The name of the rose
By Ravi S. narasimhan (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-09-22 06:30

Many young urban Chinese have a well-kept secret. Often, their families and colleagues are in the dark. Only outsiders are privy to it.

Yes, many foreigners know their Chinese colleagues by their Christian names - some as mundane as Jane or George, others esoteric monickers like Fantasy and Hansel.

I have, for more than the 10 years lived in Chinese-speaking countries and regions, been bemused by this characteristic of Chinese to readily wear a Western label.

In India, where I was born, a Christian name denotes a simple fact: You are Christian. Thais (with apologies) who have some of the most unpronounceable names in the world, do not change them. Nor do (generally) Vietnamese, Sri Lankans, Laotians or Myanmarese.

So why would an ancient, proud culture - with mainly monosyllabic names - want an appendage so alien?

I could understand, not necessarily empathize, when I first went to work in Singapore in the late 1980s, that frontline hotel staff had easy-sounding Western names. It helped business - and American tourists - to find a comfortable-sounding "Amy" at the front desk. But I had some colleagues, not Christian, with some odd-sounding names, like Jaster.

At China Daily, some of my colleagues tried to explain why. We want to be helpful, make life easier when we are studying abroad or for foreigners working here. The explanations are plentiful: Both Raymond (he really is like the one everyone loves in the office) and Fiona (she, the princess who wants to be a wannabe) have cogent arguments for their names.

In rebuttal, I bandy the names of some of my cousins who live in the United States: Try this for a sample, in alphabetical order - Radhakrishnan (not Randy), or Swaminathan (not Sam). As far as I can tell, they are living The Great American Suburban Dream and no worse off for not changing - or adding to - their names.

My point was simple: Why can't foreigners living, working or teaching in China make the little effort of learning to pronounce Chinese names?

To broaden the debate, I checked out the Net and found this interesting little exchange on "chinadaily community."

This is what a primary school teacher had to say: "I want to have an English name, but I do not know how. I am a lovely girl. My Chinese name is (I blanked it out for obvious reasons, but it translates to Good News). Would you possibly give me some suggestions?"

Reply from, presumably, a foreigner: "Personally I really do not like people looking for foreign names when their own name is just as good. To us foreigners your name spoken in Chinese would be quite pretty and enjoyable to hear. We are ignorant of the meanings of names usually and respond to the sound and how it is said. To translate the meaning for you into English it is 'Good News,' so I would feel strange calling you 'Good News'."

If you go down that road, this is what can possibly happen, and I quote from John Lejderman Translations: When Pepsi started marketing its products in China a few years back, they translated their slogan, "Pepsi Brings You Back to Life" pretty literally. The slogan in Chinese really meant, "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave."

When Coca-Cola first shipped to China, it named the product something that when pronounced sounded like "Coca-Cola." The only problem was that the characters used meant "Bite the Wax Tadpole." It later changed to a set of characters that mean "Happiness in the Mouth."

I do not want to go down that road but isn't the bigger issue a question of identity?

A sociology professor at Renmin University of China, who, by the way, does not have a Western name, explains: "Youngsters usually pick the names in English classes in middle school or college. They think it makes learning English easier.

"Also, young people feel they have a choice since they obviously had none when they were named by their parents."

She also says that some foreign-invested enterprises require their Chinese employees to have Western names because it is easier for managers; some give in to peer pressure.

But others refuse because they feel their names are a matter of culture and identity, she adds.

I'll let The Bard have the final say in my own words: A name by any other name would not sound as sweet.

(China Daily 09/22/2005 page4)

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