<p>A top Taiwanese official issued a plea on Thursday for people to stop changing their name to 'salmon' after dozens made the unusual move to take advantage of a restaurant promotion.</p>.<p>In a phenomenon that has been dubbed "Salmon Chaos" by local media, around 150 mostly young people flocked to government offices in recent days to officially register a change in their name.</p>.<p>The cause of this sudden enthusiasm was a chain of sushi restaurants.</p>.<p>Under the two day promotion which ended Thursday, any customer whose ID card contained "Gui Yu" -- the Chinese characters for salmon -- would be entitled to an all-you-can-eat sushi meal along with five friends.</p>.<p>Taiwan allows people to officially change their name up to three times.</p>.<p>But Taiwanese officials were not amused.</p>.<p>"This kind of name-change not only wastes time but causes unnecessary paperwork," deputy interior minister Chen Tsung-yen told reporters as he urged the public to "cherish administrative resources".</p>.<p>"I hope everyone can be more rational about it," he added.</p>.<p>Local media ran interviews with people who took advantage of the promotion.</p>.<p>"I just changed my name this morning to add the characters 'Bao Cheng Gui Yu' and we already ate more than Tw$7,000 ($235)," a college student surnamed Ma told TVBS news channel in southern Kaohsiung city.</p>.<p>Roughly translated, Ma's new moniker means: "Explosive Good Looking Salmon".</p>.<p>"I've changed my first name to salmon and two of my friends also did," a woman surnamed Tung told SET TV. "We'll just change our names back afterwards."</p>.<p>Other salmon-themed names reported in local media included "Salmon Prince," "Meteor Salmon King" and "Salmon Fried Rice"</p>.<p>The United Daily News reported that one resident decided to add a record 36 new characters to his name, most of them seafood themed, including the characters for "abalone", "crab" and "lobster".</p>
<p>A top Taiwanese official issued a plea on Thursday for people to stop changing their name to 'salmon' after dozens made the unusual move to take advantage of a restaurant promotion.</p>.<p>In a phenomenon that has been dubbed "Salmon Chaos" by local media, around 150 mostly young people flocked to government offices in recent days to officially register a change in their name.</p>.<p>The cause of this sudden enthusiasm was a chain of sushi restaurants.</p>.<p>Under the two day promotion which ended Thursday, any customer whose ID card contained "Gui Yu" -- the Chinese characters for salmon -- would be entitled to an all-you-can-eat sushi meal along with five friends.</p>.<p>Taiwan allows people to officially change their name up to three times.</p>.<p>But Taiwanese officials were not amused.</p>.<p>"This kind of name-change not only wastes time but causes unnecessary paperwork," deputy interior minister Chen Tsung-yen told reporters as he urged the public to "cherish administrative resources".</p>.<p>"I hope everyone can be more rational about it," he added.</p>.<p>Local media ran interviews with people who took advantage of the promotion.</p>.<p>"I just changed my name this morning to add the characters 'Bao Cheng Gui Yu' and we already ate more than Tw$7,000 ($235)," a college student surnamed Ma told TVBS news channel in southern Kaohsiung city.</p>.<p>Roughly translated, Ma's new moniker means: "Explosive Good Looking Salmon".</p>.<p>"I've changed my first name to salmon and two of my friends also did," a woman surnamed Tung told SET TV. "We'll just change our names back afterwards."</p>.<p>Other salmon-themed names reported in local media included "Salmon Prince," "Meteor Salmon King" and "Salmon Fried Rice"</p>.<p>The United Daily News reported that one resident decided to add a record 36 new characters to his name, most of them seafood themed, including the characters for "abalone", "crab" and "lobster".</p>