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[fullricebowl]

At the company I recently started working at, for the first time I'm making a real effort to learn people's real Chinese names. I know that I would learn the names more quickly if I was just learning English names- but once I started, I noticed how common many characters are and I feel like I'm learning the names of people I have individual/repeated contact with pretty quickly. I've found it curious that people in Japan and India for example, who also have names that can be confusing to pronounce for a native English speaker- don't seem to take on an English name when they communicate with foreigner. I can understand taking on an "English identity" in a classroom (I remember back when I was Yvette in high school French class) but do any of of you have any insight in why people here tend to keep their English names after they graduate?

[Stil]

I never bother with English names because you can't find anybody by their English names. They don't always know each others English names so asking Where's John doesn't help you. Where's Liu Jun is much more helpful. Many will change their English names and that's a pain in the ass too. After awhile it becomes easier to remember especially since there won't be 15 Angels and 25 Lilys in your phone book.

[The Local Dialect]

I think Chinese people keep their English names because they think it is cool to have one and they also think that they "need" one if they're going to be working with foreigners. Who keeps perpetuating this myth, I don't know, but I don't think it is the foreigners.

Ever met the really obnoxious folks who insist on introducing themselves using their English names at all times, even with other Chinese people? I hate that. 

[Stil]

I think Chinese people keep their English names because they think it is cool to have one and they also think that they "need" one if they're going to be working with foreigners. Who keeps perpetuating this myth, I don't know, but I don't think it is the foreigners.

 

What many believe is that Chinese names are too difficult for foreigners. If you can say Ni hao you must be very clever for a foreigner indeed but there's no way you could possibly learn to say and remember Li Jingjing.

[dragonsaver]

One reason maybe the foreigners don't understand the male/female part of the names.  They don't understand that if it 'sounds' like a female English name it must mean the person is a woman.

I have a Malaysian Chinese friend from University.  SuAnn Lee.  Everyone sent him mail to Miss Ann Lee.  He was very frustrated by this and started to only use his English name.  Alex.

[randyjac]

Cross-cultural naming is a minefield anyway. I agree with Stil that avoiding English names is better all the way around. Several years ago, my co-teacher early on sounded me out on this subject. When I told her that I did not consider using English names in the classroom at all, she lit up. It seems she considered it a kind of cultural imperialism.

[Escaped Lunatic]

I have a Malaysian Chinese friend from University.  SuAnn Lee.  Everyone sent him mail to Miss Ann Lee.  He was very frustrated by this and started to only use his English name.  Alex.

Could be worse.  I knew of a Korean student at a US University who was named (no, I'm not kidding, and yes, I am sure it's 100% true) He Suk Dong.

Poor Mr. He had no idea why everyone laughed during roll call on the first day of class.

[Fozzwaldus]

Ever met the really obnoxious folks who insist on introducing themselves using their English names at all times, even with other Chinese people? I hate that. 

Yes! and those people who insist on talking to you in (sometimes very poor) English even though they know you speak Chinese and that the other Chinese people in your group have no idea what they're talking about. You speak in Chinese (for the benefit of the group) and they reply in English. 

off topic I realise.  just a little rant that'd been building for some time.

[fullricebowl]

I guess I agree with the point that perhaps many people take on English names because they don't think foreigners can pronounce their real name- especially after being repeatly asked my new least favorite question: Can you use chopsticks? Although I will do my best to interpret these as a helpful gestures and curious questions instead of subtly belittling 

For the unfortunate sounding names to an English speaking audience.. fair enough- I'm pretty sure I would use an alias as well!

[piglet]

Over here when choosing my kids' names the first consideration was something that would sound okay both in Hebrew and in English and not names that my mother would not be able to pronounce (unlike my bro who called his daughter Tahel which is a perfectly normal name here meaning Psalm, but to my ear sounds like to Hell)
I passed on Dor (meaning generation)cos I didn't want to end up saying "Shut the door,Dor")
and Moran which to me sounded like  Moron, so I went for Guy and Adam which work in both languages.

[NATO]

I have a Malaysian Chinese friend from University.  SuAnn Lee.  Everyone sent him mail to Miss Ann Lee.  He was very frustrated by this and started to only use his English name.  Alex.

Could be worse.  I knew of a Korean student at a US University who was named (no, I'm not kidding, and yes, I am sure it's 100% true) He Suk Dong.

Poor Mr. He had no idea why everyone laughed during roll call on the first day of class.

Whether this is verifiable or not, don't care. Still made me laff.

[kitano]

i think chinese and korean names are quite ounding bad for sounding similar to us cos there are so many 3 character names

korea especially with so many kims

japanese and indians have 'proper' names, even if they are different, they are more similar to western names in length/structure i guess

[Ivy]

Yay! I finally figured out how to post! Personally I love Chinese names and I dont think they should take on english names when they should be wearing their culture proud!!

[ericthered]

My gf is currently telling me that at university, they choose an English name and stick with it. Not just because we FT's are gigantic twits who can't remember something as simple as 320 different Chinese names, but because they know they will probably use it after graduation. She used the name Nancy at Uni, still uses it at her work, a large Japanese electronics company. When asked why, she replied in her my-God-it-is-good-you-are-pretty-because-you-are-really-vapid tone "Everyone needs an English name. Japenese, Korean, Thai, all you white foreign devils are too dull to remember simple Chinese names..it makes my job easier"...

[latefordinner]

all you white foreign devils are too dull to remember simple Chinese names...it makes my job easier"

I can remember my first year here (when we ate the last of the dinosaurs) all the foreign teachers at our sausage factory language mill were getting Chinese lessons from the Chinese teachers. One young woman who was assigned to us had a name that most of us couldn't, for some trivial reason, remember, but her adopted English name was easy. It was somewhat unique, it fit her, and it was pretty without being saccharine in that post-80s way that seems to dominate local pop culture. (As a teacher, I liked working with her, so of course you can take what I say with a grain of salt). One of my foreign collagues told her that her 3 chinese names were too difficult to remember. "Most of us only have two names, a first and a last", she added. I looked at my colleague and thought, "how do you remember your own name, which has seven syllables?"

OK, the reason wasn't trivial, but it had everything to do with us and nothing to do with her.