Job Discussion Forums

[Sugar Magnolia]

I love most of the students that I have been blessed with the "privilege" of serving and hope they all succeed, but, over the years I have met a few students who had rather strange or unorthodox English names. I wonder what was going through their minds.

I have had boys named Apple and Daisy and girls named William and Steven. I've met a few Eleven's and one Even. I have yet to meet an Odd, but must type that I've had a few students with rather odd names.

Where shall I begin - Nebular, Naturu, Forsdick, Master T, Often and a boy named Snoopy come to mind, but my favorite of all time was a girl named Nympho!!

Any other strange names out there?

[Hansen]

I don't recognize names that would be inappropriate for a Westerner. I explain the reason and insist that they change the name. Girls with boy's names and vice versa won't do. A name such as Bootycall or Hotstuff or Nympho is not acceptable, accurate or not.

An English name is supposed to be a step toward bridging the language and cultural gap. If the name makes a laughingstock or absurdity of the student, it's got to go. I grant as much slack as possible. I've had students named Robot, Chocolate, and Seven (if I remember the number correctly). A boy named Sue is not allright.

[JGC458]

I've had some odd student names:

Kidney (a girl)
Bean (a girl)
Juicy (a girl)
Sugar (a girl)
Muse (a girl)
Bobo (a girl) [But I know that bobo in Spanish means silly/stupid. I decided not to tell her; it's English class]
Yoyo (a boy)
Nono (a girl)
Change (a girl)
King (a girl)
Titan (a boy)
Belial (a boy) [I pointed out the Devil reference but he liked that]
Hades (a boy) [He liked the hell reference]
Blouse (a boy) [Yep, I told him..he didn't care]
Light (a boy)
Sun (a boy, in the same class as Light)
Wind (one girl, one boy)
Winds (a boy)
Ice (a girl)
Star Gazer (a boy)
Mirror (a girl)
East and West (boys who sat next to each other)
Castor (one boy, one girl) [kept making me think of castor oil]
Lubby (a girl)
Hyzemon (a boy)
Aletiff (a girl)
Lusvisa (a girl)
Flying (a girl)

One girl called herself Piggy and I pointed out that it didn't sound very complementary to western ears. She later decided to change it.

At my current school, at the beginning of the semester I asked for students' English names and I had a couple of classes where hardly anyone had an English name. I made a note of their Chinese name instead, after all, I don't have a Chinese name so why should I force them to have an English name. So for the next few weeks I tried to use their Chinese names but often failed miserably. This is because I see the students only once a week and hadn't memorised their names. I told the kids I was finding it too difficult to try to remember everyone's Chinese names and asked them to give me English names. This produced:

Kay, Tea, V (3 girls whose names are one after the other on the register/roll call)
Circle (a girl)
Square (a girl)

There were also a few students who politely refused to adopt an English name. I quite respect them for that, they are who they are and their name reflects that. I learnt their Chinese names.

[eddy-cool]

A never-ending topic that annually brings bumper harvests of silly or provocative names. The main point is: Students don't really embrace their foreign monikers as they don't even seem to understand the rationale behind adopting a new name.

And how can they?English names are an extra step towards familiarity with others that is not common among the Chinese themselves.

[Mister Al]

A few of my favourites from the past include:

Cock
Adolph
Louis XVI
Rat
Tit
Ice Cream
Thunder
Renault
Freedom
Cinderella
Machiato
T-Mac
Jesse and an Owen who use to sit next to other
Kermit
Orc
Pharoah
Sci-tech

............I think I'll stop now.

[foreignDevil]

Yes this has come up in the forums several times over the years.
I think students should be discouraged from absolutely ridiculous names, but on the other hand it is good to keep in mind that using a nickname is very common in everyday life here. In offices I have worked in, it was not at all unusual for coworkers to call each other by their English names.
I noticed this to be the case in Hong Kong office culture as well.

[arioch36]

Many of my Chinese friends in America found the going easier using an english name. But definitely not using Hitler, Superman and all the other ridiculous ones. Usually for a Hitler , it is out of rebellion against the class, while the worse created names out of misplaced imaginations.
Of course for the boys you get them using a football players family name. Probably the worst is Kaka. If interested, look up the history of Kaka, what it means. What, 300 years ago? groups of poeople were forced to use family names, and in rebellion, they picked really stupid names on purpose.

Then there are those who chose a Japanese name. for english class

A more difficult call is spanish names. On the one hand, spanish/latino names are a part of amercian culture. But still it seems ridiculous for a CHinese to call himself a Hispanic variant of the English name, like , ida know, Pablo, Jesus, etc

[Cohen]

Here in Hong Kong many students � both young and old alike � have somewhat peculiar English names. I once had a 21-year-old undergraduate called 'Kinky'. The problem was though that her surname was Ho. What's most strange though is many adopt an English surname for their Christian/given name. Thus you regularly encounter students called 'Jones', 'Darwin', 'Thatcher', 'Edison', etc.

[foreignDevil]

[Hansen]

This may seem like a small matter; however, there is a larger issue at work here. The adoption of ridiculous western names by students is actually a form of mockery directed at the English learning process.

Although it may seem priggish to reject mockery of this sort, I do. Students with absurd names are given a week to find a new one or face a deduction of points. Oddly, this seems to work with most students. If they do not comply, the issue has now become one of defiance.

When considering students to fail at the end of the term, these names rise to the top of the list. Combined with an overall low performance in class, "Upurz" may not make the cut.

When discussing this issue with the students, I ask them if they think the name Chinese name Wangba is an appropriate one for me. Of course they laugh and say no. They I ask them to give me some examples of other inappropriate names. A few do. I then explain that's how their English name sounds. Nearly all change their name.

[brsmith15]

A few of my favorites:

Hello Kitty - a guy over two meters tall with shoulders who looked like he should be playing linebacker for the New England Patriots....without shoulder pads.

Watery - a ..... shall I say... rather well-endowed young lady who'd sit right up front and would wear low-cut blouses that should have been banned...in Boston. Yes, my eyes would water up.

Rainy - a brilliant, but geeky MBA student of mine (Yeah, a real plastic pocket protector) who for some unknown reason wound up with the lovliest lady in the class. Guess she chose brains over brawn.

And, of course, everyone's favorite. Another MBA student, Qian Wei, with the English name John Wayne. He was also a very funny person. Bright, too.

[Bondi007]

Harry (Female CT)
Cinderella
James Bond
Tiger
Buffalo
Stone
Ice and Snow (twin sisters)
Susan (Adult male student)
Snoopy
Rock (Male CT)
Beme (CT)
Winnie (CT)
Flank?
Dew Dew
Root

I wouldn't go as far as Hansen and deduct marks...everyone has the right to choose their name regardless of how ridiculous it sounds to us foreigners in China. I suppose if any of these students eventually make it over to Australia/USA etc they'll have to live with the laughter over there...this might jolt them into another name change...

[joey2001]

[Hansen]

"everyone has the right to choose their name regardless of how ridiculous it sounds to us foreigners in China."

Bondi, Have you forgotten that these are students? This is not about "rights." It's about educating students about western language and culture. Most of my students are young girls from 16 to 19 years of age. They have the right to put on a kinky red night gown and work in a shower house as "masseuses" after they graduate. Some probably will do that. I hope, however, as do their parents, that by providing them with an education, they might aspire to other lines of work.

There are lots of ways to educate people in China, especially the younger ones. For instance, if I'm riding my bike and hear a young fellow call out laowai laowai, as I go past, I will sometimes turn around and ride my bike directly into him, jump off, get right in his face and ask, in Chinese, what he wants. I enjoy riding my dusty bike tire into his clean black pants. They hate those tread marks, perhaps as much as I hate the sound of laowai laowai coming from the mouth of a sniggering student.

Older people, I approach a bit differently. I don't mind getting in their face either, but I make sure to tell them my Chinese name. They often smile and offer me their hand, not because they like me but because they are either gutless cowards or have yet to take a course in inclusiveness. As a teacher, I feel that I have a certain responsibility to all Chinese, not just my students. I've seen results too.

Recently we got a new security guard at our gate. The first time he saw me, he nearly had a fit. He stood on the step of his little shack crying out laowai, laowai. I was just about to grab him by the throat and pull him off his perch when another guard got in between us and started whispering to the new guard. The new man has been quite courteous ever since. All the guards know my Chinese name, now, I guess.

Some people say that we shouldn't sweat the little things; however, it's the little things that evince the kind of stupidity that we are here to combat.

Burned out? Getting there.

[foreignDevil]