Monday, March 19, 2007

Hello! My name is Jello!

Chinese naming conventions are a funny thing. To say the least. As you may (or may not) know, real Chinese names are written with the family name first, as in “Mao Zedong.” Mao was not his first name; he was in fact Mr. Mao.

When you add English to the mix, it becomes much more interesting. All of our students take an English name when they begin studying English. Usually that’s just a first name, although some of them have middle names. (When I was explaining to some girls today that you do not give your middle name when you are introducing yourself, they became rather annoyed. “Why do you have it, then?” demanded Abbey.)

Sometimes these names are assigned by their first English teachers. Other times the girls choose their own names. And by western standards, the choice of name can be . . . different. I had one class explain to me why they chose their English names. Some of them picked names that they thought were pretty. Some, like Crystal, chose names that have similar meanings to their Chinese name. Many picked names that sound like their Chinese name, like Faye and Lucy. And some . . . well, I asked Garfield why she chose to name herself Garfield.

“I love to eat food, like Garfield the cat!” she cheerfully replied.

“But do you know that Garfield is a man’s name?” I queried.

“Yes, but I don’t care.”

Other girls in my classes have names like Shine, Keno (formerly Hawaii), Elvis, Snoopy, Corona (“I am named after a famous beer”), Jelly, and, yes, Jello. I am told that highlights of past years included such appellations as Sheep, Dang-Dang, Tissue, Eleven, and Porky. Seriously. I mean, you can’t make this stuff up.

Dave

4 comments:

Unknown said...

hey just a suggestion since both of you are posting on this blog maybe you can throw in your initials at the end of your post so your readers are guessing which of you wrote it. Dave you can use DST (to avoid your wife's initials (DT) or maybe something like RB for your cool Chinese nickname. Just a suggestion...

Anonymous said...

Have you thought about taking a Chinese name? (Other than Red Beard and Mrs. Red Beard?)

Hey, great idea about the initials!
Love,
Mom W

Anonymous said...

Hi. This is so cool to read about your life in China! In my t and p, K James

Anonymous said...

Dave and Des,
I love your blog.
Jello is a pretty cute name, for sure. In grade 3 I have Cake and Snow. In grade four there is Apple and Bananna. They sit almost side be side in class.
On the week end I saw a children's chair with "Hell! Friend" instead of "Hello Friend". Whoops, another little whoops.
I admire you two and you're certainly in my 'thoughts'.
Maggie