Why I Don't Have an English Name
By Jian Shuo Wang on 2004-08-07 23:18 · EnglishMost friends of mine have English names, so do many young people in China. I am often asked about “What is your English name?”. My answer is, Jian Shuo Wang is my English name.
I know this brings much trouble to my foreign friends It is not easy to pronounce it, especially the word “Shuo”. If I choose a name such as Jason Wang or Jackson Wang, it may be easier for others to address me.
However, I didn’t choose one. Why?
Prove it
The most important reason is on the legal side. I am not sure whether others are aware of this, but on the legal aspect, is there any document proving that you are the person you claim to me? My name on passport is Jian Shuo Wang, so does the national ID. If I use English name any where other than private conversation, it will bring big trouble to me to proof it.
I have some friends who used English name to register their MCSE exam. They have their English name printed on the certificate. They spent quite some time to change it to the one of Pinyin.
Branding
Name is a brand. Everyone built credibility and visibility around a name. If you have two names, you have spent double efforts to do the same thing…
75 Comments
The practice is also quite widespread amongst people the world over who don't want a Christian name (eg, K S Li), or who have first & middle names but prefer to be addressed by their initials.
To other readers of Chinese descent, I mean no offence. But I very seriously think that you should respect your own culture much more than the amount of importance you give to Western 'values'. Having a "cool" name like 'Jason'/ 'Jackson'/ 'Michelle'/whatever .. followed by your surname (Chen/Chin/Lee/Lin/Lim/Wang/Wong/etc) which (if I'm not mistaken) should normally be appearing first .. is most likely not going to earn you extra respect.
If someone finds it difficult to pronounce a Chinese/Indian/Japanese/Korean/Russian/Arabic/African name - then its THEIR problem, not yours. Let THEM make the added effort to get the pronunciation right. Don't you think so?
I'd definitely respect those who stick to their given names/cultural-values/etc in light of ever increasing western influence.
Well I don't really think that using an english name means you don't respect your culture. The essence of Chinese culture is compatibility. Using an english name, to me, is just another code that I will response. An english name doesn't turn you into gweilo/gweipor. This little trick can't fawn a foreigner, not even a Chinese.
But of course, having an English name does not always "break the cultural barrier". When I was visiting Hawaii a couple of years ago, I met a lady at the bus station. I told her that I am Michael from Texas. She looked puzzled because she could not connect the Asian face with a Christian name and the (slightly) Texas accent.
The name they found was so, that it made me the "most trustworthy and honest"...
I tried to speak it to other chinese, but they didn't believe my personality to be THAT good !
Anyway, the point is, that if you have business where communication with others can be much improved by having a "nickname", it is ok to do so. It is awfull to hear others try to speak your name right, if they just can't.
In Korea they can't say F,V and R. Make your own combinations with these words, and see that it is not possible to speak out !
In China, R is the problem - try "Robert Redford", he will be Lobert Ledfort.
Chinese have names for foreign artists thay even I can't understand !
And Bill Clinton don't sign his name on documents with Bill, but uses his real name William.
But only use the name on your business card along with the chinese name, both IN PINYIN and in chinese letters. Most people makes it impossible for others to remember the chinese name, if they omit the pinyin name, then only the nickname will be remembered, and then you're asking for the receiver only to use this name.
If someone omit the pinyin on the namecard, I always ask for the chinese name,
then they feel honoured and respected ! So it is necessary.
I agree with Michael's comment on having an English name does not always break the cultural barrier. But I don't quite agree with the ".. it could be *your* problem if the "other person" has information you need but decide not to talk to you because he is afraid that he might get your name wrong..". --- If the other person has genuinely tried pronouncing your name and really cannot (quite unlikely), then such a case isn't it common practice to comeup with a nickname only used by a few to address you (till they get a hang of your name)? My boss is a Chinese. Initially he found my name hard to pronounce, so he used 'nim' till he could manage pronouncing my name correctly.
I started to use the name "Robin" in my first English class in the senior middle school, when the English teacher, not a foreigner, asked all of us about our English names. From then on, we never used Chinese names in the English class.
In my point of view, an English name for a Chinese, is just something interesting, and it could help in some ways. For example, the English teacher mentioned above had an English name, Shirley. So, we never called her "*** Lao Shi"(for those who do not understand Chinese: "Lao Shi" is the pinyin for "teacher", and it can be used as a salutation in Chinese), instead, we just called her Shirley, which, I think, brought her and us closer to some degree.
However, when asked about the name by others in real life, including foreigners, I never gave them the name "Robin". The ironical thing is that, we usually call each other among Chinese groupmates, who used to be in the same group during an English bridging course, by English names. We do not mean to do like that. However, in most of those cases, the reason is that we use the English names so often that we can not recall their Chinese names but the English ones.
I like my Chinese name - "Zai Ming", and luckily, it is not difficult for foreigners to pronounce, so it is not necessary for me to give out my English name. Actually, I use it more as a back-up and a nickname with some close friends in real life and foreign friends met on line.
I went to the US as a toddler, so my name is completely English. Only my family/surname is Chinese because of my family heritage but both my first and middle name is very English. It makes it so much easier for everyone involved to pronounce my name.
There are a lot of African Americans who are choosing to use extremely weird names which I can't pronounce. What is the point? Just to drive the point home that they are different?
in JSW case, where he is a Chinese citizen, I can understand his desire to keep his Chinese name, but for Chinese who immigrant to other western countries where English is the primary language, I would highly suggest they legally change their name to something the natives of that country can easily digest. No point in purposely making oneself stand out like a sore thumb.
For immigrants, I fully understand the reasons as stated in some of above posts. But still no one answered why most Japanese/.../Indian immigrants insist to use their original names given by their parents(not like most Chinese).
I guess it's sth about 'high language' and 'low language'. I don't know the case in other places so I will use HK as an example.
HK had been British colony for 99 years. English is definitely the 'high language' for education and business purposes. Cantonese becomes the 'low language' which are used for daily life. Well at first, maybe people thought an English name meant prestige. But I am sure nowadays, it's just for the sake of convenience. Funny enough, my primary and secondary school classmates call my Chinese name while my university friends and colleagues call my English name. Guess it's an interesting topic huh!
For those knowledge thirsty, you may go and search for 'bilingualism', 'code-switching', 'langua franca' on the net.
P.S. Nirmalya is a HE, not a SHE! :P
If I were to write:
Dear Ms. Wang Jian Shuo.
I don't think WJS would be too happy.
If he referred to himself as Jason Wang, I'd know immediatley this person is a male and I will refer to him as a Mr Jason Wang.
The choice of one's given name has more significance than as an identification badge.
First, Chinese language uses characters, and this may come as a shock to some foreigners, NOT pinyin. Characters in a name have meaning and certain calligraphic value associated with them. When a Chinese person's name is transliterated into roman letters (by Pinyin or any other system) only the sound is preserved whereas the meaning (including a faint hint of sex) is completely lost. This may give us a disappointing feeling and some may say why bother keeping it and let's go all the way. For example, Wang Jian Shuo's name is not Wang Jian Shuo. It is 王建硕. That character Shuo has a beautiful, literary spirit in it and the character Jian probably is a kin linker. All these aspects are lost when romanized. I cheer him for keeping using Wang Jian Shuo, which is not difficult to pronounce, but if he says OK this is already far from my Chinese characters so I might as well pick an English name, I would also understand. This latter case may become more motivated if the Chinese name is pronounced incorrectly all the time or causes confusion.
Secondly and more importantly, Chinese traditionally do not warship the singularity of their names. Let me explain. A name is an identifier. It serves as a distinguisher and also an entitlement. Christian westerners value the entitlement part more, whereas Chinese seem to value only the distinguisher part. Therefore, to a Chinese one does not necessarily have to stay with a fixed name as long as he/she has a distinguisher. Many behavior stems from this. For example, Chinese do not have a standard set of characters/words set aside for use in a person's name, unlike Chistians and the Japanese. And do you know that educated Chinese in the old times always had two or three or more names (名, 字, 号, 谥号....) that are used according to situation/context? Finally, Chinese often insist on giving their foreign friends a Chinese name and in doing so there is absolutely no rule, all invented and anything goes. Thus, Bill Gates is BiEr Gaici but Bill Clinton is Mr. KeLingDun; David Smith is Shi DaWei but Claire Chennault and Theodore White were General Chen NaDe and Journalist Bai XiuDe, respectively. So to sum it up, Chinese are not rigid at all about having a unique name with a naming rule.
Related to Christians valuing the entitlement part, westerners select names from a selected pool and relate the name to certain other person (the Chrstian Sainte, the parents or grandparents, etc.). Unlike them. the Chinese, trying to find a distinguisher, rarely pick the name to overlap (to be identical is a No-No) with the parents or grandparents or a famous person. The distinguisher tends to be unique therefore any different word can be considered and a meaning association but more often a uniqueness invention is attempted. It will be hard to imagine an American picking random, meaningful, or invented words for names. Hi, my name is Quarterback, what's yours? Oh my, mine is Yella Peony Carrington. On a second thought, I'd better not speak too soon. Maybe some super human, say Bill Gates, will name a son, in the hope that he grows up gripping yet another monopoly, something like Macrobill or Microhard.
1. Why almost all Indians(including immigrants) do not use English names(the 'high language'), although India was British colony too and English was the official language(similar to Hong Kong)?
2. Why most Japanses including Akio Morita and younger generations do not care about his/her sex being mis-identified by western people?
For those how can not access it, here is the article:
Japan and China: National Character Writ Large
By NORIMITSU ONISHI
Published: March 17, 2004
TOKYO — Of all languages in the world, Japanese is the only one that has an entirely different set of written characters to express foreign words and names. Just seeing these characters automatically tells the Japanese that they are dealing with something or someone non-Japanese.
So foreign names, from George Bush to Saddam Hussein, are depicted in these characters, called katakana. What's more, the names of foreign citizens of Japanese ancestry are also written in this set of characters, indicating that while they may have Japanese names, they are not, well, really Japanese.
By contrast, in Chinese, no such distinction is made. There, non-Chinese names are depicted, sometimes with great difficulty, entirely in Chinese characters. Foreigners are, in effect, made Chinese.
At bottom, the differences reflect each country's diverging worldview. In contrast to the inner-looking island nation of Japan, China has traditionally viewed itself as the Middle Kingdom of its name, the center of the world. If it is natural for Japan to identify things or people as foreign, viewing them with some degree of caution, it may be equally natural for China to take "Coca-Cola" or "George Bush," and find the most suitable Chinese characters to express them.
In Japan, the rigid division between the inside and outside in the language underscores this country's enduring ambivalence toward the non-Japanese. The contrast with China is stark, and speaks also to the future prospects of Asia's two economic giants as they compete for influence in a world of increasingly fluid borders.
While today's Japanese travel overseas with an ease and confidence that would have been unimaginable only two generations ago, they remain uneasy about foreign things and people coming here. Safer to label them clearly as foreign.
Not so China.
"China is a big continent and has an inclination to think that it is No. 1 and that others are uncivilized," said Minoru Shibata, a researcher at NHK, Japan's public broadcast network. "Therefore, they feel that giving Chinese names to foreigners is doing them a favor."
China and Japan represent the two nations that still widely use Chinese characters in their writing. The Chinese, as the creators of this system, still use them exclusively.
Come to Japan, and things get extremely complicated. In their everyday lives, the Japanese use three different sets of characters in writing — four if the widely used Roman alphabet is also included.
First are the Chinese characters, called kanji here. Japanese names are written in kanji. Currently, the number of kanji permitted for names stands at 2,230, and selecting a character outside this list is illegal. Parents have been pressing for an expanded list, though, and so the justice ministry said recently that it is considering adding between 500 and 1,000 characters.
Second is a set of phonetic characters used for Japanese words. Third are the katakana, the set of phonetic characters for foreign words.
"There is no other language that has three sets of characters — only Japanese," said Muturo Kai, president of the National Institute for Japanese Language.
In the United States, parents' freedom to name their children may be absolute. Here the government and the media set the boundaries of names and the way they are written, thereby also setting the boundaries of Japanese identity.
In the media, the names of George Bush and Saddam Hussein are written in the characters reserved for foreign names. But so are the names of people of Japanese ancestry, like Alberto Fujimori, Peru's deposed president, or Kazuo Ishiguro, the author of "Remains of the Day," who left Japan at the age of 5 and is a British citizen. Their names could be written in kanji, but are instead written in katakana, in an established custom indicating that they are not truly Japanese.
The distinctions are sometimes difficult to draw, as they touch upon the difficult question of who is Japanese, or, rather, when does someone stop being Japanese. If Mr. Ishiguro had kept his Japanese citizenship all these years, would his name be written differently here? Why is the name of Mr. Fujimori, who holds Japanese citizenship and now lives in exile here, not written in kanji like the names of other Japanese? The media have no set criteria.
Are the criteria citizenship, blood, mastery of the Japanese language or customs? Or, in this island nation where leaving Japan has always meant leaving the village, does one start becoming non-Japanese the minute one steps off Japanese soil?
There is a strong argument to be made for that. Children of Japanese business families stationed overseas for a few years invariably encounter problems returning here. Schoolmates often pick on them and call them gaijin, meaning foreigner or outsider. That problem has decreased in recent years, as more and more Japanese have spent time abroad. But those children are still considered to have suffered from their years overseas, in contrast to, say, an American child whose experience living abroad would usually be considered a plus.
Chinese identity is a different matter. Whether you are a fourth-generation Chinese-American student at Berkeley, or the children of Chinese operating a restaurant in Lagos, Nigeria, you are considered Chinese, or an insider, upon returning to China. Your name will be written in the same way as everybody else's. Unlike Japan's, Chinese identity transcends borders.
"Chinese people have a strong feeling of comradeship toward overseas Chinese," said Naokazu Hiruma, who is in charge of language use at the daily Asahi Shimbun and studied in China. "Overseas Chinese have a long tradition, and they remain Chinese even after generations have passed. Japanese regard second- or third-generation overseas Japanese, even though they are of Japanese origin, as `people from that country over there.' "
Please visit the Japanese site for detailed usage:
www.asahi.com
bigbro, your first post makes some point on explain why Chinese use English names more popular than others. Yes, maybe Chinese see names in a more flexible way than others. But I still think the argument is not very strong. Alternate naming is only an ancient heritage, which ancient Japanese also have (though not as much as Chinese). For modern people, I don't find much influence and link from it. Instead, I find that Chinese people has kept much less traditions than Japanese, Indians, Malays, Arabics etc. This may be the true reason!
http://www.asahi.com/international/update/0809/012.html
chen, you'll see that the Chinese name of 呂秀蓮 is given together with its katakana version, not on its own. :)
bigbro has a great point that a lot of information was lost after the name is translated to pinyin from Chinese characters. We can be pretty sure about the gender of a person by reading the Chinese character name itself, but not sure about the gender after it is translated. Certain characters are generally reserved to be used in male names or female names, but there are many characters mapping to the same Pinyin. That brings trouble.
Let's enjoy the variety of customs and names are just one of them.
And certainly not on BBS... :)
Embbasy of Japan in China
http://www.cn.emb-japan.go.jp/jp/2nd%20tier/05jckankei/j-c040611j.htm
Mainchi-MSN
http://www.mainichi-msn.co.jp/kokusai/asia/taiwan/news/20040803ddm007030066000c.html
NiKKEI
http://www.nikkei.co.jp/china/taiwan/20040525c575p014_25.html
Asahi
http://www.asahi.com/international/jinmin/TKY200408040272.html 胡錦濤
http://www.asahi.com/international/jinmin/TKY200408070216.html 王在希,陳水扁
Asahi is the site using katakana most frequently. I also found that katakana is used only once in one article(if the name appear for the second time, it is Kanji only). I guess that it is used to help pronunce in case the reader can not speak it out in Kanji pronunciation (as you know, more and more younger Japanese are unable to read Kanji). If I remember correctly, there was no such a katakana form for Chinese names on Japanese publications 20 years ago.
BTW, do you konw IM Pei? He is a good example who has no English name but is still very famous, which is partialy helped by his Chinese name. I believe that WJS can also be a well-known brand.
Reposted, sorry it was a wrong click.
I love having a Chinese name, even if its not very distinguished. It really makes a difference relating to Chinese people both in and out of China as they feel confident in pronouncing my name correctly (kai Li, 凯丽).
Even as a Chinese, sometimes it is hard to remember others' Chinese names. Unlike English names which can be remembered easily by the "sound" of the words, it would become easier for a Chinese speaker to remember a Chinese name through seeing the "image" of the words - the chinese characters. This is due to the different natures of Chinese and English languages, with the former as a "image" language and the latter a "sound" language.
As bigbro pointed out, the pinyin itself can't really tell you what's going on. Besides there're quite a no. of existing pinyin systems being used. The pinyin system used in HK is different from the one in China, not to mention other places with Chinese people.
Your name is given by your parents (most of the case). Of course there's special value assigned. But a name is also used for identification. Why don't we allow others to call us first, then tell them the little story behind our names?
I don´t know what Jian Shuo Wang means in chinese, but represents you. That´s all.
We have been debating the to change or not to change question, but don’t forget the important point that Wang Jian Shuo raised in his original post, the legal issue. If you are applying to a school, for a visa, passport, driver’s license, loan, etc., please do use your legal name. Use your legal name in formal/official matters until you actually change the name legally in a court. When you buy an airplane ticket, you must book it under a name that is consistent with your identification card or passport because nowadays they will check your ID on the airport, strictly.
I believe the previous discussion has come to a consensus that there are practical advantages for having an English alias if your name is difficult (to pronounce, spell, or remember) or confusing and that Chinese culture does permit having an arbitrary alias. Please notice that there really isn’t a disrespect of mother culture or unpatriotic issue here, purely a language issue 99% of times. On the other hand, if your name is problem-free, then I recommend keeping your original cultural name, to save trouble. What trouble? For example, you work in academia and your achievement is tracked by publications, then a consistent name would help ensure a linear tracking. This falls under Wang Jian Shuo’s subsection of Branding.
When and if you want to pick an English name, make sure you select one that you can pronounce (and spell) precisely. Believe it or not, many Chinese students cannot correctly pronounce names like David, James, Joan (Joan Chen couldn’t pronounce hers at the beginning), Jane, or Shawn. A lot of Chinese have trouble making the V sound in Victor, Harvey, and Dave. Also, because Chinese characters are all single-syllable, if you choose a single syllable English name, your listener might still think you are introducing yourself with a Chinese word as a name, especially if your pronunciation is less than perfect (this happens to me). So names such as Joe, Sue, Jay or Pooh really may not be good choices. One trick is to find a longer English name, say Christopher, Michael, Elisabeth, or Christina, which tells others with certainty it is an English name and reduces the chances of wrong pronunciation since long names have intonation and the “textured” sound hides imperfection in your pronunciation. These are not rules, just some minor details for you to consider.
The other side of the long name trick is that if you choose to keep using your Chinese pinyin name and it is a two-character given name, writing the two words as one (Jianshuo instead of Jian Shuo) actually might make it smoother for a foreigner to pronounce, in my opinion. Single syllable words feel choppy when spoken, the multi-syllable ones are of “textured” sound that allows for imperfection.
Why are there so much to talk about under this one entry? Because biographic and geographic names are the only area where Pinyin and English clash. Again, note I am not calling it a clash of cultural values or political ideals. I can think of only one other area of vastly unparallel language phenomena: biological (animal) names, where the Chinese nouns for any one type of animals are all rooted together (猪, 公猪, 母猪, 猪崽, 肉猪, 猪肉, 猪油) but in English each is a totally unrelated noun (pig, boar, sow, piglet, hog, pork, and lard).
I think it allowed me to get to know the students quicker. In time I did learn many student's Chinese name. It was a convenient way to be able to address each learner quickly without the initial difficulties of poor pronunciation...Interesting topic of discussion.
Ok, all kiss-ass aside, I can give my 2 cents.
Regarding bigbro's posting on Aug. 10, 2004 1:55 PM: a teacher of mine in university often had this problem with her name Xing Zhi Qun. She took the English given name of Janet, and kept her family name of Xing, but found that even this was difficult for some people as she often received mail addressed to Janet Crossing!
I have a similar, but much less funny problem with both my Chinese and English given names. People translate from pinyin "ma ling" to English, and they come up with all kinds of crazy things: Mali (African country), Malin (way too close to "malign," which they also sometimes use), Marlin (a kind of fish), and on and on...not to mention the "better" guesses of Mary, Molly, and Marlene. In Chinese, the same problem arises: I get names like 马铃（薯）- potato，马林 - an Olympic table tennis player (a man), and 马力 - horsepower to name a few.
I heartily agree with bigbro's other post on Aug. 12, 2004 2:25 PM that says: "Everyone considers it a serious matter of respect to be able to write a friend's name correctly." If this is true, then I have a lot of friends that really don't respect me at all! :) The problem is, my name in both languages is rather unusual and people have real trouble dealing with names that don't "fit into the mold."
This might be one of the reasons Chinese people and foreigners in China prefer to have a name in the other language. To help avoid having people get it wrong, to ease in remembering it, and to help make one more easily identifiable to people that speak other languages.
I am a Chinese and have an English name since 8 or 9 year old.
My father was then in the States for a long while and found me some little friends to start mailing each other. He thought it could be easier for me to communicate with those kids in an English name, so I got one which is very close to my Chinese given name in pronunciation.
I have been using it since then, although legally only the Chinese name is valid. Since I am not so famous, the branding issue is irrelevant to me yet :-) ... I believe I have a great Chinese name, and the English name is rather plain, but still the English name brings me convenience, at least no harm.
For foreigners that know some Chinese language or have been very close to me, I would explain to them what my 'original' name is and what does it mean.
Chris, I don't think I need to worry about losing my cultural identity, as people would be able to tell what cultural background I'm having by seeing my surname. Most of Chinese people who has an English name, I believe, is just for convenience in communication. There is truly no serious reason hiding behind it. Let's do not try to put it to such a high level, please.
bigbro, I liked your comments :-)
p.s. I do not know any Japanese around me who uses an English name, but I know many Koreans are using, especially those working in western companies.
The idea that cultural confidence might explain this runs counter to the ideas I suggested earlier and in this whole discussion I do feel that I am speaking from complete ignorance (never having lived in China and only having been friends with Chinese people in a Western context).
However, I would stand by my earlier comments in one respect: many Westerners and indeed other nationalities would experience being told one name and later finding it was not the "real" name afterall as a rather disorienting experience. They might interpret it as a rather exclusive rather than inclusive practise, even though it seems very inclusive to rename oneself at first sight.
The Chinese lost their empire due to wars in the beginning of the Century to the West. This created an "inferior" mentality to Chinese (both overseas and mainlanders). It's a humiliation to Chinese all over the world, which created a whole new searching for identity according to the place they chose.
We often don't see Japanese with a Western name, instead they are proud although foreigners have difficulty saying their names. That's why we hardly see Thomas Miyazaki around, instead of we see Yoshihiro Miyazaki. I was given a Western name by my father who adopted local Indonesian name. When I went abroad to study in the U.S., people found my name is easy compared to my Thai counterpart such as Itthiphoung Jeamjunjasiri. So at majority's expense, my name is Nick, instead of the Wong Chi Zi.
So it's an issue of SHAME. Shame of being a Chinese.
Soon, it's started to change. Chinese in Indonesia and overseas are now converting their children's name into Chinese again. Well, it's obvious that China is now powerful in economy and military. The proud of the Chinese is restored. It's not impossible that in the next hundred years or so, we see Westerners adopting Chinese names?
Most of my Chinese classmates gave themselves funny names like Summer, Apple, Rainy, Stone and Dolphine when they came to Australia becase they presume it would make them stand out (for all the wrong reasons I think) since no one else uses it (we all know why).... and this is something I cannot comprehend. As far as I can remember, it is always the China kids who got themsleves into such trouble.
And then there are also some Hong Kong kids who gave themselves names like Yuki, Yoko (ND: These are Japanese names even though they call it "English" names) and other weird names like Zata and such (Alien names that reminds you of Star Wars or Godzilla) because it makes them stand out... but at least it's not as bad as having a class full of fruit-named kids or weather-named kids. I can just imagine the look on the poor English teacher's face when these kids first enrol for language classes.
If your Chinese name is REALLY REALLY hard to pronounce, then maybe adopt an alternative name that's similar to your original (one of my Thai friend shortened his first name to Pooh, although sometimes it sounds like Poo, does it matter?) I know another Chinese guy whose name is Xi. His western friends call him "Zee" as they don't know how to pronounce Xi. He prefers it because Xi sounds like She in English. But he never uses English names. Another example, a Chinese lady I know is called Dan which is a common Chinese female's name, but in English it's a guy's name. Anyway, these guys never tried to "make things easier" with a made-up English name.
I used to have an English name in school (to make English classes "easier"). One of my English friend said to me: your name is chosen specially by your parents, it's you and your culture. I won't use your English name because it's not you.
I agreed with her, and since 17 I never used my English name ever, despite the fact I had to spell out my name thousands of times to people, and correct their pronounciations thousands of times...We should be proud to teach the westerners a bit of Chinese...
I know westerners who have Chinese names in China, only the ones who speak very good Chinese though! And, their Chinese names were worked around the English pronunciation, e.g. my boss Mike's Chinese name is "Meng Kang"--taking the M and K but it sound like a proper Chinese name. The other guy Simon Jones is called Zhong Xi Men, again sth derived from their original names. Fair enough if the Chinese do the same, but what we are seeing is people name themselves whatever they like, and even change their English names like change outfits.
It is true that you can usually tell a person's sex by looking at his/her English name.
But there are also unisex English names. e.g. Kerry can be a man or woman. I knew two female Kerry before I met my boss. When I applied for the job I though he was a female! and what about Alex and Andy and Sandy etc? I don't need to give all the examples do I?
And what about Galic/Welsh/Gaelic originated names? Not all English speakers can pronounce them, can they? People always got my husband's name wrong because it's the Welsh spelling of Sean/Shaun. But since it's Welsh, even the general British do not know how to pronounce it or tell its sex. He's had many letters addressing him "Miss" "Mrs" or "Ms".
I don't think your "good point" is that good at all.
It's over.
A lot of posts on this site mention African names. Here in South Africa, people have developed quite an interesting workaround: many people are christened with both an African name, and an English or Afrikaans name. The result of this is that you might come across "Mmabatho Mary Madlala" or "Nduduzo Johannes Nkosi", and you would address them by whatever name rolls off your tongue most easily...
I agree that the name is just a code for a person. It means that it could be very serious but also pointless, just depends on your requirement.
If you want to emphasize your own national-cultural characteristic, especially when you live abroad, you want to be distinguished from other people, you may use it!
If you want to involve yourself into local culture and make you acceptable and make people easier remember you, the best choice surely is having an local language name.
Different people have different attempt and usage for their names in various occasions. So is the meaningless to argue that whether we should use English name and Chinese name. It just dements.
In sum, from my viewpoint, "name" is just a tool which serves people, it's unnecessary to so much care about something that so call "culture". What is culture? Culture is just our real life; it is flexible, but not frozen by some lifeless conception.
It doesn't take a genius to tell but only if the person has the will, will he/she admit it to end all justifications!
The English names are used because they are trendy. The decision to use them are also in the hands of the minors who usually have no ability to comprehend what their implications of their actions are. ( Ie. monkey see monkey do )
I have been asked by my "friends" to adopt an English name too, for them! Their reasons are aplenty, ranging from being difficult to remember, to convenience, to trendy, to being more exclusive, etc.
My answer to them all is this. My name is given to me by my parents and it should only be that! Nobody has the rights to tell me how i should have a name change for them. I wouldn't be able to face a westerner with a high self esteem if i have to stoop so low as to call myself John, Joseph, Dick,Tracy or whatever, just to suit him.
If anybody has problems with my name, ask me what and how it is! Then pronounce it like the way it should be pronounced. Not all English names are easy to be pronounced. Try asking the whites to put a Chinese name in front of their English ones. Would they want to do that just for some very lousy reasons.
I am ashamed of this huge segment of the Chinese population who do not have enough pride in their Chinese names!!! To you guys with English names, don't trick yourselves, have an identity please !!
Its YOUR NAME we are talking about, for god's sake!
P.S. When you write "God", do capitalise G please.
According to you, a name is only but a name. There's nothing really to it. How trivial. One shouldn't even need to take it too seriously, u said! I'm speechless.
The truth of the matter is, YOU ARE AN OPPORTUNIST!! You will take advantage of any given opportunity to justify yourself even if it means that your principles are sacrificed!
It's YOUR NAME we are talking about, for crying out loud!!
P.S. Awaiting your reply.
Should I be slave to whatever original name, my parents may have dreamt up?
Secondly, nobody is to perceive that he or she is to be a slave to anyone or anything. Why should you, therefore, feel that you can be a slave to your own name, at all? You are, in fact, told to be proud of it. It's yours.
Thirdly, if u were to have children and are searching for some names, would you be looking into your dreams for them? I'm sure you would spend a lot of time and research to painstakingly select the best possible names that you would feel, YOU & YOUR CHILDREN, can be proud of later.
Am i right?
Secondly, nobody is to perceive that he or she is to be a slave to anyone or anything. Why should you, therefore, feel that you can be a slave to your own name, at all? You are, in fact, told to be proud of it. It's yours.
Thirdly, if u were to have children and are searching for some names, would you be looking into your dreams for them? I'm sure you would spend a lot of time and research to painstakingly select the best possible names that you would feel, YOU & YOUR CHILDREN, can be proud of later.
Am i right?
but for othre ppl who choose to use it, i think it's their choice. i have a lot of friends who feel comfortable in their english names, i guess it's ok as long as it's ok for them... however, for those who doesn't even speak good english, i think it's funny to use an english name...
luckily, my name is not hard for westerner to pronounce..hehe..
On my first english class when I was 12, our english techer gave an english name to everyone of us...my name was James....he call our egnlish names during the class.
My frist job in Shanghai is a foreign capital company, the frist day I went to work, my boss asked me do you have english name? I said no, then he gave me one, named Rey.
Now, I change it to Michael, just simply because I like it.