Names

As many of you know, the Chinese often pick a “Western” name for work purposes because the given names are difficult for Westerners to pronounce. These names are typically close (in some way) to the given Chinese name but not always. Some of the common Western names we’ve heard include Jenny, Jason, Bobby, and Maria. Some of the not-so-common Western names include Rocky, Lotus, Ivy, Irene, Leon, Tulip, and our personal favorite – Kitty.

Another confusing name conundrum for us is the family name is said first. Instead of Annie Richardson, it would be Richardson Annie. So you might be asking, did we get to pick a Chinese name? The answer is no, but we were kind of given one. Scott has business cards that are in English on one side and Mandarin characters on the other. He asked a co-worker what the characters said his name was – keeping in mind that in Chinese r’s are pronounced like l’s and vice versa. The guy looked at the card and kind of chuckled. He said, your name is “Lee Chow Sun – I will call you Mr. Lee.”

Scott ran into a slight problem this week, however, when checking into his hotel for a conference. Instead of booking his room under his English name, they booked it under his Chinese name. So he was informed when he gave them his passport (which of course does not reference the family name Lee anywhere) they didn’t have a room for him. However, after 30 minutes of scurrying around, the problem was solved and Mr. Lee was able to check into his room.