Finding My Name

Dan and Diane

I needed a Chinese name. Diane and I had gotten married and I needed to sign a document in Chinese to register our household with the government of Taiwan.

For the first character, we started with “Bi” (白), because my family name is “White.” Wanting a simple name, one that could be easily written in Chinese, I suggested something like “Bi Yi Yi” (白一一). Diane laughed. Then I tried something a little more challenging, like “Bi Er Er” (白二二), which got our friends and family laughing, too. Next I considered “Bi Si Ke” (自行車), which means “bicycle” in Chinese. By now, everyone was laughing at me. Finally, someone came up with “Bi Shi Hong” (白士杭). It was the kind of name that sounded eastern. It sounded mystical and far away. And when I told it to my friends back home, they suddenly realized I’d become a part of a culture they knew little about.

I thought it was a foolproof name that no one could make fun of, but little did I know about the genius of children. When I went back to school the next semester, the kids quickly found out. They’d wait for me to enter the classroom, chanting, “Bi Shi Hong! Bi Shi Hong!” I felt a sense of pride as I stood before them. I took their enthusiasm as a good sign. Then, one day, a young girl named Emily approached me after class. “Shao Shao Hong!” (小小杭) she said with delight. I knew right away that it meant “Little Hong,” the kind of name one child might call another.

I resisted the urge to defend myself. I resisted the need to say something back. But at that very moment, something unexpected happened. A little light went on in the back of my mind. This foreign sounding name suddenly meant something to me – it was a name worth standing up for; it was my name. If the kids believed it was a name worth taunting, then it had to be a real name. That was the day I first began to understand the real meaning behind my Chinese name.

My Name is Fifa

Benson in Class

Fifa likes to play soccer.  So when it came time to pick an English name for him, his parents looked toward the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) for help.  Fifa is one of the most active boys in my class when we play games.  While the name is unusual, you have to admit that it’s better than calling him, “Soccer.”

 Cases of amusing names show up in a lot of my classes.  One of my most remarkable students was called Dak Forz.  Although the name sounds German, I usually pronounced it, “Dark Force.”  He was young enough to have never seen the Star Wars movies in the theater.  So when I mimicked Darth Vader one day and said, “Use the force!” the joke fell flat.

One of my brightest and most outgoing students is called Euran.  His parents are highly intelligent, I suspect, because they took the word “European” and cut out the “ope” to come up with this unusual name.  As clever as it looks on paper, though, I’m certain they never suspected students would be calling their son a name that sounds like the word for “urine.”

Then there are boys in my classes with names like Golden, King and Master.  While these names might reveal high aspirations on the part of the parents, in English, names like these are simply pretentious.  In some cases, however, the name has been taken from the student’s Chinese name.  One time I even taught a Captain and a General.

More and more parents are choosing to stick with their child’s Chinese name, by finding an English spelling for it.  I taught Efane for over a year before I realized that this was his Chinese name with an English pronunciation.  If the name has something of a western ring to it, this works out, because the name is not that difficult for foreigners to pronounce or remember.  Some Chinese names are like tongue twisters to native English speakers.

In Kindergarten, recently, I noticed a trend toward sticking with Chinese sounding names.  Wei Wei is really common.  But sometimes a name like that may backfire on the student.  In one class that I heard about, there was a girl named Yume.  Whenever they’d finish singing a song, the teacher would say, “You may sit down.”  It took a while to understand why Yume always sat down so quickly and the rest of the students remained standing.  “Yume” sounds like “you may.”

Other girls I’ve taught had names like Cola.  Air was a bright young girl, nothing of an airhead.  Ring’s name had a nice ring to it.  Nina and Sylvia are names found in our class books.  Candy has always been popular.  Daisy and Dolly almost sound like names you’d call your pet. 

I taught Sunny one time, who was a boy, and in the same class we had another Sunny, who was a girl.  Kind of reminds me of that song by Johnny Cash, “A Girl Named Sue.”  I currently have one student called Sun, but he’s not my son.  Sometimes the students like to call him “Evil Sun,” although I’m not sure why. 

Some English names sounds like other English words, and then the nickname gets modified into something of a joke that classmates like to use.  Vicky was often called Whisky.  Euran was branded Uniform.  And Master became Watermelon, although there was no real connection in that case that I could see.  I’ve found that students really like it when you make a big introduction out of their name, as if they were lining up to play baseball or basketball and have just been called into the game.

Then there are the really unusual names.  One of my students is called Borg.  I’m guessing the parents where under something of a Scandinavian influence at the time, or else they might be really big Star Trek fans.  For the longest time I thought Henman was really Herman.  I figured that someone had misspelled the “r” and made it look like an “n” and the name stuck.  Then I found out that there really is someone by the name of Henman out there, Tim Henman, the professional tennis player from Great Britain.  The name wasn’t just a mistake.  When I asked my student if he’d prefer Herman over Henman, he proceeded to stick his tongue out at me.

Whatever the name, it gives someone a face, and if all goes well, the name will stick.  But sometimes, for whatever reason, the name will change.  Brittany became Beth, just because it was easier to pronounce.  Candy became Cindy, after everyone teased her all the time.  Annie had a hard time with her name, because it sounded just like “any” and when I once asked her in front of the class, “Annie, do you have any homework?” the students laughed until she cried.  I never asked that question again; likewise, she always brought her homework to me on time.

One Brittany that I taught became Sophie, which followed the trend of using names that end with the long “e” sound.  In one classroom I taught:  Annie, Emily, Sheri, Tammy, Jimmy, Peggy, Cathy, Sophie and Cindy.  Everyone was so happy and crazy and funny all the time.

Then there’s the case of having more than one student in a class with the same name.  Usually they get tagged as John1 and John2, because they don’t have English last names.  In one class that I taught we had both a Tim1 and Tim2 and a Vivian1 and Vivian2.  I don’t care much for this kind of name, so I encouraged the students to make a simple change.  The two Tims became Tim and Timothy, the two Vivians, Vivi and Vivian.  Right now I have a class with three Erics.  In this case, we call them Eric C. and Eric L. and Eric G.  I often get them mixed up.  Sometimes I’ll just say Eric Z. and see who raises his hand.  Usually it’s none of the above.

Name picking is an art.  It’s a wonderful joy that parents get to experience, and in the case with students learning English in Asia, the parents get to choose both an English name and a Chinese name.  I was required to pick out a Chinese name when I got married to Diane, here in Taiwan.  By the way, Diane used to be Sandy, but that was long before I met her.  If you read my article called, Finding My Name, you’ll know that when my students want to tease me, both my English name and my Chinese name will do.  Any name is fair game, when it comes to getting a laugh out of someone.

Whatever your name, I hope you like it, whether it’s respected or not.  By the way, the names in this article have NOT been changed to protect the innocent!  J