Student Developer Pack rejected due to Chinese legal name mismatch

[fanzheng329-tech]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Question

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Verification Help & Guidance

Hi everyone,

Hello GitHub Education team,

I am a full-time master's student at Guilin University of Electronic Technology in China.

My legal name is 范铮. My official university document shows my legal name only in Chinese, and I do not have an official English name on my university documents.

My academic email address has been verified on my GitHub account.

My Student Developer Pack application has been rejected repeatedly because of a name mismatch involving my GitHub billing information.

My legal name consists of two Chinese characters, while GitHub Billing requires separate First Name and Last Name fields. When I try to separate my Chinese legal name into First Name and Last Name, GitHub reports:

"First name is too short."

If I enter my full Chinese legal name in both fields, the billing information can be saved, but my Education application is rejected because the name does not match my academic document.

I also tried contacting GitHub Education Support, but the Support form appears to have an error. When I select the student Education application option, the form shows:

"Category hh-edu-app-deny-stu is not a valid choice."

The Subject field is also locked and cannot be edited, so I cannot submit the support request.

Could you please advise how a student with a two-character Chinese legal name should complete the GitHub Billing First Name and Last Name fields for Education verification?

I do not have an official English name and I do not want to enter an incorrect or fabricated name.

Thank you.

[allaskikda28-cyber]

Hello, we don't understand what they mean—what happened? في الجمعة، 18 سبتمبر 2026، 09:59 范铮 ***@***.***> كتب:

…

🏷️ Discussion Type Question 💬 Feature/Topic Area Verification Help & Guidance Hi everyone, Hello GitHub Education team, I am a full-time master's student at Guilin University of Electronic Technology in China. My legal name is 范铮. My official university document shows my legal name only in Chinese, and I do not have an official English name on my university documents. My academic email address has been verified on my GitHub account. My Student Developer Pack application has been rejected repeatedly because of a name mismatch involving my GitHub billing information. My legal name consists of two Chinese characters, while GitHub Billing requires separate First Name and Last Name fields. When I try to separate my Chinese legal name into First Name and Last Name, GitHub reports: "First name is too short." If I enter my full Chinese legal name in both fields, the billing information can be saved, but my Education application is rejected because the name does not match my academic document. I also tried contacting GitHub Education Support, but the Support form appears to have an error. When I select the student Education application option, the form shows: "Category hh-edu-app-deny-stu is not a valid choice." The Subject field is also locked and cannot be edited, so I cannot submit the support request. Could you please advise how a student with a two-character Chinese legal name should complete the GitHub Billing First Name and Last Name fields for Education verification? I do not have an official English name and I do not want to enter an incorrect or fabricated name. Thank you. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#208199?email_source=notifications&email_token=COW45FRNDVYKYANAJQOWOKD5PT2O5A5CNFSNUABBM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2ENFZWG5LTONUW63RPGEYDQNBQGMYTRJTSMVQXG33OVJZXKYTTMNZGSYTFMSSWK5TFNZ2KYZTPN52GK4S7MNWGSY3L>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/COW45FUMCT2565EOWFQ3XV35PT2O5AVCNFSNUABIKJSXA33TNF2G64TZHMZTAMJVG4ZTGNBUHNCGS43DOVZXG2LPNY5TCMBYGQYDGMJYUF3AE> . Triage notifications, keep track of coding agent tasks and review pull requests on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS <https://github.com/notifications/mobile/ios/COW45FTRRGU3V5DROMSB5BD5PT2O5A5CNFSNUABBM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2ENFZWG5LTONUW63RPGEYDQNBQGMYTRJTSMVQXG33OVJZXKYTTMNZGSYTFMSSWK5TFNZ2KUZTPN52GK4S7NFXXG> and Android <https://github.com/notifications/mobile/android/COW45FTPGAC23NPSLJ5W5LT5PT2O5A5CNFSNUABBM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2ENFZWG5LTONUW63RPGEYDQNBQGMYTRJTSMVQXG33OVJZXKYTTMNZGSYTFMSSWK5TFNZ2K4ZTPN52GK4S7MFXGI4TPNFSA>. Download it today! You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[fanzheng329-tech]

Hello! My GitHub Education Student Developer Pack application has been rejected multiple times because my legal name is in Chinese.

My legal name is 范铮, and my university documents show only this Chinese legal name. I do not have an official English name.

GitHub Billing requires separate First Name and Last Name fields. When I try to split my two-character Chinese legal name, GitHub says "First name is too short."

If I enter my full Chinese name in both fields, my billing information can be saved, but the Education application is rejected because the name does not match my academic document.

I also tried contacting GitHub Education Support, but the support form itself gives this error:
"Category hh-edu-app-deny-stu is not a valid choice."

So I am asking how I should enter my legal Chinese name in GitHub Billing so that it can match my university document.

[fanzheng329-tech]

I found another GitHub Community discussion from May 2026 describing the same issue with a two-character Chinese legal name and the "First name is too short" error:

https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/195990

This appears to be the same Billing name validation problem I am experiencing.

I would appreciate any guidance from the GitHub Education team on how this should be handled for Chinese legal names.

[allaskikda28-cyber]

Thanks

[kit1211]

Hi @fanzheng329-tech

Your case with legal name 范铮 (two Chinese characters) hitting First name is too short in Billing is a known Education verification gap, also reported in discussion 195990.

Why rejection loops:

1. GitHub Billing requires separate First Name and Last Name fields
2. A two character Chinese legal name does not map cleanly to Western first or last split
3. OCR compares document name to Billing name, not just profile display name
4. Your verified academic email is correct but name validation fails first

Recommended approach:

1. Profile display name: set exactly as document shows 范铮
2. Billing name: try placing full legal name 范铮 in Last Name field and use a single character placeholder in First Name only if form accepts it. If form rejects, skip billing edit
3. Education application photo: hold printed enrollment document, include handwritten note with pinyin Fan Zheng plus GitHub username plus date for OCR anchor
4. Open support.github.com, category GitHub Education, Student Developer Pack, Other. Reference discussion 195990 and this thread. Request manual review for Chinese two character legal name at Guilin University of Electronic Technology
5. Attach university document photo and screenshot of Billing validation error

Do not use a fake English name that does not appear on official documents. Manual review is the correct path for Chinese legal names that do not split into first and last.

Your academic email verified status is a strong signal. The blocker is Billing field validation, not student status.

[SubashKumarS]

Title: GitHub Student Developer Pack Rejected Due to Name Matching

Hello GitHub Education Community,

I am a B.Tech Artificial Intelligence and Data Science student at an Indian college.

My GitHub Education application has been rejected multiple times because of academic affiliation and name-matching issues. I have updated my profile and billing information according to the instructions.

My college ID contains my full name, college name, course, and academic period (2024–2028). However, I am unsure which name format I should use in my GitHub billing information.

Could someone guide me on how to resolve this issue and whether a college ID is sufficient for verification?

Thank you.

[Jyotir2004]

Your situation appears to be related to a limitation in GitHub's automated name validation rather than an issue with your student status.

GitHub has previously advised students with a single legal name to enter the same name in both the First Name and Last Name billing fields. However, since your official legal name is written only in Chinese and the billing form rejects the natural name structure as "too short," you should not create or use a fabricated English name simply to satisfy the form.

Make sure your GitHub profile name matches your academic document exactly, keep your academic email verified, and use a current official enrollment document showing your legal name and university.

Since the Education Support form is also returning Category hh-edu-app-deny-stu is not a valid choice, the appropriate next step is to request a manual review from GitHub Education Support and explain the billing-field limitation. Include screenshots of the validation error and rejection message, but do not post your student ID or personal documents publicly.

This appears to be a genuine name-format/verification limitation affecting some students whose legal names do not fit the billing form's Western first-name/last-name validation.