer with the Beijing public security bureau.

Du Ruofu, a researcher on Chinese surnames who retired⁵ from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said combined surnames are becoming popular with young, modern couples, though they are not strictly⁶ permitted by law.

He said including the mother's surname also shows gender⁷ equality and a clear stipulation⁸ would promote the trend.

Seven of the 10 people China Daily randomly⁹ surveyed said they welcome such a change, with the rest against it.

从我国传统来看，孩子一般随爸爸姓，尽管也不乏跟妈妈姓的情况。

但孩子们很快就能拥有结合父母双姓的姓氏了。

如果爸爸姓周，妈妈姓朱，那么孩子的姓可以有四种选择：周、朱、周朱或朱周。

根据公安部日前起草的姓名登记条例，子女可以用父母双姓起名。

公安部表示，这一条例已下发至全国各级公安机关供研究讨论。

婚姻法》规定，子女可以随父姓，也可随母姓，但没有提到可以用父母双姓。

公安部四月公布的一项全国性调查显示，约85%的中国人共有仅100个姓，“王”姓为第一大姓。

我国姓王的人数达到9300万，“李”姓和“张”姓紧随其后，分别为9200万和8800万。

据中科院统计，全国至少有10万人叫“王涛”，使之成为用得最多的名字。

北京市公安局户籍登记科的一位警官说，这样的名字在日常生活中造成了很大的麻烦；这一新规定可以大大减少重名的情况。

中科院已退休的中国姓氏研究员杜若甫说，给子女起名用组合姓在年轻、时髦的夫妇中越来越普遍，虽然这在法律上没有明确被允许。

他说，把母亲的姓加进来也是男女平等的一种体现，有了明文规定将推动这一趋势的发展。

中国日报》的一项随机调查显示，70%的人对这一改革表示赞同，其余的人则持相反态度。