Wednesday, April 8, 2009

What's in a name?

Its something most of us(really, none of us) have much control over. Yet is one of the most important things we own. Our name. How many us of wish we could have had control over the moment our parents named us. Imagine living life as Warren Peace, or maybe, ala Bart Simpson, Amanda Huginkiss.
The reason this is a relevant topic is because all across China young Chinese people are choosing English names. All across Shanghai I have seen countless names that have made me stop and scratch my head. I have included pictures below. Apparently they have seen a movie or read a book and found a word that they really liked and taken that on as their English name, without a true understanding of what the word means. 
Since I ride the bus and subway quite often, speak a little bit of Chinese and am clearly a Westerner, I have been asked to give English names to about ten children that I have met while riding on the transportation. I think I have given most of the girls my sister's name(Amanda) or my Mom's(Cathy) and my father's name(Doug) to several boys. It is a lot of pressure to decide on someone's name! I do feel that this is preparing me for the day when I have to name my own flesh and blood. I just hope I don't succumb to the pressure and name my kid Iwana B.
 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You went back and found Round again!!! Did you tell her that maybe her name choice wasn't the best?