<p>I had an apartment-mate in grad school who was Chinese with an English first name. She told me that when her family moved to Okinawa–her father was working for the US govt–he came home one day and assigned each kid an “American” name. Other friends of Chinese ancestry have had a name that they were called by their family, and the “American” name provided to outsiders.</p>
<p>I, too, have noted that students of Indian ancestry tend to keep their names, but it is also true that they are much easier for Westerners to pronounce correctly than Chinese names.</p>
<p>I have a last name that is difficult for many people to pronounce, even though it is actually spoken exactly the way it is spelled. I expect people to at least give it a shot, and I return the favor.</p>
<p>I’m not sure why we’re singling out Asian names here. My mother and father’s generation of first generation folk (parents immigrated, don’t know if I have that right) all had Yiddish and “American” names.</p>
<p>I prefer to think of it as English language names. My mother’s Dubche became Dorothy, though she has always gone by the nick-name of Dutchy from her Yiddish name. However, Dutchy is easy on English speakers, whereas Dubche certainly isn’t.</p>
<p>My dad was Bitzalael (Hebrew not Yiddish) who became Charles (on his birth certificate) and I don’t think he ever once wished his name were Bitzalael.</p>
<p>I have dear friends with names that are unaccented in the languages they are named in, which doesn’t occur in English, so however an English speaker says the name, it’s wrong. Still, they’re beautiful names with great cultural meaning.</p>
<p>I guess I’m saying that there are pros and cons to English names and pros and cons to names in mother tongues, and different people weigh the pros and cons differently.</p>
<p>I named my D something that is culturally American, and I named her after an American actress (not because I like the actress but because I like the name.) It was very uncommon when I named her, but much more common now.</p>
<p>As it turns out, it’s a name in many languages with many different meanings.</p>
<p>No intention to pick on anyone, but people of Chinese ancestry happen to be the only ones I’ve known personally who changed their names upon moving to the US. </p>
<p>The changing of European names was generally of an earlier generation. </p>
<p>Bitzalael! Wow, now THAT is a name! And one that I never heard before.</p>
<p>From Cohen to Cates, from Liebowitz to Landon, from Beryl to Beth…its a choice. My family had our original name changed at Ellis Island. (They couldn’t spell it.) Forty years later a very successful cousin Americanized the original name and I’m proud of it.</p>
<p>And little girl started kindergarten with my daughter: Xochitl. Most of us started with X…oo…til. Finally went to So…shiel. Found out in high school that wasn’t correct either. The name, in Spanish, means sunflower. Wish we could have called her Sunny.</p>
<p>Even Chinese in China, if they work for a multinational, or have occasion to have contact with a lot of Westerners, will often choose an American name to use at work and in emails. Since their actual names are in characters, even their Chinese names are Pinyin transliterations. Whatever people want to do. I sort of wished I had a Chinese name, when I was working a lot in China.</p>
<p>I really think it about choice. Certainly the past practice of immigration officials changing ethnic names to sound “more American” was offensive. But I have immigrant friends who upon coming to America as children picked “American” names that appealed to them. At the time they did not have a sense of what was fashionable or trendy, so one of them has the delightful name “Millicent” - not common among her peers.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I had some trouble with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt changing the name of their adopted son from Vietnam from Pham Quang Sang to Pax Thien. The child was old enough to know his own name and clearly he did not choose the new one.</p>
<p>My daughter went to school with a lot of Asians, almost all of whom went by American names, although the official names on their birth certificates were their Asian ones.</p>
<p>At the beginning of each year, the teachers in each class would call the roll, and the students would answer to their Asian names and then say something like, “I go by Serena.” And the student would be called Serena for the rest of the year.</p>
<p>My daughter always felt a little left out during this ritual because she is a plain, ordinary, white American who has only one name.</p>
<p>MD Mom, That is true and I believe that people close to him still refer to him as “Barry” (or Dad!)</p>
<p>I’ve seen that several times with politicans or other public figures. After a certain level of success, they return to their “ethnic sounding” full names. I think it speaks to having matured enough and gained enough confidence to carry an uncommon name.</p>
<p>I would personally prefer a non-Anglicized name to an Anglicized one. I have contemplated de-Anglicizing my name sometime in the future, though the issues that go along with this may or may not be worth it. However, I would not choose to Anglicize it in the first place.</p>
<p>This is so interesting, since I’m one of those Asians who changed her name. When I immigrated to the U.S. (I was 7), there was no question that I would adopt an English name - the only question was what it would be. My parents gave me two very similar choices (think Elizabeth and Eliza, though not those), and I picked the one I liked better (I didn’t particularly like the choices, but I had no idea what other names were out there). I very clearly remember the first day I showed up to school: my teacher gave me a box of crayons with my Chinese name written out in English. I had to ask her who that was because I didn’t recognize the way my name was written.</p>
<p>My feelings throughout the whole process? Indifference. I guess I just hadn’t developed any particular attachment to my own Chinese name, even though I knew its meaning and significance. The name change didn’t strike me as particularly odd at the time. I think what would have been odder for me was if my teachers and friends had tried to call me by my Chinese name and constantly mispronounced it. I didn’t, and still don’t, consider it a betrayal or renunciation of my roots. </p>
<p>This thread actually raised an interesting question for me. Is there a cultural difference in how people relate to their own names? And, from a different point of view, what kinds of emphases do different cultures place on names?</p>
<p>I know that I am attached to my name, really love it. It’s quite unusual, and I always thought it reflected the fact that I felt like a bit of an odd duck in my own family. I find it interesting that my mom, who is as straight-laced as they come, decided to go with such an unusual choice for me. My brother’s name is as common as they come, and my sister’s name is bland and common.</p>
<p>Not really attached to my name. Like my screen name better. I get many compliments on my name so it’s not a bad name, and it’s not a common name though it is a name one finds sometimes in novels and for streets. It also has mythic connections. Haha. But I don’t like saying it. I have a favorite alter name, but only in my own head. I love my last name and didn’t change it with two marriages (still married to number two) which raised issues for many people.</p>
<p>My kids had a hyphenated last name, but they dropped H’s name and just have mine.</p>
<p>I like to joke that I grew up an ethnic Eastern European girl and became a bland American. My birth name was a pain in the ass growing up. Both my first and last name were hard for people (in 1967, when we came to the US) to pronounce. </p>
<p>So I Americanized my first name in high school (into the English nickname version of the name). Then I married a guy with a fairly common last name. When we had our daughter we picked a name that works in both languages. It has the same spelling with a little different pronunciation.</p>
<p>What I don’t get is names that come from languages that use different alphabets(Russian, Asian languages, etc.) Often they use a spelling that does not work with English phonetics and pronunciation. My pet peeve is Nguyen. Many times it is pronounced “win”. So why would you not simply spell it Wynne, Wynn, Winne, Win, etc. if you want it said that way?</p>
<p>I have an unusual first name, and I’ve found over the course of years that it is so difficult for others to get it right (you have to live this to understand) that I shortened it to a name with the same first initial. I realized I am more attached to the initial than the name! All my “official” papers, professional stuff, childhood friends, relatives etc. go by my original name. I love my real name because I know my beloved father picked it out and it was important to him, but I’ve found it quite freeing to have an easy name, especially in superficial circumstances.</p>
<p>I was born as a US-citizen, so my parents gave me an American name, but I don’t think it really has anything to do with how much I value my culture or traditions, unless the parents themselves also make the effort to remove you as much as possible from your original culture, and basically deindividuate you into the identity of an American, but without concern of where your familial roots are from.</p>
<p>I value both cultures, but that’s from my own conscious understanding of what both makes American and Chinese cultures wonderful. Not everyone is brought up this way, because the need to assimilate can sometimes run so strong within the American immigrant culture, unless backed up by living in a community with a similar background, which allows you to forge some connections back to your roots. This is why I think it’s good for people to be culturally sensitive, because sometimes it feels like you have to give up a part of yourself in order to belong, according to some immigrants.</p>
<p>I’m very sensitive about the topic that everyone who comes to America MUST blend in, because I think that takes away from the diversity that other cultures bring, but that’s another heavy topic.</p>
<p>Growing up the only people I knew who didn’t have “American” names were the kids whose parents were from Ireland.</p>
<p>D went to boarding school and all the Chinese and Korean kids had an American name to go by, but there legal names were always listed for activities, sports, etc.</p>
<p>My H is from a different country, came here as an adult. About a month after we were married, we got an invitation addressed to Mr. and Mrs. XXXXX, with his name changed to English! That didn’t sit too well with him or me. His name is no easier in English than the original.</p>
<p>I find this whole topic very interesting.</p>
<p>Where I teach, the students from Nigeria usually use either the first two or last two syllables of their first name.</p>
<p>When I went to China (before meeting dh), my teachers gave me a Chinese name (with characters) to go by. I loved that I had a Chinese name (somewhat similar to my given name, Yaman - sounds like Amanda right?) Except for my fellow American foreign students, I was called Yaman all year. Dh’s family has never called me anything but that name. </p>
<p>My kids giggle when they hear conference calls where dh is called by his anglo name. It all makes us laugh, not be sad. I think the real problem is to say his name where it
“sounds” like his name, you need to be able to say it in the correct 4-tones of mandarin. Just doesn’t sound like his name when you say it flat. </p>
<p>The kids all have Chinese names (not on legal docs though) given by their grandfather according to the family tradition (first character is the same for the entire generation of kids, e.g. all cousins have a two-character name and first one is the same across the board). We try to keep a balance of traditions from both sides.</p>
And one that I never heard before.</p>