Child Names

Envy wrote:

As for my brother and I - Our American side of the family views our middle names as our 'English' names, even though in England my brother and I use 'Kaye' and 'Kai' instead of our Chinese names in everyday life in England. :woohoo: They view our everyday name here as 'Chinese' as they're English names but based on our Chinese names (we never got separate ones as we were born in England) so they adopt our middle names as 'English' and use those..We were too young to really care when they decided that, so over time, we've just become 'Nicole' and 'Andrew' whilst in the US.

Weirdly enough, it's only my brother and I that switch names. My mother and my father get called by the English names they used in China. :blink:

It's pretty complex to explain out. Hope it makes sense. :woohoo:

Ok, it made sense till the part I've left quoted. :silly: (I assume the Chinese/English combo is a way to stay connected to your roots and at the same time have a 'normal' name for the English folks to use who generally have problems with foreign names.)

Anyway, the part that confuses me: Is \"Kaye\" then your Chinease name or just an derivation of your Chinease name?

I also find it unusual, in your parents case, to have an a Chinease and an English name for China and then another English-Englsih name for England or... :silly:

Boy, you really got me confused here!!! :woohoo:

And I think it's still weird that your family uses your middle 'English' names when they (the US part of your family I assume) are also Chinese. I though they would rather use your Chinese name.

black_magnolia wrote:

Ok, it made sense till the part I've left quoted. :silly: (I assume the Chinese/English combo is a way to stay connected to your roots and at the same time have a 'normal' name for the English folks to use who generally have problems with foreign names.)

Anyway, the part that confuses me: Is \"Kaye\" then your Chinease name or just an derivation of your Chinease name?

I also find it unusual, in your parents case, to have an a Chinease and an English name for China and then another English-Englsih name for England or... :silly:

Boy, you really got me confused here!!! :woohoo:

And I think it's still weird that your family uses your middle 'English' names when they (the US part of your family I assume) are also Chinese. I though they would rather use your Chinese name.

:woohoo: *Giggle*

Kaye is a derivation of my full Chinese name, but I take it as my everyday English name in England. No one can ever pronounce my full Chinese name so I get pissed off veeery easily with that. As a result, my Chinese name is only ever used on official documents, at home and in China.

And yes, you're right. My parents have a Chinese and English name for China and another English name for England.

I think my US family used our middle names because I went through a phase where I hated everything about being Chinese. I was teased a lot as a kid (through primary school, I only went by my full Chinese name) and that might've contributed towards them using my middle name instead.. It was only just after primary school that I had my name shortened to an 'English' name and I think by then, they had already settled on calling me 'Nicole'.

Use of my full Chinese name could also feel too parental - Only my parents really use my full Chinese name and that's when I'm in trouble (much like in the Western half of the world?). To add further confusion, I also have a Chinese nickname also derived from my full Chinese name. That's generally what I'm referred to in Chinese by all, unless it's something formal/I'm in trouble/one of my English names are being used.

Confused or more confused? :woohoo:

Ok, I feel a bit dizzy now from trying to grasp everything - but I think I got it! *proud-of-herself* :blush:

And I have more questions! :woohoo:

Why a special English name (different from the English one for England) for China? Is it becasue of the different languages spoken in China (Cantonese, Mandarin etc.)? (I don't know how much English is used there at all among Chinese people; I know Hong Kong was a British colony...)

black_magnolia wrote:

Ok, I feel a bit dizzy now from trying to grasp everything - but I think I got it! *proud-of-herself* :blush:

And I have more questions! :woohoo:

Why a special English name (different from the English one for England) for China? Is it becasue of the different languages spoken in China (Cantonese, Mandarin etc.)? (I don't know how much English is used there at all among Chinese people; I know Hong Kong was a British colony...)

I think it's just habit and for purposes of tuition. Sometimes, the English name used in Hong Kong isn't even decided by parents - One of my cousins didn't dare to speak up due to being shy, so his teacher decided his English name was Ben! He was given the name Sherman by his parents, and as a result that's now the name used in England/US and 'Ben' is the English name used in China for him.

I think a lot of people who choose to move away will then decide on a name they *want* to use in England or the US etc..I don't think it would be surprising. The 'English' names used in China aren't generally all that conventional or common (I find they tend to be either unconventional, old-fashioned or non-existent in actual English). I guess as Sherman was meant to be my cousin's 'English' name, it's a good example of the whole unconventional-name-thing over there. My mother's 'English' name given to her was 'Antisanna' which I don't think exists in English..and I also have a Chinese friend called Mervyn. When I met him, it was the first I'd ever heard of someone having that name. :blink: The list of unusual-ness can go on..

Also on that side of the world, I think it's about 4-5 languages that are compulsory in school, English being one of them (I seem to recall the others are like..Vietnamese, Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese..Something like that. There's a lot of them!). If you head on over to China, most English-speakers will ask why they will hear snippets of completely English words within Chinese daily conversation - It'll be due to the past colonisation. It can also be due to laziness. You'll find in Hong Kong especially that most people will interweave English words into everyday conversation. Chinese people like to mix in English with Chinese. :woohoo: Probably due to it being 'fashionable', like the 'V' victory sign - So as I said, probably trends/habits passed on/tuition would explain the requirement for the English name in China to begin with

When I think about it, it amuses me how many names we all have, and yet you can get away with never using a name at all due to how Chinese culture is. We usually use titles, e.g. \"Old lady\" (Yup! That's a real one you can use on a stranger if the situation's right! Or just for everyday use in a family village where you know everyone's blood-related but don't quite know how they're related), \"Young man\", \"Father\" \"Cousin\" etc..

My younger cousins have never called me by any kind of name other than the term that's used for 'older female cousin' and likewise, that's all I've ever called my older female cousins. :blink: We have terms that span as far as second cousins as far as I'm aware...Any further related and we (or at least I) just resort to a different, more general term. :woohoo:

..And that in turn completely reminds me of a new point - Traditionally, all Chinese names are *completely made up* by parents using the sounds that are available in the language, and failure to create something original reflects badly on the parents' creativity etc..So you generally won't have the kind of 'common names' you can find in languages like English, e.g. John, David, James. That could explain the reason English names given in China are so 'creative/unusual' as well...

Well. Enjoy reading that, haha! :woohoo:

I honestly did enjoy reading that! I find it fascinating! I love learning such things about different cultures and I've always been fascinated by linguistics etc. Thanks for writing it down!

I think the use of English in everyday speech in other countries/languages is becoming pretty much common everywhere. We also use some words here, but usually we morph them according to our language - pretty much becasue of fashion/trends and/or inability to find a proper/nice sounding substitute in our own language. Example the verb \"like\" has risen to popularity becasue of facebook and it ends up conjugated like a Croatian verb in everyday use. :silly:

black_magnolia wrote:

I honestly did enjoy reading that! I find it fascinating! I love learning such things about different cultures and I've always been fascinated by linguistics etc. Thanks for writing it down!

I think the use of English in everyday speech in other countries/languages is becoming pretty much common everywhere. We also use some words here, but usually we morph them according to our language - pretty much becasue of fashion/trends and/or inability to find a proper/nice sounding substitute in our own language. Example the verb \"like\" has risen to popularity becasue of facebook and it ends up conjugated like a Croatian verb in everyday use. :silly:

Glad my massive essays didn't bore you stiff!

That's interesting - It reminds me of how people here have started to use 'lol' as an *actual word* in real life because of the influence of the internet. Argh! It annoys the hell out of me!