One of the things that have struck me in my time in China is how funny some of the English names that students have names which are either chosen by student themselves, their parents or their teachers. Because many Chinese names are difficult to pronounce in English, people studying English are usually given an English name. This can lead to hysterical results when people have names that are unintentionally funny. One of the names I have gotten used to is Apple. I have probably met a dozen Apples since I have moved to China and I have realized that there is certain fondness by the people here for naming people after fruit. There are also an extraordinary number of Jerrys, Tonys, and Toms. I have several classes with multiples of each (keep in mind that classes are usually less than 15 with mixed genders).
Even though I am trying to be culturally sensitive, there are some times when I literally laugh out loud after hearing someone’s name, especially if I just overhear a conversation happening. For example, the other day I overheard my coworker saying, “So I said to Banana,” at which point I couldn’t help but interrupt and ask if I had heard correctly. Sure enough Banana is someone’s name and while Cherry seems like a good choice for a girl, for some reason Banana just makes me laugh!
Here is a small sampling of names I have come across: Egg, Kid, Mushroom, Music, Ferrari, Seven, Denial (pronounced Daniel of course), Rock, and one of my favorites is Funky which led to unfortunate circumstances when she was first learning how to spell and left out the “n”.
So names in China are like most things for me here: funny, unpredictable, and entertaining in unexpected ways.
Even though I am trying to be culturally sensitive, there are some times when I literally laugh out loud after hearing someone’s name, especially if I just overhear a conversation happening. For example, the other day I overheard my coworker saying, “So I said to Banana,” at which point I couldn’t help but interrupt and ask if I had heard correctly. Sure enough Banana is someone’s name and while Cherry seems like a good choice for a girl, for some reason Banana just makes me laugh!
Here is a small sampling of names I have come across: Egg, Kid, Mushroom, Music, Ferrari, Seven, Denial (pronounced Daniel of course), Rock, and one of my favorites is Funky which led to unfortunate circumstances when she was first learning how to spell and left out the “n”.
So names in China are like most things for me here: funny, unpredictable, and entertaining in unexpected ways.