Chinese people in Ireland

star.chaser

I've been working and living with Chinese people for the last few years and one thing they all seem to do is ditch their Chinese names and adopt English names to go by. I haven't noticed any other nationality do this and was wondering if anybody Chinese or otherwise can shed a bit of light on why they do this?

Snakeblood

star.chaser wrote: »

I've been working and living with Chinese people for the last few years and one thing they all seem to do is ditch their Chinese names and adopt English names to go by. I haven't noticed any other nationality do this and was wondering if anybody Chinese or otherwise can shed a bit of light on why they do this?

A friend of mine anglicised his name because the first time people met him, the conversation would go:

Hi, I'm Rei
Hi Ray
No, Rei
Sorry, Ray
No, Rei
Sorry, Ray
No, Rei
Sorry, Ray
No, Rei
Sorry, Ray
No, Rei
Sorry, Ray
No, Rei
Sorry, Ray
Ray is fine.

helimachoptor

Frankly some of their names are impossible to pronounce!

I worked with a guy, he called himself PJ

Degsy

Hi My name is Stzu-Fan

Okay,we'll call you Stephen..

dsmythy

Some names can be hard to pronounce i guess. I knew one guy called "kin ki" (how it sounded rather than how it's spelled). He just called himself Ken after a while.

jumpguy

I'd say it's because their names are
1. Extremely foreign
2. Can be difficult to pronouce

And the last thing they want is some name-induced racism.

biko

They don't ditch their name, they just add a name you can understand.

sock puppet

I think because a lot of their names are difficult to pronounce. But then my sister-in-law was Chinese and she took an English name despite her name being easy to pronounce. Her Chinese name did sound very babyish though.

Run_to_da_hills

Chinese people rarely use mobile phones in Ireland, this is becuse they have a tendancy to wing wong numbers. :P

MagicMarker

I just call them Lee.

WindSock

I would change my name if I had one of those arseholey long Irish names that are impossible for people who don't know Irish to pronounce and lived in China. It would be too much hassle otherwise.

biko

I'm sure they have difficulties with Liam, Siobhan, Ailish too.
Thankfully all Irish respond to "Paddy".

enda1

I knew a guy, can't even remember his real Chinese name, but he called himself Bruce.

Ah, after Bruce Lee me thinks.

"NO, Die Haad Bruce Wee, yippe kayee yippe kayee"

ChocolateSauce

I lived with a Rin and with a Xinwan Hu (we called her Jessica).

WindSock

My name in Asia is Ju-ree. I like to tell Asians I own a chain of hotels

johnny_knoxvile

jumpguy wrote: »

I'd say it's because their names are
1. Extremely foreign
2. Can be difficult to pronouce

And the last thing they want is some name-induced racism.

name induced racism? With irish mothers calling there children Brit-aany and Kristal-meth, surely not?

Dancor

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Chinese people rarely use mobile phones in Ireland, this is becuse they have a tendancy to wing wong numbers. :P

ROR!!

I worked with a Chinese lad that named himself ''King'' I reakon he looked up the definition of a King and thought he'd fancy that.

Riamfada

I worked with a Swedish girl named "Fanny" once.

Oh my much fun was had made especially more so by the fact that she didnt know the meaning of it. Im suprised I didnt get fired for that. I was the worst retauraunt manager ever no wonder my staff never stayed.

AnonoBoy

Really?

Can't say I've noticed any around.

Fugly

I used to work for a company, who recruited in poland, when the polish were being processed they were given a list of pre-approved names to choose from. The guy who worked in my dept. had one of these adopted names, but most people just asked his real name as they felt more comfortable addressing him by it, and his real name was very difficult to pronounce!

Snakeblood

Fugly wrote: »

I used to work for a company, who recruited in poland, when the polish were being processed they were given a list of pre-approved names to choose from. The guy who worked in my dept. had one of these adopted names, but most people just asked his real name as they felt more comfortable addressing him by it, and his real name was very difficult to pronounce!

“We all gathered in the schoolhouse. We all sat on benches, without a word or a sound for fear of the master. He cast his venomous eyes ever the room and they alighted on me where they stopped. By jove! I did not find his look pleasant while these two eyes were sifting me. After a while he directed a long yellow finger at me and said: “Phwat is yer nam?”

“I did not understand what he said nor any other type of speech which is practised in foreign parts because I had only Gaelic as a mode of expression and as a protection against the difficulties of life. I could only stare at him, dumb with fear. I then saw a great fit of rage come over him and gradually increase exactly like a rain-cloud. I looked around timidly at the other boys. I heard a whisper at my back: Your name he wants!

“My heart leaped with joy at this assistance and I was grateful to him who prompted me. I looked politely at the master and replied to him: Bonaparte, son of Michelangelo, son of Peter, son of Owen, son of Thomas's Sarah, grand-daughter of John's Mary, grand-daughter of James, son of Dermot…

“Before I had uttered or half-uttered my name, a rabid bark issued from the master and he beckoned to me with his finger. By the time I had reached him, he had an oar in his grasp. Anger had come over him in a flood-tide at this stage and he had a businesslike grip of the oar in his two hands. He drew it over his shoulder and brought it down hard upon me with a swish of air, dealing me a destructive blow on the skull. I fainted from that blow but before I became totally unconscious I heard him scream:


Yer nam, said he, is Jams O'Donnell!

star.chaser

Grimes wrote: »

I worked with a Swedish girl named "Fanny" once.

Oh my much fun was had made especially more so by the fact that she didnt know the meaning of it. Im suprised I didnt get fired for that. I was the worst retauraunt manager ever no wonder my staff never stayed.

I worked with a French Fanny. The first day I started, i was introduced to her by an Irish Girl as "Franny"

tbh

I've an irish name that most people don't know how to spell or pronounce. So whenever i ordering food or whatever, that requires me to leave me name, I just say jim.

Riamfada

My first name is English and my second name is Scottish. I remember primary school classes where the teacher would insist on calling me by the Irish translation.

She looked like an epileptic james brown trying to say my name.

_blank_

Grimes wrote: »

My first name is English and my second name is Scottish. I remember primary school classes where the teacher would insist on calling me by the Irish translation.

She looked like an epileptic james brown trying to say my name.

English Scottish is a funny name.

Sasanach Albanach as gaeilge.

senordingdong

I train martial arts with some Chinese people.

Ony one retains his Chinese name because, it's fairly easy to pronounce.
One of the lads calls himself Jackie. Bless.

John G

I worked for a multinational and we dealt with Chinese a lot. The best was a girl we dealt with called...Fanny Dong...no joke... Seems childish I know but manys the time we phoned Beijing looking for Fanny!

She was a really sweet girl, no one ever had the heart to explain what Fanny meant, not to mind Dong. By the way there was also a Sultan and someone who on giving himself the opportunity of renaming himself in his 20's elected for the name of ...Morris!

PaulieD

I worked with a lad called Charlie, who claimed to be Chinese. I knew he was lying, he was really Vietnamese!

Conor108

Ah the Chinese, a great bunch of lads

tolosenc

Was in school with a Japanese guy with a really long name. Instead of trying to pronounce it, we just called him Dave. It stuck.

JONJO THE MISER

I worked with a Eskimo once, really heard name to pronounce so we called him Chilly:D

Paddy Samurai

star.chaser wrote: »

I've been working and living with Chinese people for the last few years and one thing they all seem to do is ditch their Chinese names and adopt English names to go by. I haven't noticed any other nationality do this and was wondering if anybody Chinese or otherwise can shed a bit of light on why they do this?

AHHHH SOOOO!...CONFUCIUS SAY

Personal names in Chinese culture follow a number of conventions different from those of personal names in Western cultures. Most noticeably, a Chinese name is written with the family name first and the given name next, therefore "John Smith" as a Chinese name would be "Smith John". For instance, the basketball player Yao Ming should be addressed as "Mr. Yao", not "Mr. Ming".
Some Chinese people who emigrate to, or do business with, Western countries sometimes adopt a Westernized name by simply reversing the "surname–given-name" order to "given-name–surname" ("Ming Yao", to follow the previous example), or with a Western first name together with their surname, which is then written in the usual Western order with the surname last ("Fred Yao"). Some Chinese people sometimes take a combined name. There are 3 variations: Western name, surname, and Chinese given name, in that order ("Fred Yao Ming"); Western name, Chinese given name, and surname ("Fred Ming Yao"); or surname, Chinese given name, followed by Western name ("Yao Ming Fred"). The Western name, surname, and then given name practice is most common in Hong Kong, for example Donald Tsang Yam-kuen; the surname, Chinese given name, and Western name is most common in Singapore, for example Lee Kuan Yew, Harry.
Traditional naming schemes often followed a pattern of using generation names as part of a two-character given name. This is by no means the norm, however. An alternative tradition, stemming from a Han Dynasty law that forbade two-character given names, is to have a single character given name. Some contemporary given names do not follow either tradition, and may in some cases extend to three or more characters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_name

Yak,yak,yak,yak,yak.....basically at the end of this article it says ,the main reason they change their names is that people can't pronounce them properly.

AckwelFoley

star.chaser wrote: »

I've been working and living with Chinese people for the last few years and one thing they all seem to do is ditch their Chinese names and adopt English names to go by. I haven't noticed any other nationality do this and was wondering if anybody Chinese or otherwise can shed a bit of light on why they do this?

They do it because its easier for us crackers to pronounce Jack or joe rather than their indigenious names.

Rebelheart

star.chaser wrote: »

I've been working and living with Chinese people for the last few years and one thing they all seem to do is ditch their Chinese names and adopt English names to go by. I haven't noticed any other nationality do this and was wondering if anybody Chinese or otherwise can shed a bit of light on why they do this?

It's a good job the Irish wouldn't ditch their Irish names and adopt English versions of their names.


....

star.chaser

John G wrote: »

I worked for a multinational and we dealt with Chinese a lot. The best was a girl we dealt with called...Fanny Dong...no joke... Seems childish I know but manys the time we phoned Beijing looking for Fanny!

She was a really sweet girl, no one ever had the heart to explain what Fanny meant, not to mind Dong. By the way there was also a Sultan and someone who on giving himself the opportunity of renaming himself in his 20's elected for the name of ...Morris!

yeah, one of the Chinese girls i worked with went with the name Ingrid?

star.chaser

Rebelheart wrote: »

It's a good job the Irish wouldn't ditch their Irish names and adopt English versions of their names.


....

I've never met an Irish person that did that. I know plenty of Irish people that have been named English names by their parents though.

DeCoR18

enda1 wrote: »

I knew a guy, can't even remember his real Chinese name, but he called himself Bruce.

Ah, after Bruce Lee me thinks.

"NO, Die Haad Bruce Wee, yippe kayee yippe kayee"

How did you cretins miss this gold Should of been wippy kayee though

Thanks.

powerzjim

i work with a guy called loo how, top guy

star.chaser

Ever hear of that Korean footballer Lee Dong Gook?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Dong-Gook

getz

powerzjim wrote: »

i work with a guy called loo how, top guy

most of the chinese except english names easily.with hong kong now part of the chinese country,many of the people in hong kong took on the english culture and christian names since the british had it from 1840, remember there are over 5 million chinese in hong kong many with christian names added on to their chinese name.it is even now spreading to the mainland,[ seams you are posh if you have a christian name in china]

getz

is chew man chew a gay chinese ?

Lollipops23

i work with a bloke called Xiong,he insists we call him Sean....

star.chaser

here's an idea. how about we all pick a Chinese name and just ask our Chinese flatmates/coleagues to call us by this name

JIZZLORD

this just reminds me of how my friends girlfriend is called Onion by his brothers spanish friend who can't pronounce Aine

buccsboyo

There are three Chinese lads in my class in college. The first few weeks when lecturers or others in the class would ask them their names they would tell them an English name like Gavin or Jim. I pulled one of them aside one day and told him that he had payed 15000 euro to come to Ireland to study our course ( effectively paying the fees for him and 5 Irish) and learnt our language intensively and the least we could do would be to call him by his real name. In fact I make them call me by my Chinese name which I learnt a few years ago ,very simple Ma Deng = Martin:)

getz

buccsboyo wrote: »

There are three Chinese lads in my class in college. The first few weeks when lecturers or others in the class would ask them their names they would tell them an English name like Gavin or Jim. I pulled one of them aside one day and told him that he had payed 15000 euro to come to Ireland to study our course ( effectively paying the fees for him and 5 Irish) and learnt our language intensively and the least we could do would be to call him by his real name. In fact I make them call me by my Chinese name which I learnt a few years ago ,very simple Ma Deng = Martin:)

he is having a laugh that means dick head

buccsboyo

I hope not or else Ill be looking for my money back on the beginners chinese course I did a few years ago, the teacher was smiling when she told me.....

--Kaiser--

I always insist on calling foreign people by their real names (how hard are they to pronounce really?...excepting some Polish surnames)

Only exception was a Chinese girl I knew who refused to tell me her real name, thought it must have been a cultural thing

getz

buccsboyo wrote: »

I hope not or else Ill be looking for my money back on the beginners chinese course I did a few years ago, the teacher was smiling when she told me.....

i have speak a smattering of japanese when i try to talk to any japanese person, they normally end up laughing,it seams i talk it with a tokyo accent

Rebelheart

star.chaser wrote: »

I've never met an Irish person that did that. I know plenty of Irish people that have been named English names by their parents though.

Murphy, O'Brien, O'Leary ... all sound like English versions of Irish names being used by Irish people.

As do John, Patrick, Michael ...

HoPpiE

A friend of mine lived with a Chinese guy called Light.