Friday, May 19, 2006

Chinese English names

Most Chinese here who speak English well choose an English name for themselves. The great thing about the names they choose is the fact that they don't stick to traditional names, or even names at all for their chosen monicker. Here is a list of some of the Chinese people I've met in the past 9 months. M/F is male/female.

  • Apple (f)
  • Cherry (f)
  • Lucifer (f).. (yes, she knew what it meant)
  • Rabbit (f)
  • Answer (m)... ( I was really hoping he had a friend named Question)
  • Super woman (f)
  • Purple (m)
  • Snow (f)
  • Dragon (m)
  • Otter (f)... (yeah, Animal House)
  • Lulu (f)
  • Ambition (m)
  • Invincible (m)
  • NBA (the kid is 6'6")
  • Echo (f)
With names like these, you would think that most of the older Chinese population lived through the Hippie era, not the Cultural Revolution. Don't get me wrong... I'm not making fun of these names, I just think it is really cool that you can choose any name you want to and have everyone in society think it is a normal name. Sure, I could go in to any local courthouse in the States and change my name to Wisdom McPowerful, but everyone would think I was nuts. Here, that name would be perfectly acceptable.