Do you have a western first name? [Archive]

BeTheReds

10-30-2002, 02:31 AM

My Asian name is my Western name! Eugene! (Yu-Jin)

Many people are fortunate enough to have names that trancend language like this!

Yo-han (Johannes), Jason (Jae-Sun), Erika (Erika)

Tho some people try to make them sound similar

(Sun-Min) Sunny (Min-A) Mindy (Jai-Shing) Jason

And some people have names that don't match at all or sound all whack but these are usually for fobs.

I've heard:

Benny (for a girl), Lacoste, Gelard, Mackie, Keefe, Sholden

deez nuts

10-30-2002, 04:21 AM

Both, using different name with the approprate crowd for me.

SunWuKong

10-30-2002, 06:52 AM

i have both. people in HK have been having both names since my parents generation.

artsfartsyjanet

10-30-2002, 07:26 AM

My first name's Western/American =Janet
Last name's phonetically Asian... though anything written in English is Westernized if you think about it. But my Chinese name's only used at home (Ping).

SunWuKong

10-30-2002, 07:40 AM

Originally posted by artsfartsyjanet@Oct 30 2002, 10:26 AM
But my Chinese name's only used at home (Ping).
as in peace/serenity?

amietron

10-30-2002, 07:51 AM

Originally posted by SunWuKung@Oct 30 2002, 07:40 AM
Originally posted by artsfartsyjanet@Oct 30 2002, 10:26 AM
But my Chinese name's only used at home (Ping).
as in peace/serenity?
i think in japanese (if i'm thinking of the same character as you are) is hei. not that it matters or anything..

SunWuKong

10-30-2002, 07:57 AM

i like your japanese name, princess amie! :D

AliBabaIncorporated

10-30-2002, 09:44 AM

legally, english name only. over here in HK I use my Chinese name pretty much exclusively. Especially in writing - on tests and assignments I will ONLY list my Chinese name and my student ID number, never my English name. Otherwise these TAs handing stuff back will try to act like they are all good at English and can read foreign names without trouble, and make a miserable hash out of my name. when I make reservations at restaurants, karaoke room, the like, I also use my chinese name, cuz there is no way in hell I'm gonna spend 5 minutes on the phone correcting some clerk on how to spell my English name.

This has presented some problems in the past when they didn't believe a guy like me could possibly be surnamed "Ling," and asked me for ID.

angel nympho

10-30-2002, 10:25 AM

I was given a Korean name and an English name, but nobody ever uses my Korean name. Only used it in Korean school.

wylin

10-30-2002, 10:44 AM

My names Ming the merciless or the Mandrin jk

Its william close to my chinese name of Wei-Yaun (pronounced yen spelled yuan)

ChinaLama

10-30-2002, 12:05 PM

my dad's actually been pressing me to have an Anglicized name, but I have always resisted it. But because I'm used to people calling me a truncated version of my Chinese name in English, I figure that may as well be a Western name. It's got a ring to it, too. :)

thaite

10-30-2002, 01:23 PM

Only my mom's family uses my Thai name.

Hanuman

10-30-2002, 01:46 PM

Originally posted by Chasiubao_Boy@Oct 30 2002, 12:21 PM
Both, using different name with the approprate crowd for me.
Same. My Americanized name is John, how whitewashed is that? I went by that until I went to college. When I had a new teacher and they called roll-call that first day of school, I'd always raise my hand to indicate I was present, then meekly say, "please call me John"

While at college, it didn't make sense to go through all that effort when the classes sometimes had students numbering 900 a class. So now people that have known me since before college know me as John, those that met me after, know me as Tawee.

gixxer

10-30-2002, 01:50 PM

tuyen- they've been calling me twin since the first grade

karizma

10-30-2002, 02:51 PM

>> hmm my american name sorta relates to my chinese name...jaime = zhun mei...yea? i have no idea why my name is spelled the way it is though...jaime is pronounced "hi-may" in spanish and teachers n whatnot always get confused...couldnt they have figured out i wasnt hispanic by my last name?? geez.

SunWuKong

10-30-2002, 02:56 PM

Originally posted by karizma@Oct 30 2002, 05:51 PM
>> hmm my american name sorta relates to my chinese name...jaime = zhun mei...yea? i have no idea why my name is spelled the way it is though...jaime is pronounced "hi-may" in spanish and teachers n whatnot always get confused...couldnt they have figured out i wasnt hispanic by my last name?? geez.
hey i think that's the name of one of the characters in joy luck club. not 100% sure though. and it's a nice name.

karizma

10-30-2002, 03:01 PM

>> thank you =)...hey does ur surname mean something? cause i have no idea what mine means and none of my aunts or uncles know grr...its woo...first thing that comes to mind is that vegetable er root or whatever "woo tau" lol

VV o n g B a

10-30-2002, 03:03 PM

my dad's name is li zhen.

he chose his english name to be legend. hows that for an english name? :P

Hanuman

10-30-2002, 03:09 PM

Originally posted by VV o n g B a@Oct 30 2002, 11:03 PM
my dad's name is li zhen.

he chose his english name to be legend. hows that for an english name? :P
Wow, that's pretty cool. Maybe I'll change mine too. From now on I'm going to be known as 'Tower', nah too American gladitor. Need to think on this...

SunWuKong

10-30-2002, 03:27 PM

Originally posted by karizma@Oct 30 2002, 06:01 PM
>> thank you =)...hey does ur surname mean something? cause i have no idea what mine means and none of my aunts or uncles know grr...its woo...first thing that comes to mind is that vegetable er root or whatever "woo tau" lol
if your aunts and uncles don't know, i probably wouldn't know either, unless they actually don't know much chinese. but yeah, my surname has a meaning.

(i'm assuming "woo" is the cantonese pronounciation, right?)

Chris

10-30-2002, 05:37 PM

I use both in appruriate crowds. For instance work I will use chrise but with my freinds from High school or chinese school. I use my chinese name.

Chinkaholic

10-30-2002, 05:40 PM

Only my Chinese Name! please! It's Yichen. I swear...i don't understand how someone can not pronounce it. It's pronounced, E (like the letter) chen. Ugh, one teacher got off calling me Yi-Ken during roll call, no you couldn't have imagined my face. But hey, i love my name it's so..unheard of , different, and totally oriental, Oh and not to mention unaltered by the influence of the white man. :D

Chris

10-30-2002, 05:43 PM

Originally posted by Chinkaholic@Oct 30 2002, 05:40 PM
Only my Chinese Name! please! It's Yichen. I swear...i don't understand how someone can not pronounce it. It's pronounced, E (like the letter) chen. Ugh, one teacher got off calling me Yi-Ken during roll call, no you couldn't have imagined my face. But hey, i love my name it's so..unheard of , different, and totally oriental, Oh and not to mention unaltered by the influence of the white man. :D
Everyone during my childhood life could not pronounce Hann Wei for the life in them. So I had them call me Chris.

tapestrybabe

10-30-2002, 09:37 PM

My Korean name is Kim Sung Ja...
But everyone calls me by my initials, TJ... for Toni Joy... which is my english name....

Uncle Tat

10-30-2002, 10:02 PM

Chinese name only.

I don't care for getting a Westernized name although it might help on job resumes or whatever...

ChinaLama

10-30-2002, 10:15 PM

Originally posted by Uncle Tat@Oct 31 2002, 06:02 AM
Chinese name only.

I don't care for getting a Westernized name although it might help on job resumes or whatever...
dude who needs an english name for jobs when you're named after a bank?

i on the other hand, can only find my name on some beauty salon. and i'm fugly. :(

ckhcornell

10-30-2002, 11:49 PM

:lol:
WOOHOOO My first post, yeah I have a western name : Chris.
But thats cause I didn't like people calling my chinese name with an american accent, it felt weird. I'll use my Chinese name with family and western name with every1 else.

SunWuKong

10-31-2002, 07:47 AM

Originally posted by Saiko@Oct 30 2002, 08:27 PM
My birth certificate is Maggie Ngo, I'm known as Mags, and my Chinese name (only used by my parents) is Gah-yee. There we go.
i could almost swear that's also the name of some celebrity in HK. but can't quite remember right now.

Ultrateg

10-31-2002, 10:43 AM

i've always juss been donny. but my aunts and uncles still calls me my chinese name.... ku ku. <_<

lethal

10-31-2002, 02:50 PM

I use the name in whatever language I happen to be speaking in at the time.

"Andy" just doesn't sound right in Vietnamese and I can't begin to tell you of my misadventures with the name "An" in English.

Well, I'll try anyway. Andy came about because everyone kept thinking I was female from my name. I went to the doctor's office adn they kept expecting a girl. My teachers in elementary school kept expecting a girl. Heck, I got multiple law school acceptance letters addressed to Ms. An. They have a box on the application for gender. Did anyone bother to check those before sending out letters? (as an aside, I've never met anyone with a name shorter than my 4 letters.) One of my professors called roll on the first day and called me Ms. Problem is I didn't know she was calling me cause there is a girl with a similar last name in my class. I also received credit cards in the name of Ann.

Also, the word "an" is an article. Write it out in a sentence..."An is going to the supermarket." "See An run." Sounds like the writer doesn't know grammer or something, right?

Anyway, I do the multiple names thing, but my legal name is the Vietnamese one.

Mr T

11-01-2002, 08:17 AM

Yeah, well I got me both: western and asian. the western one is a french sounding name which makes me all the more mysterious when i speak to wasps.

tapestrybabe

02-02-2003, 10:57 PM

People call me TJ all the time...
standing for Toni Joy...

but my Korean name is Sung Ja...

mr. x

02-02-2003, 11:08 PM

mine's sherwin so it could be like sherwin-williams that store. One time this white co-worker of my parents had the same name

basically its a direct translation of my chinese name sao-wen, meaning scholar or something

BeTheReds

02-02-2003, 11:11 PM

Yo, Sung Ja...

You posted twice with the same info!

Nice name by the way. How did you get it? Did your birth parents give it to you or did someone else?

AznYam

02-02-2003, 11:20 PM

my parents call me wei di but they said i technically have no chinese name. :(

BeTheReds

02-02-2003, 11:49 PM

Are you sure they are not calling you lady but with a horrible chinese accent?

(JOKING!!!)

specialK

02-03-2003, 12:56 AM

Hmm, my parents named me Keith, and call me ky (cuz they're lazy and don't feel like saying the "th" part of it. I didn't get a real Vietnamese name till I was 18 (duy phong), but it was kind of late for it to stick on... <_<

Azn Retribution

02-03-2003, 01:27 AM

Napoleon Chynamite

02-03-2003, 01:50 AM

Originally posted by Azn Retribution@Feb 3 2003, 01:27 AM
haha... my name is Eugene... thats funny..
I was told in France my name is french
but some koreans say my name is a korean name too.
Im so confused.
:confused:

I'm not either thou i"m Filipino and like 1/4th chinese and 1/8th japanese

as for my surname its not asian sounding at all. "Adle"
doesnt even sound filipino.
:confused:

oh well
Eugene is an English name but it is easily translated from 'Yoo Jin' in Korean...I'm not sure how common it is....but I have a couple friends with that name and so it was easy to translate :confused:

teaz0r

02-03-2003, 05:21 AM

my thai name is "Anissa". but i
don't like people calling me that.

my english name is "Philippa", which
is pretty common in England. i don't
like people calling me that either. i
go for the shortened version of it,
"PiPPa". Everybody calls me PiPPa,
or some form of it. ie. pipSy, pip.

KiTTY2babe

02-03-2003, 07:04 AM

Chaz is actually a nickname that stuck back in high school. I hated my names (yes, I have two names) so I never use any of them except in official and legal documents. My friends call me Chaz, at school teachers call me Chaz, in schoolwork, it's also Chaz.

Elizabeth A.

02-03-2003, 08:07 AM

I only have a western name: Elizabeth. No Indian name. My 100% Indian roommate only has a western name, also.

DonDaBomb2

02-03-2003, 10:55 AM

My western name is Don and I use that in most places. My Viet name is Huy and that's only used with family or Viet friends of the family. The funny thing is that my western name is based on my Dad's nickname in Vietnam, which was also spelled Don, I think. It's pronounced differently though.

moschikat

02-03-2003, 12:33 PM

I have a Thai first name : Sarinya.

(and only my mum calls me that - added to my middle and last names - then i know i'm in big trouble!)

I have a Jewish middle name : Jacqueline. (derf, blame the god-parents!)

But people call me diff. variations : Jackie, Jax, Jacks, kiki (< was the "candy kid" name - uh, don't go there) hey you, bitch!, e-ki whatever works.

:P

ism

02-03-2003, 12:48 PM

Originally posted by karizma@Oct 30 2002, 05:51 PM
>> hmm my american name sorta relates to my chinese name...jaime = zhun mei...yea? i have no idea why my name is spelled the way it is though...jaime is pronounced "hi-may" in spanish and teachers n whatnot always get confused...couldnt they have figured out i wasnt hispanic by my last name?? geez.
hehe mine is "Jose" and people have often assumed I have Mestizo or Latino blood before seeing me. They'll accent the last e when greeting me for no good reason (if it were accented it would be written that way). And yeah, my last name makes it pretty evident I'm not exactly hispanic either.

amietron

02-03-2003, 12:54 PM

Amy Aiko Doi.

speshllkay

02-03-2003, 12:59 PM

Uh my mom let my dad name me Stacy. At least it's not as bad as my sister...Barbara. I don't think that I would have liked a Korean name coming out of my fathers mouth anyhow. He would have slaughtered it.

BeTheReds

02-03-2003, 04:39 PM

Originally posted by Azn Retribution@Feb 3 2003, 09:27 AM
haha... my name is Eugene... thats funny..
I was told in France my name is french
but some koreans say my name is a korean name too.
Im so confused.
:confused:

I'm not either thou i"m Filipino and like 1/4th chinese and 1/8th japanese

as for my surname its not asian sounding at all. "Adle"
doesnt even sound filipino.
:confused:

oh well
Whatup Eugene

My name is Eugene too

And it's Korean, Japanese, and Chinese (by virtue of characters) french, greek and whatever else you wanna call Europe.

I mean they have it in verious forms over there

German: Oigen
Spanish: Eugenio
Italian: Eugeni

In the context of the East asian name it means having truth or lots of truth, depending on your characters. It's also usually a girl's name.

In the european sense it means you are born of superior genes.

I don't know about you, so ask your parents.

Adaon

02-03-2003, 05:40 PM

My westernized name is Patrick Andrew. First name from both of my grandfathers who were incidentally named Patrick, and Andrew being my own father's westernized name. My Chinese (Cantonese Pronounciation in my horrible pinyin stuff) Wai Daht (Wei Dot?). Great Achievement....heh....yeah right, haven't gotten that far in my life yet :( :unsure:

airborneranger

02-03-2003, 05:58 PM

Originally posted by BeTheReds@Oct 30 2002, 02:31 AM
Yo-han (Johannes), Jason (Jae-Sun), Erika (Erika)
Tho some people try to make them sound similar
(Sun-Min) Sunny (Min-A) Mindy (Jai-Shing) Jason
And some people have names that don't match at all or sound all whack but these are usually for fobs.
I've heard:
Benny (for a girl), Lacoste, Gelard, Mackie, Keefe, Sholden
Personally people who tried to simulate their chinese name into abc..z often can be more whacked, non existent if not original
Actually even fobs also try to simulate their english name more like their chinese name if they could actually do it they would

rakovlam

02-03-2003, 06:57 PM

I know someone who name is Ling Kung ut then named himself Lincoln. Very clever. Also, Kit is both Chinese and English.

BeTheReds

02-03-2003, 07:11 PM

Originally posted by rakovlam@Feb 4 2003, 02:57 AM
I know someone who name is Ling Kung ut then named himself Lincoln. Very clever. Also, Kit is both Chinese and English.
http://members.fortunecity.com/knightriders/gallery/knight31.jpg

:lol:

AltimaGTR

02-03-2003, 07:18 PM

My Chinese name is Chyi-Yen, but my parents named me Tony. They said it was a simple name to pronounce and spell. :D

VV o n g B a

02-03-2003, 07:54 PM

my american name is dean. its waaaaay better than the chinese nickname i had when i was a kid. xiao3 ding1 ding1. and no, i'm not going to explain it to those who don't see a meaning. :P

kangal

02-03-2003, 08:45 PM

i dunno....i'm sure that the name was truly befitting of your stature =)

kangal

02-03-2003, 08:47 PM

Speaking of which, a member of this board's dad has the coolest name....Legend Li....its his Chinese name, but it happened to come out that way...Legend fricking Li...how fricking cool would that be???? Whenever your name is annoucned ANYWHERE...people would stare and say...wow....i wish my name was Legend...sniff

VV o n g B a

02-03-2003, 09:27 PM

Originally posted by kangal@Feb 3 2003, 10:47 PM
Speaking of which, a member of this board's dad has the coolest name....Legend Li....its his Chinese name, but it happened to come out that way...Legend fricking Li...how fricking cool would that be???? Whenever your name is annoucned ANYWHERE...people would stare and say...wow....i wish my name was Legend...sniff
bah. how did my dad get stuck w/ a cooler name than me. its not fair i tell u!!

BaiginLong

02-03-2003, 09:36 PM

English name: Robert Shih
Chinese Name: Shi Lu
Cantonese pet name: Lo Bak Si (Carrot shreads????)
oro???
:huh:
:P

tvbdude

02-03-2003, 09:49 PM

western name=wilson chen
chinese name-chen wai yee

I wish I can change my western name though cuz it sounded too white. it suits more for rich white people, haha

Azn Retribution

02-04-2003, 05:36 PM

Originally posted by BeTheReds@Feb 3 2003, 04:39 PM
Originally posted by Azn Retribution@Feb 3 2003, 09:27 AM
haha... my name is Eugene... thats funny..
I was told in France my name is french
but some koreans say my name is a korean name too.
Im so confused.
:confused:

I'm not either thou i"m Filipino and like 1/4th chinese and 1/8th japanese

as for my surname its not asian sounding at all. "Adle"
doesnt even sound filipino.
:confused:

oh well
Whatup Eugene

My name is Eugene too

And it's Korean, Japanese, and Chinese (by virtue of characters) french, greek and whatever else you wanna call Europe.

I mean they have it in verious forms over there

German: Oigen
Spanish: Eugenio
Italian: Eugeni

In the context of the East asian name it means having truth or lots of truth, depending on your characters. It's also usually a girl's name.

In the european sense it means you are born of superior genes.

I don't know about you, so ask your parents.
heh origin of my name is being named after a filipino grandmaster in chess(ahhhh) thanks to my obsessed dad.

so it could be Euro or Asian although I think i would lean toward the euro
since uh. Im a guy. :D

having the name Eugene is cool though
we transcend all languages and cultures!

Shuriken

02-04-2003, 07:48 PM

I used to know a non-Asian with an Asian name. In fact, she's the daughter of Shirley MacLaine, and her name is Sachiko Parker, "Sachi" for short. She and I did theatre in Scotland together more than 20 years ago.

She told me that, before she was born, Shirley MacLaine and her then-husband, Steve Parker, who was in the service, adopted a Japanese baby girl named Sachiko, who died when she was still young. Afterwards, the couple decided that if they ever had a baby girl of their own, they would name her Sachiko. So, when they had a daughter, they named her Stephanie Sachiko Parker, and she was always called Sachi.

I haven't seen her since the time that we worked together, but she did some acting afterwards, and she even has a profile on the Internet Movie Data Base (http://us.imdb.com/Name?Parker,+Sachi). (One of her movies includes Vietnam, Texas with Tamlyn Tomita.) According to the page, she's now married and living in Texas.

SunWuKong

02-04-2003, 08:10 PM

Originally posted by Shuriken@Feb 4 2003, 10:48 PM
I used to know a non-Asian with an Asian name.
i know plenty of non-asians with chinese names. in HK.

Napoleon Chynamite

02-04-2003, 08:12 PM

I know a girl who's half-black half-white and her name is Mariko. That's exclusively a Japanese name isn't it? (not like the last name Lee or anything).

enygma

02-05-2003, 10:39 AM

my american name is anna but my korean name is hyunsun and i just use whatever is appropriate in a given situation. although my korean friends i might call each other by our korean names once in awhile.

i know some people whose names are both korean and american

american--korean
jean=jean
joseph=yo-seb
john=yo-han
joel=yoel
hannah=han-nah

pretty convenient, i think. :lol:

maldito

02-05-2003, 03:51 PM

No Western first name for me. It's Hawaiian. My 2 middle names are western. One is Irish (Ian) the other is Old English (Blake).

golden_buns

05-26-2003, 11:36 PM

I've always kept my Korean name eventhough I lived all my life in South America.
Today at the gym I had a conversation with some other guy that bugged me a lot, it went like this;

- guy; I didn't get your name.
- me; I'm "....."
- guy; "......"??? that sounds like a last name, is that really your name?
- me; yeah?
- guy; how come you don't change your name like the rest of the asians around here? they all have english names (the majority of asians in Costa Rica are Chinese and it's quite common for them to use english names)
- me; Did you changed your spanish name when you went to Germany?
- guy; ......., I guess I see your point

So how come foreigners don't ever change their names when they go to Asia, but we're expected to change our names when we go elsewhere?

Emperor_Mike

05-26-2003, 11:40 PM

To make it so that they won't have to utilize higher brain functions in order to pronounce the name properly. Maybe?

SunWuKong

05-26-2003, 11:42 PM

because westerners' names use the roman alphabets, and i'm guessing that it's a lot easier to pronounce between western languages.

but i didn't change my name. i just have an english name for convenience sake in addition to my chinese name. i know westerners in HK that have chinese names.

angel nympho

05-27-2003, 04:09 PM

I don't think people SHOULD change their names... it's just easier on everybody. You don't have to deal with people forgetting your name or mispronouncing it, and other people don't have to be afraid to talk to you for fear that they'll fuck your name up AGAIN... *ShruG* I had no idea people actually EXPECT you to change your name.

AliBabaIncorporated

05-27-2003, 04:20 PM

Man, in Chinese, my name changes every time I go a few hundred miles, and I don't even get to pick what it changes to ... down in Kota Tinggi with my Hakka relatives I'm something like Lien Tseuhwun (or at least that's how they spelled it) , hit Kuala Lumpur with all the Cantonese speakers and I'm Ling Jiuman, go to the Chinese mainland and I'm Ling Zhaowen, study in Japan and I'm Ryou Shoubun.

Most westerners doing business in China have Chinese names, even if they don't use them much and wouldn't respond to it if it were called out on the street. It'll be a three-character name printed on the reverse side of their business cards (since Chinese people hate trying to remember transliterated names with like six or seven characters).

The other thing to consider is that Americans living overseas, and especially their overseas born kids, are a lot more insular community than the kids of immigrants living in the US. So little Johnny Smith at HKIS might not need a Chinese name anyway, since all his social interaction is gonna be done in English.

BeTheReds

05-27-2003, 05:18 PM

Take a western name if you want it.

My parents were more forward thinking and gave me a western name that is a Korean name.

I know there are a few Koreaphiles who go to Korea and introduce themselves with some contrived Korean name they invented and get strange looks and sometimes anger.

Faithless

05-27-2003, 05:26 PM

Originally posted by golden_buns@May 26 2003, 10:36 PM
- guy; how come you don't change your name like the rest of the asians around here? they all have english names (the majority of asians in Costa Rica are Chinese and it's quite common for them to use english names)
Wel,, you could have said that "Tom, Dick, and Harry" were already taken. :cry:

SunWuKong

05-27-2003, 06:05 PM

Originally posted by AliBabaIncorporated@May 27 2003, 07:20 PM
Man, in Chinese, my name changes every time I go a few hundred miles, and I don't even get to pick what it changes to ... down in Kota Tinggi with my Hakka relatives I'm something like Lien Tseuhwun (or at least that's how they spelled it) , hit Kuala Lumpur with all the Cantonese speakers and I'm Ling Jiuman, go to the Chinese mainland and I'm Ling Zhaowen, study in Japan and I'm Ryou Shoubun.

Most westerners doing business in China have Chinese names, even if they don't use them much and wouldn't respond to it if it were called out on the street. It'll be a three-character name printed on the reverse side of their business cards (since Chinese people hate trying to remember transliterated names with like six or seven characters).

The other thing to consider is that Americans living overseas, and especially their overseas born kids, are a lot more insular community than the kids of immigrants living in the US. So little Johnny Smith at HKIS might not need a Chinese name anyway, since all his social interaction is gonna be done in English.

yeah i have a brit friend in HK named ¨f°¶Às. i thought that's a damn cool name, even though it was contrived as much because it's a cool name as it was because it sounds like his English name.

heh, and i had one of those double-sided business cards when i was in HK. one side English, and one side Chinese. a Singaporean friend of a friend once commented that he thought it was strange that we even bother having a Chinese version. guess they just don't do as much business with Taiwan and Mainland as people in HK.

golden_buns

05-27-2003, 06:56 PM

Originally posted by angel nympho@May 27 2003, 03:09 PM
I don't think people SHOULD change their names... it's just easier on everybody.  You don't have to deal with people forgetting your name or mispronouncing it, and other people don't have to be afraid to talk to you for fear that they'll fuck your name up AGAIN...  *ShruG*  I had no idea people actually EXPECT you to change your name.
Using my Korean name has always been something I've always liked, even in my sellout days. I don't really care if people mispronounce it (actually everyone who's not korean does, and its pronounciation changes in spanish and english) or forget it. What I do mind is when people EXPECT me to have it changed; i remember back in HS some teacher tried to call me Andres, I purposedly kept ignoring him until he'd finally call me by my name so he gave up. It's my name, not theirs.

BTW, even Koreans forget my name quite often cuz it's not a very common Korean name either. My grandpa, who's really old school, picked that name

golden_buns

05-27-2003, 06:58 PM

SWK, could you add "name" after "western" on the title?

golden_buns

05-27-2003, 07:00 PM

Originally posted by BeTheReds@May 27 2003, 04:18 PM
I know there are a few Koreaphiles who go to Korea and introduce themselves with some contrived Korean name they invented and get strange looks and sometimes anger.
Wow, I've never seen any westerners in Korea using Korean names. I'd feel weird to hear it also.

And speaking of Koreaphiles, I met one of those two summers ago at Yonsei. The guy had gone all the way to Korea and enrolled there just to try to get laid with Korean chicks.

golden_buns

05-27-2003, 07:01 PM

Originally posted by ChottoMatte@May 27 2003, 04:26 PM
Wel,, you could have said that "Tom, Dick, and Harry" were already taken. :cry:
I think the most common for chinese guys around here is John or Johny, I never heard about Tom, Dick, and Harry being so common

YuheiCarreau

05-27-2003, 07:50 PM

Originally posted by BeTheReds@May 27 2003, 06:18 PM
Take a western name if you want it.

My parents were more forward thinking and gave me a western name that is a Korean name.

I know there are a few Koreaphiles who go to Korea and introduce themselves with some contrived Korean name they invented and get strange looks and sometimes anger.
Jeez, it's a good thing Japanophiles don't do the same thing (except for that Arudou Debito guy). If I met some gaijin who introduced himself as Ryu Hadoken or somethin' like that I'd probably smack him in the face.

The western name thing, well I have a western name and a Japanese one; all my teachers call me by the western one but with my friends about half call me Yuhei and half call me Matt. I never force anyone to use one or the other, but usually I ask that Japanese people call me Yuhei. For me, the annoying part comes when Americans call me Yuhei because they think they're being more PC by not calling me a name some misssionary must've assigned to me or somethin'; "Oh, I can pronounce it," they say, "Yew-hai? YOO-hay?" :rolleyes:

BeTheReds

05-27-2003, 09:31 PM

Originally posted by golden_buns@May 28 2003, 11:00 AM
And speaking of Koreaphiles, I met one of those two summers ago at Yonsei. The guy had gone all the way to Korea and enrolled there just to try to get laid with Korean chicks.
Seriously, why can't they just go to Japan like all the other philes do?

golden_buns

05-27-2003, 09:41 PM

Originally posted by BeTheReds@May 27 2003, 08:31 PM
Seriously, why can't they just go to Japan like all the other philes do?
I think that guy was just naive about asian countries and cultures. real pros know that Korea isn't the place unless they wanna spend big bucks at Itaweon

BeTheReds

05-27-2003, 09:44 PM

Oh I bet he thought was discovering an ancient history and culture by going there huh? Wasn't he surprised by the modern-ness, the materialism, and the exclusiveness?

golden_buns

05-27-2003, 09:51 PM

Originally posted by BeTheReds@May 27 2003, 08:44 PM
Oh I bet he thought was discovering an ancient history and culture by going there huh? Wasn't he surprised by the modern-ness, the materialism, and the exclusiveness?
no, actually he told me he went there to learn Korean and Korean culture, but I couldn't help to notice that he'd just be following one girl after another. Then one day, a friend came all freaked out and told me that guy had pulled a book of english-korean sentences and read her the line "I wanna get laid with you"

Emperor_Mike

05-27-2003, 09:51 PM

I usually use my western first name since people have difficulty pronouncing my Chinese one. But some individuals still manage to butcher the rest of it when they make an attempt on the last name. It's a lose-lose thing in my case. :(

angel nympho

05-27-2003, 09:53 PM

I'm gonna get my korean name tattooed to my back. Or is that too "asiaphile" for somebody like me to do...?

SunWuKong

05-27-2003, 10:18 PM

Originally posted by angel nympho@May 28 2003, 12:53 AM
I'm gonna get my korean name tattooed to my back.  Or is that too "asiaphile" for somebody like me to do...?

it's not too "asiaphile". hehe but i do think it's kind of cheesy. :P
it's like this, what would you think of an english person that tattooed her name on her back?

Green_Jade

05-27-2003, 10:42 PM

my korean name is never pronounced right..well the 'first' name anyways... My "English" name is actually my middle name... so it's pretty unique I guess... I used to hate it, and planned on changing to another name when I started college. But then, I relized it was pretty nifty, so I kept it.

My Spanish teacher in HS had a friend w/ the same name as mine...she/he wasn't asian tho...nifty.no?

YuheiCarreau

05-27-2003, 11:06 PM

Originally posted by BeTheReds@May 27 2003, 10:31 PM
Seriously, why can't they just go to Japan like all the other philes do?
Dammit, we got enough already. It's time for the other nations of Asia to start bearing the load!

tapestrybabe

05-28-2003, 01:02 AM

my korean name is sung ja...
and sometimes i gotta wonder why my adoptive parent felt compelled of giving me an english name of toni joy... when i already had a name given to me in the first place...

BeTheReds

05-29-2003, 06:56 PM

Originally posted by tapestrybabe@May 28 2003, 05:02 PM
my korean name is sung ja...
and sometimes i gotta wonder why my adoptive parent felt compelled of giving me an english name of toni joy... when i already had a name given to me in the first place...
How did you get sung ja? Did your biological parents give you that or was it given to you by someone else?

purezero

05-29-2003, 10:15 PM

Originally posted by SunWuKung@May 27 2003, 10:18 PM

it's not too "asiaphile". hehe but i do think it's kind of cheesy. :P
it's like this, what would you think of an english person that tattooed her name on her back?
Haha. My friend got his Chinese name tattooed on his back. I don't see why. I mean he can't see it. I don't think he even knows how to write it himself. Oh, how sad.

You would think that my name is fairly simple to say. But I've received so many different pronounciations, spellings, and jokes from it. Honestly, I'm kind of tired of it. Like in 5th grade my teacher decided to have us listed alphabetically by first name. So I was always last. And whoever goes last gets graded the hardest.

And people in food places are the worst. I guess it's because they don't feel inclined to getting my name right since I probably wouldn't be a regular. They've called me "Giru," "Jill," and other things. This guy at Starbucks spelled my name "Zireu" even when I spelled it out for him. <_<

kboy75

11-05-2003, 11:19 AM

i always had a korean name and was called by it until i reached kindergarten.

on the way to school in the car, my mom turns around and tell me, "OK! When they call 'James' that's you OK?"

From then on, I've always gone by my English name. Only my grandma uses my korean name, or my mom when she is REALLY upset at me.

Mo'Taka

11-20-2003, 02:57 PM

I have a western first name and a Korean middle one. Only my family uses my Korean name since no one else can pronounce it.

nonamerasian

11-20-2003, 03:28 PM

I have a western first name and a Korean middle one. Only my family uses my Korean name since no one else can pronounce it.

You mind telling what it is?

purezero

11-20-2003, 07:49 PM

My name is Ziru. Yeah. Ziru. Not Zero, Zira, Ziro, Zir, Zy-ru, etc. etc. Ziru. Like Zee-Roo. Man, it's not that hard! Friggin' teachers and all that. Blah.

Isn't it a kind of... soup or something in Japanese?

SunWuKong

11-21-2003, 02:59 AM

purezero

11-21-2003, 03:55 AM

oh i always thought that was your Chinese name in pinyin or something.
Haha, it is. It sounds more like the Mandarin pronunciation of my name, at least think so. But my dad says that it's the Cantonese pronunciation.

Here, I'll write it out for you with my lovely Paint skills!

ChinaLama

11-21-2003, 07:53 AM

pronouncing it in Chinese is a lot harder than in English. :)

SunWuKong

11-21-2003, 10:47 AM

Haha, it is. It sounds more like the Mandarin pronunciation of my name, at least think so. But my dad says that it's the Cantonese pronunciation.

Here, I'll write it out for you with my lovely Paint skills!

oh so i was right. :p
i was kind of wondering about that when you said that it's pronounced as "zee roo".
that's actually the exact Mandarin pinyin. the Cantonese pronounciation is more like jee yu.

very confident name, by the way. :happy:

purezero

11-21-2003, 11:11 AM

that's actually the exact Mandarin pinyin. the Cantonese pronounciation is more like jee yu.
That's what I told my dad! Yeesh! :closedeye

very confident name, by the way. :happy:
Aww. Tee hee. Thanks. :blush:

Mo'Taka

11-23-2003, 01:02 AM

You mind telling what it is?

A rough romanization would be Jaephil. But it isn't really pronounced the way it looks.

nonamerasian

12-09-2003, 03:52 PM

my korean name is sung ja...
and sometimes i gotta wonder why my adoptive parent felt compelled of giving me an english name of toni joy... when i already had a name given to me in the first place...

Sometimes I wonder why parents do that while watching Adoption Stories on the health channel.

Did you ever ask your parents why they did that?

ism

12-09-2003, 03:57 PM

This guy at Starbucks spelled my name "Zireu" even when I spelled it out for him. <_<

People at Starbucks fuck up Western names just as badly...

Mo'Taka

12-09-2003, 04:15 PM

Wow, I've never seen any westerners in Korea using Korean names. I'd feel weird to hear it also.

And speaking of Koreaphiles, I met one of those two summers ago at Yonsei. The guy had gone all the way to Korea and enrolled there just to try to get laid with Korean chicks.

LOL, I went to that Yonsei summer thing too and there was one Koreaphile. Nobody liked him but he always followed us whenever we went out. I don't think he succeeded.

Rogmok

12-09-2003, 04:29 PM

i have western and chinese name too. but my chinese name sounds funny so i rarely introduce myself as my chinese name, even if they are chinese because it sounds strikingly similar to 'chinese sausage' so i figure i' just save myself the ridicule and use my english name. .. which, as it is.. i'm not too fond of either.

teaz0r

12-09-2003, 05:22 PM

my parents gave me a thai name that
is easy to pronounce like a western name.

golden_buns

12-09-2003, 07:33 PM

LOL, I went to that Yonsei summer thing too and there was one Koreaphile. Nobody liked him but he always followed us whenever we went out. I don't think he succeeded.

wow it sounds like that guy. Were you there on summer of 2001?

Chinkaholic

12-09-2003, 08:06 PM

when i was young[and still now] most people couldn't pronounce my name. Some people were really cruel, but now i think i've grown to love my name, but there are a few bumps. Having a Western name would be MUCH simpler, but that doesn't mean we should do it. It's Yichen, by the way.

AngryABCGirl

12-10-2003, 03:21 AM

My parents gave me a Chinese name that just sounds like my American name, and it doens't make any sense. I wish they gave me a real Chinese name. Even now when I introduce myself to other Chinese people I just tell them my Western name. My name is Bessie so it's less common cause my parents wanted something unique, so people fuck it up at coffee shops and places just as much as other places.

My friend Haemi just says her name is Amy to make it easier on people, since they assume that anyway. It's kind of funny.

SunWuKong

12-10-2003, 02:35 PM

2 threads have been merged.

Mo'Taka

12-10-2003, 02:48 PM

wow it sounds like that guy. Were you there on summer of 2001?

No, 2003. But they're all the same anyway. :tongue:

DragonKnight

12-10-2003, 06:23 PM

Richard...hrm, western...
Philipp...hrm, still western...
Caviteno...err, I give up. People think I'm Italian with this weird last name. :confused:

moJo

12-10-2003, 07:11 PM

I have an english first name and a chinese middle name. (I'm named after a Dolly Parton song. No joke. But in my parent's defense, they didn't know the origins of the name, which they got from my cousin.)

I knew a guy once who's name is Arun, which is Indian. But he told me to call him "Aaron". I know a lot of people probably do the same thing for convenience sake, but this guy in particular seemed kinda reluctant to talk about his ethnic culture. I tried asking him about it, and he'd change the subject.

sdcheung

12-10-2003, 07:57 PM

Sherman
Zhang Shu-Ming
and my Christian name Photius/Photios/Fotios/Foti

golden_buns

12-10-2003, 10:16 PM

No, 2003. But they're all the same anyway. :tongue:

Yeah, just go to JJ Mahoney's, it's pack with guys like that

DragonKnight

12-11-2003, 12:47 AM

I was supposed to be named after the Russian princess Anastasia but my mother thought that I would grow up to be a stupid kid who would not have the capacity to spell such a long name.

Hence, Anastasia was split in two for me (to make things easier.. har har har):

Anne - My first name is a Saint's name (there's an E at the end of my name because Anne with an E is Catholic.. Ann without the E is a Protestant name).

Stacey - My middle name sounds like it should belong to a preppy trust fund brat.

Solidum - My last name is Latin for "solidarity". My father took his stepfather's last name.

My initials are A.S.S. Lovely, isn't it?
Oh gawd, I almost choked on that one. :biggrin:

Hrm, I had a friend with the last name 'Solidum.'

SunWuKong

12-11-2003, 01:37 AM

oh but what a nice ASS

DragonKnight

12-11-2003, 01:42 AM

oh but what a nice ASS
*werd* :biggrin:

Emperor_Mike

12-11-2003, 04:21 AM

Michael Gabriel William Ryan Van Schoonhoven-Kovalenko-Lee

Didn't include my Chinese name. Don't know how to sound it out without me looking stupid. :redface:

yoMAMA

12-13-2003, 12:23 PM

yes, i do have one..............

yoMAMA

12-13-2003, 12:24 PM

i remember back in high school, there was a japanese exchange student, and her name was erika (that's her japanese name).

And she was also hot..........:D

Mr.Lum

12-13-2003, 12:31 PM

i have three names. one is arabic, one is Fijian and one is Chinese. not western at all.

Kuchana

12-24-2003, 01:15 AM

Ironically, when I was adopted, my Asian last name became my first name; Kim.

Napoleon Chynamite

12-27-2003, 07:25 PM

Ironically, when I was adopted, my Asian last name became my first name; Kim.

wadup Kim Kim ^^

mrazntre

12-27-2003, 09:40 PM

nope

seanp

12-28-2003, 07:54 AM

both o.o

Kuchana

12-28-2003, 08:29 AM

wadup Kim Kim ^^

nuh uh. just one kim please :wink: whadup to you, too hehe

Sledge

12-28-2003, 01:44 PM

My name in Mandarin became my middle name.

Martino

12-30-2003, 03:55 AM

SunWuKong

12-30-2003, 08:16 AM

Yes. Yes I do.

Wasn't it once the practice of Hong Kong schools to allocate children Western first names? How dreadful is that. Still seems a fad for people there to seek out unusual, though still Western, monikers ... Fruit, Samson, Mentor etc.

not sure. in my parents' generation (i'm 27), it was trendy to have an English name. now it's just normal practice. but it's not like our English names replaced our Chinese names. we just use both.

applehead

12-30-2003, 09:34 PM

Michael Gabriel William Ryan Van Schoonhoven-Kovalenko-Lee

Didn't include my Chinese name. Don't know how to sound it out without me looking stupid. :redface:

my sister thinks you're lying about your name.

mrazntre

12-30-2003, 10:29 PM

my sister thinks you're lying about your name.

And I think that you're lying when you say your name and your sister's name rhymes.

kasia

12-30-2003, 11:58 PM

And I think that you're lying when you say your name and your sister's name rhymes.

all my friends think your full name is cyrus.

Kuchana

12-31-2003, 03:23 AM

Michael Gabriel William Ryan Van Schoonhoven-Kovalenko-Lee

Ack! Are you pulling my leg? That's the longest name I've ever seen :eek:

applehead

12-31-2003, 10:12 AM

And I think that you're lying when you say your name and your sister's name rhymes.

i like your name.

Seamus

02-05-2004, 04:32 PM

My Chinese name is Chenghuan, which I'm told is also a Korean name (spelled Chenghwan), so if I go to Korea, I'd have a local name already. Does anyone know how it would be translated into Cantonese?

Napoleon Chynamite

02-05-2004, 04:42 PM

My Chinese name is Chenghuan, which I'm told is also a Korean name (spelled Chenghwan), so if I go to Korea, I'd have a local name already. Does anyone know how it would be translated into Cantonese?

I dun think it's a Korean name, at least not the way it's pronounced. Maybe the characters of your name can be translated into two characters that are a common combination in Korean names, but it would still be pronounced differently. But then again, technically the vast majority of all Chinese and Korean names can be translated directly through the meaning of the Chinese characters between each other, although that may be changing these days.

Seamus

02-05-2004, 04:59 PM

It was my Korean classmate from Seoul who told me that. Actually, I think it might be prounced pretty similarly to how it's pronounced in English or Mandarin, but using a different character for the second syllable.

SunWuKong

02-05-2004, 09:20 PM

SunWuKong

02-05-2004, 09:21 PM

But then again, technically the vast majority of all Chinese and Korean names can be translated directly through the meaning of the Chinese characters between each other, although that may be changing these days.

bo meen na!

kuilong

02-06-2004, 09:37 AM

My Chinese name is (surprise, surprise) Kuilong (奎龍), which is my middle name. Interestingly enough my English name sounds just like it, but apparently it's Celtic or something.

Thoughts: About non-Asians who have Asian names, Uma Thurman springs to mind; didn't her father become an ordained Buddhist monk or something?

I've noticed that South Asians seem to use their Asian names a lot. And Japanese people seem to to a greater extent than Chinese or Korean people (this is just anecdotal evidence, highly suspect and all, yadda yadda).

One of my friends' parents picked her English name from the name of a Taiwanese washing machine manufacturer.

Interesting article on Chinese people taking Western names (Satan Zhou! *choke*): http://www.bebeyond.com/LearnEnglish/BeAD/Readings/PickNameChina.html.

Bhodi_Li

02-06-2004, 09:50 AM

Where do adopted names and birth names come into play in this discussion?

sageb1

03-13-2004, 05:13 AM

Stephen is my Western name and Hisashi, my Asian.
Originally it was Donald Stephen Hisashi Kawamoto.
I dropped "Donald" because some driver test clerk
ridiculed it making inappropriate references to Donald
Duck.

hooligan

03-14-2004, 09:00 PM

LCY

03-14-2004, 09:36 PM

My Korean name is Kim Sung Ja...
But everyone calls me by my initials, TJ... for Toni Joy... which is my english name....

That a lovely name, tapestrybabe. Do you know what it means?

I have a Korean name and use a shortened version with my English-speaking friends and colleagues (just because I don't like to hear my real name butchered and it's easier for others to remember). I considered changing my name to an English one when I was a teenager, but I decided to keep my name.

yoMAMA

03-15-2004, 08:15 AM

My english name is Roger.....and my Chinese name is....while, it's still a secret..... :wink:

Mr.Lum

03-15-2004, 05:31 PM

hahha roger rabbit!

bluemonq

03-15-2004, 06:03 PM

Steven
Luo Hao <---- parents gave me this
Luo Kong <---- grandfather gave me this...for whatever reason

i should attach a picture of my chinese name, huh? hmm...

nola

03-15-2004, 06:19 PM

English first name (Alicia) and Chinese middle name.

myeunoia

03-15-2004, 06:24 PM

English first name (Jenny <-- yep, just Jenny, NOT Jennifer) and Korean middle name.

yoMAMA

03-15-2004, 09:57 PM

hahha roger rabbit!

yeah, i got called that a lot, or it's

Roger Dodger...... :biggrin:

I also acquired the nickname "donald duck" back da dayz in da hood known as beijing....but that's another story all to itself..... :tongue:

John0101

03-16-2004, 09:45 AM

Johnny Yong or Yong Yue Fung

Most of my friends either call me Johnny or John, while my family call me di-di aka little brother.

sageb1

03-16-2004, 09:08 PM

haha... my name is Eugene... thats funny..
I was told in France my name is french
but some koreans say my name is a korean name too.
Im so confused.
:confused:

I'm not either thou i"m Filipino and like 1/4th chinese and 1/8th japanese

as for my surname its not asian sounding at all. "Adle"
doesnt even sound filipino.
:confused:

oh well
Say, r u Japanese on your mother's side? Just curious.

My aunt provided "Donald". My father might have had some influence with Stephen since there is a Mt. Stephen in the Rockies. "Hisashi" -- I don't know. There are so many variations in kanji, and my mom lost the ear rings with the two ideograms which make up my Japanese name.

Fireblade

03-16-2004, 10:14 PM

Napoleon Chynamite

03-29-2004, 02:52 AM

holy crap... i'm surprised I haven't posted in this thread yet.

Clinton is my western name. My dad picked it out from a list of name from a baby name book, and my sis picked the one that she didn't know anyone by.

Louie is my last name. There's a big ol' family history behind it, but it sounds weird. Doesn't seem like a very typical chinese last name. Someone once thought my last name was french. >_<

Just depends on how you spell/romanize it ^^ Like...some people spell your surname with 'Lui' right? So that looks a lot more Chinese. My last name is "Luke", which obviously seems very Americanized as well.

truMp

09-16-2004, 08:05 PM

Nathan: first name

with a chinese middle name

Chung: last name

oo I rock.

yoMAMA

09-16-2004, 08:28 PM

I just realized I'm the only asian I know named Roger ;)

[I know alot of other asian guys named john, mike, jason...etc].

:p

hooligan

09-16-2004, 08:39 PM

brad, HAHA, just kidding. it's zeke.

yoMAMA

09-16-2004, 08:50 PM

Wait a minute...

I'm not the only asian guy i know named Roger.

Afterall, I was named after a family friend also named Roger [ sansei japanese american] from Hawaii.

:p

truMp

09-17-2004, 12:13 AM

Wait a minute...

I'm not the only asian guy i know named Roger.

Afterall, I was named after a family friend also named Roger [ sansei japanese american] from Hawaii.

:p

I have a friend who's name is Roger and another friend who's last name is Tang.

robotic

09-17-2004, 03:55 AM

Anum.

asian/south-asian name ^-^

rocketbunny

09-17-2004, 06:51 PM

"Joyceline." Sometimes I wish I had a more Filipino name, but then again, sometimes I really like my name because I don't know anybody else who has it...

SunWuKong

09-17-2004, 11:46 PM

"Joyceline." Sometimes I wish I had a more Filipino name, but then again, sometimes I really like my name because I don't know anybody else who has it...

a Filipino friend of mine has a long middle name, half of which she shares with all her siblings.

i hope she doesn't stumble onto this site and gets freaked out that i mentioned her name, but her middle name is "Eugenia de la Rosa", so her full name is "<firstname> Eugenia de la Rosa <lastname>". and her sister's middle name is "Athena de la Rosa". she also has a brother and another sister and their middle names are also <something> de la Rosa.

Chester

09-20-2004, 06:22 PM

"Joyceline." Sometimes I wish I had a more Filipino name. It always seems to me that there's an awful lot of Filipinas named "Joceline." But maybe I'm just thinking of Jocelyn Enriquez. Which is funny, because I don't think much of Jocelyn Enriquez.

SunWuKong

09-20-2004, 09:35 PM

It always seems to me that there's an awful lot of Filipinas named "Joceline." But maybe I'm just thinking of Jocelyn Enriquez. Which is funny, because I don't think much of Jocelyn Enriquez.

i thought "Maria" is the most popular Filipina name?

applehead

09-20-2004, 10:12 PM

bo meen na!

hi!

i like my name.
but i guess my western name is meena.
or bo.
because white people can't seem to
prounce it correctly when they're together.
i guess the space makes a big difference. (??)
bo. okay.
meena. okay.
bo+meena= lots of confusion.

Bhodi_Li

09-21-2004, 12:35 AM

Is that spelled 보미나?

asvenus

09-21-2004, 03:14 AM

proud of my non-western name and would never use one/have one/give my kids one etc etc...so wierd cos even though it is piss easy to pronounce as it has like two syllables you still get idiots that cant say it or distort it into something htey find more comfortable saying...grrrr
the only people that are allowed to shorten my name are family and VERY close friends, otherwise i gladly sit there like some self-righteous wanker and correct people until they get it right dammit right!! heehee

deez nuts

09-21-2004, 06:14 AM

hi!

i like my name.
but i guess my western name is meena.
or bo.
because white people can't seem to
prounce it correctly when they're together.
i guess the space makes a big difference. (??)
bo. okay.
meena. okay.
bo+meena= lots of confusion.

and the non-korean asians that can't pronounce your name just call you by your last name.

SunWuKong

09-21-2004, 07:16 AM

and the non-korean asians that can't pronounce your name just call you by your last name.

i just call her meen.

applehead

09-21-2004, 07:20 AM

Is that spelled 보미나?

hahahahhaha. omg. yeah.
lol. that's so weird. seeing my korean
name on the thread.

i just call her meen.

oh is it 'cause you can't pronounce bo.meena?

SunWuKong

09-21-2004, 07:28 AM

oh is it 'cause you can't pronounce bo.meena?

no it's because it sounds exactly like "mean".

applehead

09-21-2004, 07:49 AM

no it's because it sounds exactly like "mean".

kekekekekekeke.

Bhodi_Li

09-21-2004, 10:10 PM

hahahahhaha. omg. yeah.
lol. that's so weird. seeing my korean
name on the thread.Yeah, that took me awhile to remember where all the Korean characters were placed on the keyboard.

applehead

09-22-2004, 10:26 PM

oh bhodi. you're better than me.
i need the cover thingy that goes
over my keyboards.
:biggrin: :biggrin:

Napoleon Chynamite

09-23-2004, 02:46 PM

kekekekekekeke.

But 'mee-eehn' in Korean means 'beauty', right? :wink:

deez nuts

09-24-2004, 05:21 AM

yes. my western name is a direct translation of my chinese name:

"man with gigantic penis"

SunWuKong

09-24-2004, 08:04 AM

But 'mee-eehn' in Korean means 'beauty', right? :wink:

no it means THAT WAS CHEESY AS HELL AND A WEAK COME-ON!

deez nuts

09-24-2004, 08:19 AM

no it means THAT WAS CHEESY AS HELL AND A WEAK COME-ON!

lol

Napoleon Chynamite

09-24-2004, 12:02 PM

no it means THAT WAS CHEESY AS HELL AND A WEAK COME-ON!

:biggrin: can't blame a guy for trying

Bhodi_Li

09-24-2004, 10:38 PM

:biggrin: can't blame a guy for tryingIt was an excellent move. I think it worked!

Napoleon Chynamite

09-25-2004, 12:36 AM

It was an excellent move. I think it worked!

Really? I haven't gotten any phone call yet :frown: Ah well...the search continues :tongue:

yellowperilgirl

11-03-2004, 11:15 PM

BigLew

11-04-2004, 11:47 AM

[B]jenni my mom named me thank god my dad picked ming zer though its more likea boys name. jenni is good for online cause theres a thousand azn jenni's noone can every stalk u hahaha. i just started a new school i have them call me by my real name now. english names r empty to me. - YPGHey girl what's crackalakin' I didn't know you joined. Good to have you here.

Every one give Jenni welcome karma, she is a good kid.

so_fee_ahh

11-04-2004, 11:59 AM

This Korean girl once told me that my name meant "cow blood" in Korean...Sophie..."so pee"? Or something like that...*looks nervous* :frown:

onnihs

11-04-2004, 01:43 PM

This Korean girl once told me that my name meant "cow blood" in Korean...Sophie..."so pee"? Or something like that...*looks nervous* :frown:

lol. hate to break it to u hun, but

So = cow

Fee = blood (actually pronounced "pee" in korean; no "F" sounds in Han Gul. So a korean person would pronounce your name SO PEE YA)

Ah = doesn't really help with the clause.

keke

My western name is Eric. My father was in love with CHiPS at the time of my birth, and was a HUGE fan of Erik Estrada. It was either eric or elvis. I think i would have had a more interesting life if he chose the latter. :confused:

fossilfuel

11-04-2004, 04:00 PM

^ dude, he should have named you Ponch. Or Poncharello.

my vietnamese name is Dong - which means "east" (i think it's the same in Chinese)

my western name is... Don. What a stretch.

so_fee_ahh

11-04-2004, 05:58 PM

So it is true? :frown:

Well, at least on the bright side...maybe in some culture, cow blood is sacred?

onnihs

11-04-2004, 07:49 PM

^ dude, he should have named you Ponch. Or Poncharello.

my vietnamese name is Dong - which means "east" (i think it's the same in Chinese)

my western name is... Don. What a stretch.

lol. i would have gone for ponch.

interestingly, i'm supposed to name my firstborn son "dong" (like dong-min, dong-ja, dong-ah) because of family tradition. my father was the eldest son of the Shin's, which means my bloodlines holds higher... pedigree? something or rather.

So it is true? :frown:

Well, at least on the bright side...maybe in some culture, cow blood is sacred?

ah, but when you examine a cow's eyes closely, they are indeed beautiful.

Mr.Lum

11-05-2004, 03:07 AM

Haha. I'm glad my name is at least cool in translation; "sword of Allah" BITACH!

SunWuKong

11-06-2004, 11:43 AM

ah, but when you examine a cow's eyes closely, they are indeed beautiful.

hahhahhah what? come again? :rolleyes:

applehead

11-06-2004, 07:38 PM

hahhahhah what? come again? :rolleyes:

hubie's line was much better.
goodness.

bulldog

11-06-2004, 08:30 PM

fossilfuel

11-06-2004, 10:35 PM

MEENA f
Usage: Indian
Means "fish" in Sanskrit. In Hindu mythology this is the name of the daughter of the goddess Usha as well as the daughter of the god Kubera.

I guess it's west of east asia! :)

Mina - spelled with an I - is a western name I believe. The character from Bram Stoker's Dracula was named Mina - but it might be short for something else (Wilhemina)?

BeTheReds

11-06-2004, 11:10 PM

This must be the only thread I've ever created to ever reach more than 10 pages.

applehead

11-07-2004, 08:30 PM

Meena is a western name ? Since when I wonder

hi.

but i guess my western name is meena.

bye.

MEENA f
Usage: Indian
Means "fish" in Sanskrit. In Hindu mythology this is the name of the daughter of the goddess Usha as well as the daughter of the god Kubera.

oh no wonder!
when i tell people i've just met,
that my name's meena.
some have asked me if i was born in india.
and i always thought that was an odd question.
now i know why.

Emperor_Mike

11-08-2004, 12:42 AM

my sister thinks you're lying about your name.

Delayed response, but...

No way! That's my actual name out in full. Hard to believe, yes, but I get that reaction quite often. I just go by Michael Lee nowadays. The Dutch and Russian elements are hold-overs from an era when my relatives got a case of the crazies and decided to go on a hyphenation spree.

I pretty much hate my surname. When I was in elementary school kids would make fun of it for being weird and teachers would have a hard time saying the whole thing, giving cruel children more material to work with.

Now I only use it for official documents because you're not supposed to shorten names on them. It's frowned upon.

Ack! Are you pulling my leg? That's the longest name I've ever seen :eek:

No, I blame my silly relatives. All of the males from my father's side of the family starting from my grandfather have a common middle name (William) and two other names. So my cousin is Joshua Patrick William David Lee. Throw in the van Schoonhoven and Kovalenko and you have a needlessly long and complex name.

If you start hyphenating your last name to include your mother's, grandmother's and whatever-mother's maiden name you'd end up with the same result. :wink:

Mr.Lum

11-08-2004, 03:07 AM

Full name: Khalid ben Khalid ben Khalid ben Khalid ben Ibrahim Whalid al-Lum.

applehead

11-08-2004, 09:36 PM

Full name: Khalid ben Khalid ben Khalid ben Khalid ben Ibrahim Whalid al-Lum.

goodness.
you beat emperor mike!

oh wait. are you joking?!

AngryABCGirl

11-09-2004, 12:19 AM

What do you think of people who change their Western names for Asian names? I know someone who did it out as a protest of colonialism/imperialism/isms.

Personally, it's not something I'd do (but I'll admit it probably has a lot to do with the fact I don't have a real Chinese name) and having a Western name is a lot easier in the US and I do consider myself both Westerner and whatever politcally correct term you wanna define for Eastener (I almost said Oriental).

Pookie_gal

11-09-2004, 02:02 AM

My first name is a Persian name which means 'sweetness' - not sure why my parents chose that for me 'cos we have no Persian origins. I think they just liked that name. I have a Chinese name as well, but I use my 'Western' first name. I didn't like my name when I was younger - I wanted to be called something more Western like Stephanie, but now I appreciate that it's different and it's a nice pretty name. :smile:

Mr.Lum

11-09-2004, 02:49 AM

goodness.
you beat emperor mike!

oh wait. are you joking?!

No that's it in full. I just shorten it to "Khaid ben Ibrahim" or "Khalid ben Khalid al-LUm" or just "Khalid Lum".

Kuchana

11-09-2004, 03:36 AM

Where do adopted names and birth names come into play in this discussion?

Blame my parents since they thought it was a brillant idea in taking my Korean name except Yeong and use it as my American name. Thus: Kim is my first name and Soo as part of my middle name, which confuses Asians but my adoptive mother also inserted her middle name alongside with Soo to make it Soo-Lee. Then my last name, which was Moss (my maiden name) was put in after that. I never really liked my name when I was a kid. Everyone had a habit of calling me Kim Soo, which was fine but when I got into junior high, it got old fast. I opted for just Kim as a result. And now it aggraves me because people think that my name is short for Kimberly. Not my cup of tea.

I can't remember if I've responded to this thread about my name before. I have a sneaking suspicion I have. If so, my apologies:)

kuilong

11-09-2004, 07:16 AM

Full name: Khalid ben Khalid ben Khalid ben Khalid ben Ibrahim Whalid al-Lum.

Does that mean you're Khalid, son of Khalid, etc.?

Mr.Lum

11-09-2004, 01:26 PM

Does that mean you're Khalid, son of Khalid, etc.?

Yes. I'm not a junior though. I just have a very similar name to my pa.

SunWuKong

11-09-2004, 04:06 PM

Yes. I'm not a junior though. I just have a very similar name to my pa.

so i guess it's a tradition to name a son Khalid? are you going to do the same?

BeTheReds

11-09-2004, 04:24 PM

mourning miso

11-11-2004, 09:11 AM

my asian name (ahn) easily translates into a western name (ann).

Mr.Lum

11-11-2004, 10:01 AM

so i guess it's a tradition to name a son Khalid? are you going to do the same?

Yeah probably. I think it's prolly out of lack of creativity. LOL.

so_fee_ahh

11-11-2004, 07:24 PM

Yeah probably. I think it's prolly out of lack of creativity. LOL.

I know 2 brothers named Khalid and Jalil.

Can I call you Ben instead?

Mr.Lum

12-24-2004, 11:49 AM

I know 2 brothers named Khalid and Jalil.

Can I call you Ben instead?

In a word, no. lol

Seamus

02-22-2005, 11:48 AM

My name comes from the westernmost country in Europe (not counting Iceland).

Mr.Lum

02-22-2005, 01:45 PM

My Christian name is French. I don't use it outside of church though.

nola

02-22-2005, 05:03 PM

Emile Boutros...you can be General Secretary of the UN someday with that name.

yoMAMA

02-23-2005, 10:26 PM

My Christian name is French. I don't use it outside of church though.

i thought you are muslim?

Mr.Lum

02-24-2005, 10:46 AM

My dad is Muslim. My mother is Christian. I am Christian as well.

yoMAMA

02-24-2005, 08:40 PM

My dad is Muslim. My mother is Christian. I am Christian as well.

cool.

raacluse

06-21-2005, 06:56 PM

BeTheReds

06-22-2005, 02:20 AM

It seemed rather insensitive, if not down right insulting!

While I'll agree with you that it's annoying, I don't really think you can call it insulting or even insensitive. When words from other languages are romanized and read by someone who's spoken American English and nothing else all their lives, it's only natural that he you reads it according to the linguistic rules he is familiar with. Can you really blame a guy for reading "choi" as "CHOY" instead of "Chweh?"

Oftentimes even the romanization is made specifically so that people who are familliar with that language will be able to read it, in cases where there are no adequate romanizations for that particular sound. The Korean name "Seo" for example. I hear "SEEYO!" all the time for that romanization. But "eo" indicates something more close to "uh" or "aw".

If I told you how my name is spelled, you'd mispronounce it too, as everyone reads it thinking it's something else. (It's Whong just in case you're wondering... and no, I'm not Chinese.　　Most Koreans with this name use HWANG, but I'm different for some reason.)

On top of that Western names get butchered in all Asian countries. Not to sound too cliche, but for most native Japanese, any name with R and L in it is impossible to say without practice. Say nothing of any name with final consonants besides "n", something simple like David becomes "Debido".

Koreans don't even have an f sound, so you're pucked if your name is Fred or Phil.

-----

I couldn't understand why some clueless old codger would be butchering names at an expensive, prestigious institution.

Probably because he's up there in the Ivy League community and famous for being a smart genius or something. If you felt strongly about it, you should have gone and corrected him.

Pigeon

06-26-2005, 08:21 PM

Western: Wendy
Korean: So Young (eh, Yoon So Young)

SO YOUNG-AH!, is common around my house.

raacluse

07-15-2005, 02:14 PM

Probably because he's up there in the Ivy League community and famous for being a smart genius or something. If you felt strongly about it, you should have gone and corrected him.

Yeah, I should've jumped into the middle of the courtyard, put up my hands, and yelled, "Stop everything!!!..."

I didn't expect absolutely correct pronunciation. The problem was that the announcer sounded like he was reading the names for the first time, and kept tripping over them. (Maybe he was seeing them for the first time. It's possible he could've been a substitute for the regular announcer. Whatever.)

I should've written them a letter. Oh well, I bet the guy has died of old age and is in an afterlife amongst lotsa Asian spirits who are mispronouncing HIS name. :tongue:

Paradox

07-16-2005, 01:19 AM

In some cases, it's easier if you have a western first name.

5 or more years ago, I recall going a sibling's graduation ceremony at an Ivy-league school... it was a follow-on event to the main one... it was for handing out graduate degrees.

I remember cringing every time this old white man announced Asian names. Those who had Asian first names got it worst. I couldn't understand why some clueless old codger would be butchering names at an expensive, prestigious institution. It seemed rather insensitive, if not down right insulting!

One can only hope things have changed...
It's also highly beneficial to have a western sounding last name as well. There was a study done awhile back by showed that people with anglo sounding first and last names tended to get calls for interviews more. If you had a "black" or "foreign" sounding name then you tended to get less responses.

TB4000

07-16-2005, 03:19 PM

So I've been saying Choi the wrong way all this time?

AliBabaIncorporated

07-16-2005, 09:32 PM

So I've been saying Choi the wrong way all this time?
Well, there's also a Cantonese surname Choi (蔡, AKA Mandarin Tsai), sometimes also spelled Choy by older immigrants in the US and their descendants. That one's actually pronounced the way it's spelled.

Anyone know that's the same or a different character as the Korean "Choi"?

Chinasaur

07-22-2005, 08:27 PM

Western name: Calvin.

I kinda like my name, actually. Not too common.

LaiSteve66

07-24-2005, 01:39 AM

Western name: Stephen (or Steve)

demoore

10-12-2005, 07:50 PM

It's funny to see that a lot of westerners like to have their name translated in Chinese! They like to get it calligraphied, or tatooed!

http://www.chinese-tools.com/names

What do you think of this new fashion?

Flow to Live

10-21-2005, 04:54 PM

My name is Thanh(i know its a girl name but my mom named me so whateva!)
Middle name is Viet
Last Name is Tran

So full name would be Thanh Viet Tran how much more vietnamese can i get

My western name was suppose to be "John" but we used it when i was little but never used it when i got older.

jongeh

10-21-2005, 08:42 PM

my name is western all the way through. jennifer is my first name, lynn is my middle name, and my last name is an irish name. i have a korean name, but it is not legal, i would like to legally add it (in the middle) though. unfortuneately, i've found out this is not as easy as i had thought.

Flow to Live

10-21-2005, 09:44 PM

jongeh

10-22-2005, 07:14 AM

^my mom does and some korean friends. like other people said, i prefer to just use my western name when i'm with western people.

Filippinsk Fyr

04-30-2006, 06:49 PM

I'm named after a disciple, though I swore off Christianity a while back. If I do return to the faith, then it certainly won't be within Catholicism.

In any case, I have an Asian-sounding surname. I feel quite the half-breed.

DEVO

05-09-2006, 07:51 AM

My middle name is Japanese, my first name is western but that is common.
middle name is my Grandfathers first name (my fathers father)...

LaiSteve66

05-25-2006, 06:22 PM