Should I Legally change my name?

[BeTheReds]

I have been pondering this for a very long time. I sort of wish I had done this before I graduated from college, since my diploma has my current name.

Anyway I want to change my name legally from Eugene Whong to Eugene Hwang. Basically this is not a change at all, but rather a correction in Romanization of a Korean name.

Most every Korean with my last name spells it Hwang and the only Koreans I know who have it spelled this way are my Dad and my brothers. My cousins went with Hwang.

I think it has something to do with some of my father's American friends when he was a young college student in Korea came from the deep south and Wh sounds like Hw when spoken by them.


People will come up to me and ask "Are you Chinese or something?" And perhaps even if I change to Hwang, people will still ask the same thing, as many Chinese with this surname also use Hwang, though Huang is more prevalent. Then there will be the people who pronounce Hwang "the way it is spelled" and make it sound like it rhymes with the past tense of "ring".

Viets with this name use Hoang.

Anyway what do you all think? Should I just forget the whole pain in the ass process of changing the spelling to my name or should I persue it? In the legal documentation for it all it says I have to give a valid reason for the change. MY valid reason will be that I want to more clearly reflect my Korean roots and also I want to use the spelling that reflects the romanization system endorsed by the South Korean government.


Other anomalies:

Park and Pak

Kim, Gim, Khim, Ghim, Keam, Keem, Gheem, Kheem, and Keeme

Yi, Lee, Rhee, and Li

Choi, Chay, and Choe

An and Ahn

Baek, Paik, and Bake

Han and Hahn

Yim, Rim, and Lim

Heo, Hur, and Huh


So there are many ways to spell all of these but none of them would cause people to be mistaken for Chinese except maybe Li.


Should I change?

[MellowDrama]

Change it to whatever makes you happy. But just remember to cover all your bases and notify every institution w/ which you have records of the change (i.e. medical providers, SS, financial institutions, DMV etc.) or you may have problems.

[wylin]

make a real change. Eric The Red!

[wylin]

how bout korean warrior Eugene Wanger!

[wylin]

also SLash and Blade work name ur self after a weapon or object.

- Blade
- Kendo
- Hwarang/ Hwang
- hyundai
- kia
- daewoo
- samsung
- tokiko

or use verbs
- slash
- burst
- reflex
- burning
- sunning
- riding
- flowing

[Shuriken]

Gene, if you think you'd be more comfortable changing your name, then go for it.

But just speaking for myself, I think that the name "Whong" looks pretty cool strictly on a graphic level — something about the W and the H together is pleasing to the eye (can't really say why). It's also a less common spelling, so it will make you stand out more, which will be especially important when you become famous (as I'm sure you will B) ).

But bottom line: Go with your gut...

[BeTheReds]

My Dad, after he thought about it wanted to change at first, then he saw the 1000 or so Hwangs in the phonebook and decided to be the only Whong in the country.

[SunWuKong]

i think you should change it. :)
it really seems like you want to, and i think you haven't yet done it because while it's only a romanisation, on certain levels, it could be interpretted as a big change.

so yeah i think you should go for it. :)

[angel nympho]

Isn't that a lot of trouble for something pretty minor?

[YuheiCarreau]

Isn't that a lot of trouble for something pretty minor?


I agree with angel. Changing it from Whong to Hwang won't help non-Koreans pronounce it any better, and as you said there is still a lot of confusion as to which ethnicity 'Hwang' belongs to. My name should be spelled Carreaux; the x was dropped some time ago when my mother's ancestors came to Canada from France. Neither way is easier for people who don't speak French to pronounce ("ka-roo? ka-rux? Ka-ree-you?"). Besides, wouldn't it be kinda weird to have a different name than your father?

[SunWuKong]

I agree with angel. Changing it from Whong to Hwang won't help non-Koreans pronounce it any better, and as you said there is still a lot of confusion as to which ethnicity 'Hwang' belongs to. My name should be spelled Carreaux; the x was dropped some time ago when my mother's ancestors came to Canada from France. Neither way is easier for people who don't speak French to pronounce ("ka-roo? ka-rux? Ka-ree-you?"). Besides, wouldn't it be kinda weird to have a different name than your father?


sort of like Brett Favre? :lol:


anyway i think this is sort of a big deal for eugene. i mean otherwise he wouldn't even consider it. right? correct me if i'm wrong eugene.

[Hanuman]

Keep it. It's better to have a unique name anyway.

[LT25]

it's up to you. When I came to the US @ 11 months old as Dung Van Tran, my parents changed my name because Dung in Engish means excrament. It's not pronounced like that, but it could be a problem. I ended up w/ my Vietnamese last names as my first name and my mother and father's last names (both Irish) as a hyphenated last name. :lol: :confused:

[ChinaLama]

if you wanna go Phonetic, spell is Hwaan. I think it's more likely to be pronounced right (unless it's pronounced HwANG as in Bang), and less likely to be mistaken for Chinese.

[kitty]

Anyway, whatever makes you happy and at peace. I personally don't worry myself over it.

It depends on if you'd rather fit in with all the other koreans with the same last name or be unique from them. I think it's niftier to have a different last name -- but it might mean that people could assume you're chinese when you're not. At least your name was romanized so it still could theoretically be said correctly. My last name should be "fung" (in mandarin, like a square), but it's romanized fang.

sucks :(

[luv]

I always see Wong or Hwang (for Taiwanese people) but I've never seen Whong for a Chinese (romanisation) last name, I think its truly unique.

Think of it this way: cool way to introduce your kids to Korean language (how its different from other Asian ones).

But if it really makes you uncomfortable then do it. A friend of mine (Chinese) whose parents lived in Vietnam for a while had the last name Tien, then in college she changed it to Chin to identify with her Chinese heritage.

[Hiroshi2]

That's strange, i've never seen "whong" spelled like that, but i have seen "wong", "hwang" and "hwong".

Let me ask you something. Is it pronounced the same way as "Wong"? Cause if it is i don't understand why'd you want to change it to "Hwang". And I have to admit, i've always thought "Hwang" was Chinese, not Korean. But what do i know?

[BeTheReds]

It is pronounced Hwang.

Wong is how everyone says it that way.

The reasone why you have not seen any Korean Hwangs is because it is not one of the more common Korean names like Kim and Lee.

But those Koreans who have this name almost entirely spell it Hwang.

If you follow the standard of romanization prescribed by the Korean government then that's the way it should be spelled.

There are plenty of Chinese who also use this spelling.

[LCY]

Go with your gut. If you really want to do this and feel that it would be a positive change, then do it.

The romanization of my first name does not sound like my Korean name, but I'm too lazy to change it. Plus, I'm kind of used to having two names.

[BeTheReds]

I don't like the whole 2 name thing.

I know some guys who use their Korean names with all their korean friends, but when they meet a white dude, they say Hi, I'm Troy...

I guess its all the years and years of people mispronouncing it due to the faults of romanization.

I figure everyone will still ask the same questions, tho fewer asians will.

[BeTheReds]

Okay it appears there is still a lot of confusion over the actual pronunciation.

Koreans I am sure you have no trouble.

Everyone else...

Ughh..

It's the same name as famous Korean soccer player Hwang Sun Hong.

It sounds like the Hwan from Ahn Jung Hwan with an ng instead of just the n.

It rhymes with.. um um.........

Okay anyway Hwang... go play Soul Calibur and choose my ancestor and listen to the way the announcer says his name. It's pretty close to that.

"Whong" skips over the vitally important h... and many people commonly misspell my name when I give it over the phone... It also puts an o where there should be an "ah" sound.

If I use Hwang, then many people will still say Hwayng but i think most of the world is learning how to pronounce romanization more correctly.

If I had grown up in a spanish speaking country Hwang would be the only way to romanize it at all. And it would make sense and no one would mispronounce it.

[DaBestSpooner]

how about hwangstein so you can get all the jewish holidays off

[blkjade]

I wouldn't unless it was really hard to pronounce.

[YuheiCarreau]

I don't like the whole 2 name thing.
I know some guys who use their Korean names with all their korean friends, but when they meet a white dude, they say Hi, I'm Troy...
I guess its all the years and years of people mispronouncing it due to the faults of romanization.
I figure everyone will still ask the same questions, tho fewer asians will.

I have an English name (Matt) and a Japanese name, and it's never bothered me that much. I guess since your name is just an anglicizing of a Korean name it's different. In the US I tend to introduce myself by my English name, and in Japan I go by my Japanese name, as neither are easy to pronounce if you don't speak the language. Also because I hate it when people latch onto 'Yuhei' because they think foreign-sounding = cool, likewise with listening to Japanese people mangle "Mah-shoo".

[kimpossible]

Well the point in changing it would be to help reduce the mangling of your name by non-Korean speaking people, right? I'm not sure slightly changing the spelling is going to get you the results you want.

Plus it sounds like an official identity nightmare: IRS, credit cards, driver's license, Social Security. I'd really think about it hard before doing it.

[SunWuKong]

see, at the risk of sounding presumptious, i think it's more than just about how people pronounce his name. i think there's a bit of an identity issue possibly.

[Craig]

The question is does Eugene actually expect to get rid of any problems by the change in spelling. It looks to me like the name change is an attempt at greater acceptance by the Korean (& maybe East Asian) community. However, despite the name change, despite the cultural upbringing, despite the language skills, ... changing his name is not going to change some things.

[kitty]

see, at the risk of sounding presumptious, i think it's more than just about how people pronounce his name. i think there's a bit of an identity issue possibly.

yeah, I hate to pretend i know what eugene's going through, but i think there's something to keeping the name because there's some family history inherent in the name (the story of how his father decided to spell it, for one thing). it's unique to the family.

[BeTheReds]

Well the point in changing it would be to help reduce the mangling of your name by non-Korean speaking people, right? I'm not sure slightly changing the spelling is going to get you the results you want.

No. Everyone, even Koreans sees Whong and says "Wong" and assumes I am Chinese. If I changed it to Hwang, then lots of people who don't know that Hwang is a Korean name will still ask if I am chinese, and many other people will mispronounce it like Hwayng, but these are common problems with people who have my name. However a lot of Koreans who ask like.. wait, you're 1/2 Korean and your name is WONG?... That will stop I think.

Also on the phone, when people ask my what my name is the current response is "Wong... W-H-O-N-G" so that they don't spell it Wong. If I were to say "Hwang.. W-H-O-N-G" People would be like.. huh? I grew up pronouncing my own name wrong and thinking it was correct. It really bothers me.

The question is does Eugene actually expect to get rid of any problems by the change in spelling. It looks to me like the name change is an attempt at greater acceptance by the Korean (& maybe East Asian) community.

Yes I expect to get rid of the problems which I have listed above. I know that changing it will not get me any more acceptance to anything.

see, at the risk of sounding presumptious, i think it's more than just about how people pronounce his name. i think there's a bit of an identity issue possibly.

Perhaps. But it is not to the extent like some 1/2 asians who want to stop using their father's western last name and start using their mom's maiden name. In my case tho it's mostly a spelling correction and I'd rather people who don't read romanization well to horribly mangle my name than the status quo, where everyone calls me Wong and even spells my name wrong.

[Jenny]

I don't see anything wrong with changing it but it sounds like a lot of work for something that isn't that big of a deal[atleast to me] in the first place.

[Chester]

Like everyone says: if it's something that really irks you, then change it. But, really, it's no big deal.

I'll go one further and say that I would kind of dig an oddly-Romanized name. When they came to the U.S., my parents transliterated our last name off the Cantonese pronunciation. Now that Taiwanese Chinese are much more prominent here than Hong Kong Chinese, our last name is kind of "odd."

But I like the fact that this is the case. I prefer not being one of the countless Wangs or Yangs or Chus.

[kasia]

in CA, you have a common law right to change your name. which means, pretty much, that you can just use whatever new name you want whenever.

[kuilong]

in CA, you have a common law right to change your name. which means, pretty much, that you can just use whatever new name you want whenever.

How do you get your new name on your drivers license and credit cards? How difficult is it to get documentary proof of your name change (as I assume you need for various things).