Why do many Chinese people like to have Western first names?

[TYZ]

Jame,
The reason that chinese like to adopt ENGLISH name (not western) is for the convenience of non-chinese speaker to remember their name.
and one thing i would like to say, these name have no meaning than a symbol of the person it refers to, unlike chinese name, it actually have a meaning, and also it represent how parents hope their child will be.
Mike,
we don't GIVE people name. will you be happy that someone simply address you with some words that you don't understand, or can't even write

[Jacky-jiang80]

No other aims except convenience. If you like , you can call me my last name.

[Mike]

Mike,
we don't GIVE people name. will you be happy that someone simply address you with some words that you don't understand, or can't even write

In fact I do read, write and speak Chinese. Its quite pompous of you to assume that I don't. I was merely referring to the fact that Chinese are no better at pronouncing English names than westerners are at pronouncing English names. I don't get all bent out of shape when Chinese consistently mispronounce my name so why should they?

[ashley]

Ling Ling wrote:

The only thing I might find disturbing is when they choose/are given names, which belong to opposite sex. Look how many male Hongies have female names and vice versa ;)

i am a guy and i have a girls name so it don't matter if the oppsite sex has the same name as the other sex so get over it GOD

[smling2002]

what the heck can't chinese have a western name?
no any chinese would dump there chinese name away even he/she got a west-name.
west-name may be saied a fashion or communicative way.
there're million of non-caucasian got a west-name.
why did you memtion chinese only?

[Bendel Radical]

Freedom of expression means anyone can choose any type of name on planet earth. If I choose to call myself "Stupid Elephant", that's my business and no one else's. Nonetheless, I am so so glad I do not have a western name but have the names of my own people.

[Dchen]

For a chinese to have a western name is fine because we still have a surname which tells others that we are chinese.However if it's an indian that's a whole different story all together.

An indian who adopts a western name through 2 or more generations will start claiming that they have western decendents.It is one of the ways they use to avoid the caste system in India.They dun have surnames to carry behind their own but their forefathers. Sample lineage--> Gandhi Muthu(grandfather)-->Joseph Gandhi(Father)-->Samuel Joseph(Son)

Can the name Samuel Joseph tell he's indian?

The topic starter may be curious because of this.He tries to ask on behalf of himself?

[See-Lly]

Name is a personal identification, why can't an individual make choices of what they prefer to be called? I am biracial and I like all parts of my name. I appear Chinese and I have an English name. You are wrong by assuming that I am only Chinese. Adopt a broader worldview, the trend is that our society is going to get more diverse and will have more multiracial individuals like me.

[fleagah]

Yup, perhaps people can just call themselves what they like. If it sounds nice, why not?
Within reasonable polite boundaries, of course.

And: One of the main characters in "Gone with the Wind" (old-ish but really famous book) is called Ashley, and he's a man, so I don't know if Ashley is strictly a girl's name. Oh well.

[Konstan Ripple]

JamesJ is a bigot.

People, you just dont need to justify your actions.

We dont know who James is, we dont know his motives and we certainly shouldnt give any shiiittee to people like him.

Waste of time, little bigot.

[Konstan Ripple]

Freedom Freedom Freedom,

name yourself Elephant if you want!

Your choice!

Name yourself James if you like!

Name yourself Bigit if you like!

Name it all!

It you name, you game, dont let anyone tell you otherwise.

[lct]

I am here to offer another answer to the topic.

When I was in the states or in Europe, the Americans and Europeans just cann't pronounce my Chinese name right. I tried many times. but still, when they called me up, I didn't even realzed.

Finally, I gave up. Call me Aileen, I said.

there got be somebody have the some problems I experienced.

[Mike]

"I am here to offer another answer to the topic.
When I was in the states or in Europe, the Americans and Europeans just cann't pronounce my Chinese name right. I tried many times. but still, when they called me up, I didn't even realzed.
Finally, I gave up. Call me Aileen, I said.
there got be somebody have the some problems I experienced."

Actually, if you had read the posts you would have seen that this excuse (and really is nothing more than an excuse) has already been dealt with. Look, you are not a native English speaker so you can't pronounce my name correcly either. So, let's just agree that we won't let each other's mispronounciation of our names bother us. hao ba

[Yin]

Very interested discussion.

Does anyone notice that HK girls now have Japanese names too like yuki, yumiko , etc as their "English" names?

I guess name serve as an identifier to a person. It is just something when someone calls you, you can then recognize the call and respond accordingly.

If someone call you "JIM SI" on the street, which is James in Chinese, I bet you can't even recognize that he is calling you.

Similar applies to Chinese names, only if the "westerners" call us in Chinese with the exact tone so that we can recognize that they are calling us, we don't need an English name just for them to call and be able to make it easier for them to identify us.

If you care more about the eastern world, you can start celebrating our festivals too. It's not about who are being influenced more or who is more superior. It's about whether or not you care enough to do so. Why HK people doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving while it's big in the US ? And in terms of the New years, why do HK people get more holidays, have more traditional food, have big shows on TV all morning for Chinese New years than western New years ? It's because we care and respect our own culture.

In fact, some western friends of mine actually celebrate Chinese New Year with me every year in the US, also the evangelical church (that all people with all different colors are welcome to attend) that I go to too.

[ncddd]

i'm a chinese guy born and raised in the US. i've recently been transferred to hk, and when asked what i wanted on my business cards, i went with the same chinese names that i've used since day one. everyone in the office looked at me funny...(mostly the locals, the other expats didnt' care)

sorry to say but i agree with the original poster. i know a lot of the locals in the office who have no mention of their english names in their documents, yet continue to have an english name. Over in the US, i had an american nickname- came about cause my gf's italian grandmother couldn't say my middle name, so i gave her a close 'western' name to use...and i assumed going back to hkg, i'd have no issues with using my regular chinese name. seems as though i was wrong...

[ncddd]

Yin wrote:

Similar applies to Chinese names, only if the "westerners" call us in Chinese with the exact tone so that we can recognize that they are calling us, we don't need an English name just for them to call and be able to make it easier for them to identify us.

oh come on. reverse it and use the US as the example. does that mean all americans should adopt a chinese name? lol...8464

[Elf]

Friends,as I am from the mainland China, I have to tell you that people in most parts of China seldom use a western name in daily life unless they need these names in English class or in their career.The situation you mentioned is common in HK but not as much in other regions. As far as I know, the western names are similar to a label which are easier to read by the westerners.We are proud of our Chinese name.

[Ash]

I used to ignore or just play along when I hear westerners(hm.. Americans) mispronounced my first name much of time earlier. Now that I am stable in America and we employ lots of "white" executives, I have begun correcting them when they mispronouce my name. The irony is that a "white" sales guy calls me up recently on my home number, mispronounces my name and begins his sales pitch about some financial investments - I stop him right there and tell him to go learn to pronounce my name by the letters(nothing very complex) and call me back! If you need my business, learn to pronouce my name, just as I did yours!

I mention Americans because British and other Europeans seem to take a little bit of effort trying to pronounce Indian names correctly. But I do not see Indians use anglo first names... but I do see an extra friendlyness in Americans if they see an Asian/Indian first name that sounds Christian. Maybe that is it.