In my job I see and hear quite a lot of names; names of colleagues, names of teachers, names of students and prospective students etc… It’s a whirlwind of names on a daily basis and it’s kind of par for the course that a lot of names I come across here in China are very foreign. I don’t tend to bat an eyelid at the Chinese names in fact, but what does make my eyes pop out of my head are the English names Chinese people give themselves.
How people acquire these names is beyond me. Do they have a book they choose crazy names from? Do they have mean English teachers who assign bizarre names or, even worse, mean friends who are having a laugh at their expense? Are Chinese people all striving to be mad? Or do they just not fully understand the meaning of their chosen name?
Point in case… A few days ago I was looking at yet another list of prospective students and one of the students was called Mono. I kid you not. Would that be as in mononucleosis? I had visions of the dreaded ‘kissing disease’ many students succumb to when they are first at university (am not included in this statistic, I might add). Then I thought that maybe they meant mono-tone, mono-brow, mono-sodium glutamate… But who really knows?! The mind boggles.
My first week in China I was served by an appropriately named waitress called Snail; she was very slow. I’ve also seen an entire fruit basket of people - from Apple to Melon to Berry and Cherry, the duo I met at a party not so long ago. I’ve seen Wood. I’ve seen a Shotgun. I’ve seen a Dragon. I’ve seen it all!
Am now going to run a competition for most random English name given to a Chinese person. Not sure what the prize will be yet, but am thinking a new name. Feel free to add your suggestions to the comments section below…
My Chinese lesson of the day is: 名 míng – which means name.
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Glad I have a normal name Wendy, which sounds similar to my Chinese one (Wan Ting). Don't tell me it has some awkward meaning!!
ReplyDeleteAwesome post! Fiona. I know Bin sounds a bit strange, but it's my Chinese name. :) And I am pround of it.
ReplyDeleteI don't like the fact that some people just give themselves an English name without know the meaning. Actually, I don't really buy the idea that people with English names could speak English better therefore have a proper "class".
I like nicknames, but I cannot stand the situation that I don't even know most of my colleagues' Chinese names. Tell you the truth, how can I like a person when she pronounces her name "Pussy"? (I think that was Pessy :) )