[Sports Seoul | Reporter Bae Woo-geun] TV personality Eva Popiel shared photos of her resident ID and passport after becoming a naturalized Korean citizen — and confessed she’s still wrestling with whether to change her name. She even revealed a few name ideas she’d been toying with, which got a lot of laughs.
On May 9, Eva posted a video on her YouTube channel titled “What happens to your name when you naturalize, and what about British citizenship?”
In the clip, she gave a quick update about a recent visit to KBS and said, “I posted my resident ID and passport on social media and YouTube, and I received a lot of congratulations.”
The most common question, she said, was about her name. “I wondered about that too. I thought my name would automatically change to a Korean name, but it doesn’t,” she explained. “They simply transcribe the name from the British passport into Hangul.”
Her registered name currently appears as Eva Sachiko Popiel. She laughed about a passport-day mishap: “When I made my Korean passport for the first time, my name was so long that I had to get a special stamp at Incheon Airport.”
She was candid about the idea of legally changing her name. “If I want a Korean name, I’d have to go to family court to apply for a name change,” she said. “I’m debating whether that’s really necessary.”
Eva shared a couple of Korean name options she’d considered. Since her husband’s family name is Lee, she thought about “Lee Eva.” She also considered “Lee Haeng-ja,” inspired by the meaning of her Japanese name, Sachiko.
Sachiko (幸子) means “happy child” in Japanese. The idea behind “Lee Haeng-ja” was sweet, but viewers flooded the comments with reactions.
Eva invited her subscribers to weigh in: “If you have a better Korean name, tell me in the comments.”
Comments included reactions like, “I cracked up at ‘Haeng-ja,’ but whatever the surname, ‘Eva’ is pretty and cool,” “I vote she keep her name,” and “Haeng-ja sounds like an older-generation name. Trends cycle, but people already know and like Eva, so unless there’s a strong reason to change it, she should stick with it.”
The video also addressed nationality. Eva explained, “I originally had Japanese and British citizenship, but Japan doesn’t allow dual nationality, so I used my British passport from age 20.”
She added, “When I obtained Korean citizenship, I signed a pledge not to exercise foreign nationality. That means I can no longer claim benefits as a British citizen and must use my Korean passport when I travel.”
kenny@sportsseoul.com
