I've lived in a lot of places, and this seriously baffling to me. I used to work in Japan and none of the people in my office were named "Olaf Matsui" for example. In some ways it makes sense because it can be very difficult to remember 50 co-workers' Chinese names. However, the weird thing is that a lot of the Chinese people in the office only know colleaguess English names. This is seriously weird.
Plus, some of these names are not only not names, they're weird objects. How many "Cherry"s have you met? In the States you only name your kid that if you think she has good career potential as a stripper. I've also met a lot of Apples, one Karim, and my all time favorite: Egg. And to be honest, the guy looked like an egg. Imagine a Chinese version of Raph Wigam. I know it's kind of mean, but when you name yourself "Egg" and you look like an egg, it's not good.
If I had a friend who asked me for advice on picking an English name I think I would choose Juan Pablo. For a girl maybe Cereal. Or is Cereal a boy's name?
Comments
Simplicity
Well, you're right that they do it to make it easier on people. I have a hard time remembering a million Chinese names.
Some of my all-time favorite names:
Dingre
Pascal
Water
Peach (another stripper name, eh? I think as a rule just don't name your kid after any kind of fruit. Girls will end up in porn, and boys will be beaten up. You're better off naming him Sue)
What was the most popular name in the states? It was something really pretentious. like Precious or something. I think heard Nevaeh is now really popular girls' name because it's "Heaven" backwards. Some people are dumb, but that's just my opinion.
Egg
I had an American friend who wanted his Chinese name to be 白鸡蛋 （White Egg) because he thought, if Chinese people can have weird names so can I. Fortunately his teacher dubbed him 笨蛋 instead :-)
More on names
After 6 years here teaching, the strange names they give themselves no longer surprises me. The names mentioned above seem rather tame compared to some I have come across. Their propensity for the fruits amazes me, but I came across "Apple" while still in the states. It took me two years to realize that my son's Thai sister-in-law was named Apple. I thought I just didn't understand Thai and didn't want to ask anymore. but now Apple seems common. I have had 3 Lemons, an Orange, and a Carrot in my senior class, along with a co-teacher named Banana. Still nothing compares to "Windows" and in the same class a girl named "Open", also a "Shine"; A boy named Gorilla, numerous Skys, and one named Satan (which he said his brother gave him). The strangeness doesn't just exist in the names they like, but also in the names they dislike. A parent objected to Rose, because it sounded like a word in Chinese that had a bad connotation, and said she wanted us to call her Mach. (?)(?)..go figger!!
I teach nearly 500 kindergarten children each week and if they didn't use English names, and fortunately the same 30 or so, I wouldn't be able to recall a single name. The teacher in one school named all 11 classes (30) the same names because they were all she knew. Mach showed up there again. Can someone tell me what name they think that is? No, not Max, Mac or Mike, we had 11 of each of those, and 11 Ukys...whatever that is.
Anyway, if you are a teacher and have to name children, try to use sound alikes, or similar meanings, as their Chinese names as they are usually given with great thought, so use a little thought when you give them a name they are likely to use for the rest of their lives. Resist the obvious jokes. Most of them are very proud of their English names, especially if given by a foreign teacher.
You're right
That's a fair point about the names. You don't want to be mean, but sometimes you can gently encourage them to change their names. Also, sometimes they aren't happy with the name anyway and are actually HOPING someone will give them a better one, so if you broach the topic it might work well.
It's funny going back and forth between Chinese and English. My friend was trying to come up with a name for a media company, but she needed it to sound good in THREE languages: Chinese, English, and Japanese. We had a lot of fun coming up with good names and then checking to see if they worked. "Open Door Productions" was one of my favorites, because in English it's sort of interesting. But in Chinese it's Kai Fang （开放） which has two connotations. First, the open-door policy, which was part of the inspiration. The other is similar in that it also means "liberal." However, usually Chinese people say westerners are "kai fang" when they mean too loose sexually. So it could be interpreted as being "promiscuous productions" or something along those lines. Needless to say she didn't pick that.
Getting back to Chinese and English names, a colleague of mine once noticed that we had the same character in his Chinese name and he told me that his teacher gave all students in a given year the same middle character, that way it would be easier to remember when she had them. This actually is not surprising as a lot of families do this to denote generation.
Is banana a man or a woman? I'm not sure which would be worse honestly.
Naming Process
I had a student years ago who wanted a Chinese name. He was a graduate student who had served in the army and was a very small 26-year old. He was probably the shortest person in the class and somewhat timid. Well, he wanted to have a really tough name, so I rattled off a few. Each time I said one he rejected it. Finally he said, "I want to be 'Fist'".
For the next 10 minutes I persuaded him that this was a poor idea. Finally he accepted my opinion and settled on the name "Clint". I don't know how good that one is, but "Fist' is not a real option in my humble opinion.
what do you expect?
The Americans who come here have some of the dumbest names ever, so how can you expect Chinese to pick good ones.
This guy is currently playing in China: http://www.realgm.com/src_playerfile/714/god_shamgod/
And for the record he went to Providence, not Duke!
SENSE OF HUMOUR ???
Some of the English names I have heard seem to be the product of a foreign teacher's (possibly warped) sense of humour. For example, one very pretty 16 year old middle school girl who drew a lot of attention from the boys in class was named "Yellow". This does not have a particularly good connotation from a Chinese perspective if you know the colour scheme.
One thing for sure is that English names or words are much easier for a laowai teacher to remember or say rather than just having names in Pinyin or Chinese. After all and for the most part, the English names are only used in class anyway. It is better than every girl being called Amy, Ann, Annie, Lily, Lucy, Lee, etc. OR boys all being John, Mike, Sam, etc.
A bit of variety can go along way, especially if you have multiple classes of different students, that change each year as they progress on in their studies. I don't bother anymore with how any student wants to spell or mispell his/her English name. It is fairly easy to guess what they mean. Besides, English tends to be the foreign teacher's native language in most cases.
There is one pair of university students that has taken most of this year for me to figure which one is which because they sit next to each other. Their names are "Seven" and "Eleven". I've also got a "Wednesday" and "Friday". They must have taken that literally when I said before their first written exam to write down anything as an English name (even a number or the day of the week) because I can't read Chinese.
George Foreman
Maybe we should just do what legendary boxer, and chef, George Foreman did: Give all of your kids the same name.
That's right, he name FIVE sons George. Not "George I" "George II" etc, just George. This man made a hundred million dollars selling tiny grills. I think we should all follow his lead.
get real
shut up losers chines people are cool!!!
Not following
I'm Chinese myself, and quite cool, now that you mention it, but I how does this relate to the topic?
names
i have worked in schools for more than six years..some of the names: in one class was a guy named satan...his friend was called God. (no joke)
I've met a thousand Apple, Cherry, Sunny, Linda, Bob, Candy, etc
One kid in my class was called Genius...(he failed)
Rainbow, Ice, Spring were nice names...
I met an older woman named Bambi...
Had one student named Q
AND
This year,I also have a male student
named "MONDAY" and a couple of girls
both called "RABBIT" (their choice).
Bob
Is there something wrong with the name Bob? The examples are Rabbit, Cherry, Satan, Fist, and Bob?
That's a little messed up.
Temptation
I had a group of students years ago that had hideous names. Things like Feroce (that popular name). Anyway, they refused to change their names to anything normal that I suggested, so i was tempted to dub them dopey, sneezy, happy (one already had that one), Doc, etc. Alas, it was too mean even for me.
Responsibility
I'm not a teacher but a musician so the oppertunity to 'name' people is not an issue for me. Seems like it would be a bit scary considering how fond of the western names they're given they seem to be. I certainly wouldnt like to have that responsibility!! Though some of my favourites that I cant help but grin when I hear them are Twinkle and Lemon.... It's mind Boggling!
Know your History before asking Ignoran Questions
It's ignorant to even ask this question. The person who is asking this question does not know history.
Why not ask what is up with English names for Jewish or Spanish people? Or any other nationality / ethnicity.
It's no secert many Jewish, Spanish, ...etc. Hollywood stars changed to English names for various reasons e.g. Discrimination. But Americans don't seem to remember those name changes.
There was a Filipino guy asking why all Chinese people in America change to English names. Yes, this Filipino guy was ignorant and he asked a stupid question. Not to mention NOT all Chinese people in America adopt English names.
By single out Chinese to ask this question, I sense CuteChrissy's low opinion of Chinese people. Well, Chinese people say to CuteChrissy the feeling is mutual.
Misunderstanding?
I think you may have misunderstood what I was trying to say. I don't mean Chinese-Americans, or people who have moved. I mean people who have never left China. I doubt too many people in Russia have adopted English names. That's what I meant.
Maybe I'm still being ignorant. Please advise. I like to keep up on these things.
What's Up with English Names for These People?
A partial list:
Margarita Carmen Cansino = Rita Hayworth
Samuel Goldfish = Samuel Goldwyn
Lucille Le Sueur = Joan Crawford
Laura Horowitz = Winona Ryder
Betty Joan Perske = Lauren Bacall
Sara Gabor = Zsa Zsa Gabor
Larry Zeiger = Larry King
Larry Leach = Cary Grant
Frances Gumm = Judy Garland
Douglas Ullman = Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Esther Friedman = Ann Landers
Joseph Levitch = Jerry Lewis
Jill Oppenheim = Jill St. John
Issur Danilovich Demsky=Kirk Douglas (son Michael Douglas)
Rober Zimmerman = Bob Dylan
Bernhard Schwartz = Tony Curtis (daughter Jamie Lee Curtis)
Charles Buchinsky = Charles Bronson
Allen Konigsberg = Woody Allen
Milton Berlinger = Milton Berle
Benny Kubelsky = Jack Benny
Emmanuel Goldberg = Edward G. Robinson
Shirley Schrift = Shelly Winters
Eddie Heimberger = Eddie Albert
Joseph Abramowitz = Joey Adams
Nathan Birnbaum = George Burns
Rosebud Blustein = Joan Blondell
Joyce Bauer = Joyce Brothers
Melvin Kaminsky = Mel Brooks
Joey Gottlieb = Joey Bishop
Lucille Le Sueur = Joan Crawford
Jacob Cohen = Rodney Dangerfield
Joan Molinsky = Joan Rivers
Leslie Stainer = Leslie Howard
Judith Tuvim = Judy Holliday
Find a solution...
I've just created a lesson based on names and why it is important to have a nice sounding, suitable name. In one class of my middle school I had a Superman and a Spiderman. Fight! I said! (always wanted to know who would kick who's *ss).
www.babynames.com is a website designed for finding right names. Some Chinese names do have meaning and you can look-up the same meaning in the form of an English name.
Reg.
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