Anybody want to weigh in on why Asians give their kids Western first names in the US? Why don't they use Chinese first names? Why don't they change their last names also? Serious question.
Racism is not an issue here, since the last name is still Asian, I guess.
A friend of mine from China said the main reason is that some Chinese names are hard to pronounce for an English-speaker. Also other Asian nations (Indians, for examle) seem to leave their names as is, and also give Indian names to kids, I am just wondering, is it something Chinese specific?
Also, many people have trouble pronouncing foreign names particularly those that don't come from an english background. Much easier to give your western name than watch someone mangle pronouncing your name several times and still get it wrong.
I'm not Asian but my family changed their family name upon immigration. Nobody since has ever used any "traditional" first names, either. This is because the language of my ancestors uses a bunch of letters and sounds that don't exist in American English. I assumed that is the same reason Asians do it.
However, I have always been curious as to why Asian women have the names of white grandmas from the 1950s. The only Esthers I know are my great aunt and every other Korean-American I've ever met.
Fitting in. That's really it. As someone who immigrated to the west rather young, I'm really fucking glad my parents gave me a western first name.
How do the Chinese name their children? By throwing their kitchenware down the stairs. Yeah, I'm really glad I wasn't one of the many Asians who had to suffer through that shitty joke throughout their adolescence (and beyond!)
Last name remains unchanged because few people use your last name as a general moniker. Also, your first name has no ancestral or family implications so is fair game, whereas your last name is special in some way.
I do know some Asians who have changed their last names though. Some by accident (immigration screwup, tranposing first/last names, etc).
In addition to the reasons given by others, Chinese culture is accustomed to associate multiple names to a person, a name given by the parents when young, nickname among friends, another name when one enters adulthood, a pen name when one publishes something. Having a Christian name is just another one that makes life easier in another culture setting.
Indians shorten their names sometime to make it easier for others to pronounce. I have Indian friends who have really long names that I couldn't pronounce fully and they all said just use the short names.
>In addition to the reasons given by others, Chinese culture is accustomed to associate multiple names to a person, a name given by the parents when young, nickname among friends, another name when one enters adulthood, a pen name when one publishes something.
If you have a 字 or a 號 in this century (or even most of the last), you're very odd.
Although it's illegal, some people who read resumes look at an asian or middle-eastern names on resumes and they toss it, just because they can't pronounce it. The reason for it is because they don't want to go through the hassle of determining whether they can communicate with you or not. They can just as easily go with someone with a western name and 99% of the time they will be able to communicate with them.
I've had one person approach me and ask why asians don't keep their names, even though they sound beautiful. Like the other comments say, fitting in to have better opportunities is far more important than having a pretty name.
It's like the saying, When in Rome, do as the Romans do. (twist: if you don't have a Roman name in Rome, you're probably a slave!)
From personal observation, it also has to do with the fact that a significant portion of Chinese immigrants last century originated from Hong Kong. Hong Kong was controlled by the British for 150 years; thus the level of English language use in Hong Kong has historically been higher compared to other Asian cities.
I'm pretty sure that all of my Hong Kong friends have had names picked for them when they were born; I wouldn't be surprised if a historian/anthropologist concludes that, indeed, that was how it all got started.
(edit: well, one could counter that Indians don't really lend themselves to English names even though India was subject to the British Empire for some time, etc.,; perhaps there are specific factors pertaining to the Chinese. Still, I do think it's important to separate out the different cases within the Chinese diaspora—mainland (urban versus rural), Hong Kong, Taiwan, expatriate/naturalized—each group has a unique history and it doesn't really make sense to try to reason about all of them at once.)
