Changing names

Students who come to the States from Southeast Asian countries often bear a different name than they do in their home country. However the decision to adopt an american name is their own.

While mingling with students who are part of Utah State University’s Asian Student Association, Amber Lam, a junior majoring in international studies who serves as vice president of the organization, noticed a lot of people from Asia introduce themselves with English names they were not born with. The students may do this for a variety of reasons, but it is ultimately their choice.

Annie Su, a junior from Taiwan who is majoring in family consumer and human development, said she uses her English name because it is difficult for Americans to remember her Chinese one.

“If I introduce myself, I will just say ‘Hello, I’m Annie Su’ or something like that, but I will say ‘My Chinese name is Kuan Ting Su,'” Su said. “I will just bring up. I will say ‘You guys can just call me Annie.'”

Lam said one reason she thinks Asian students adopt English names is to make things easier for Westerners.

“When you go buy coffee at the quad side cafe they often ask for a name to put on your coffee cup,” Lam wrote. “I bet that most of the time, those foreign students tell them a name that’s easier for the workers.”

Robert Llewellyn, the international student and immigration advisor at USU, said the university does not have a policy which says Asian students have to choose an English name. He said the Asian students he knows who have done this had already chosen their English names before meeting them, and they are not on any official documents.

“We don’t really say anything either way,” Llewellyn said. “They come to us and say they have an American name and tell us that name. We call them by that, and if they come and they don’t, we call them by whatever they tell us.”

Yuzhen Luo, a junior from China majoring in mechanical engineering, said while university policy does not drive Asian students to adopt English names, it is because of domestic students they do so.

“They don’t force us to get an English name,” Luo said. “But on the other hand, it’s rather us who thinks we should get an English name for your convenience because you guys have a hard time pronouncing our names.”

Su said she prefers to be called by her English name, but her real name is used for official documents.

“Some professors, they will, in the first class, tell all the students ‘You can write down any name you prefer to me to use in this class,’ and yeah, I write down Annie,” Su said. “It’s my choice, but like on Canvas or on everything, my name is Kuan Ting Su.”

Luo said he decided to keep his name — despite having to constantly correct people — because he is proud of it.

“I’m glad of who I am. I’m glad of my name,” Luo said. “I don’t need to change my identity or my name so that I can be myself out there. My name was given to me and that’s what I’m gonna go with.”

Luo said the problem with using an English name is it sacrifices an individual’s original self.

“There is a saying in Chinese…which translates to ‘When you’re walking out there, you don’t change your name, and when you’re seated on a chair or on a table, you don’t change your surname,'” Luo said. “And the explanation behind that is that you are given a name, and these names have meanings. These names, they come from historic backgrounds. They come with a history. So that name that’s given to you is dedicated to you for a reason.”

Luo said despite this, he does not think it is wrong to adopt an English name as long as it is done for the right reasons. He said if an American adopts a Chinese name while visiting China, it would make the person feel like he or she belongs to a bigger family.

“So take that concept, same thing, we apply when international students come to the States,” Luo said. “They want to have the English names so that they can also feel like part of you guys.”

Luo said the wrong reason to adopt an English name would be if it were just a label to make it easier for Americans to pronounce.

Lam said one of the reasons she thinks Asian students adopt English names is because they think it is cool to do so.

“It’s kind of like how when Westerners buy shirts with Japanese/Chinese characters on them thinking it’s awesome but not knowing what it means,” Lam said. “For example, there are some shirts with the character ‘water’ on them. Why would an Asian person wear a shirt with water on it (or vice versa with a Westerner — you don’t just see ‘water’ spelt out in English and worn here)?”

–topherwriter@gmail.com
Twitter: @ChrisCampbell02