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.
- a lot of Asian families are Christian, so they get Christian names
- racism and discrimination. "li guo" just isn't as cool as "pierre"
- there's no real great way to spell a lot of Asian names, so might as well just adopt a Western name
- many Asian children have an Asian name and a Westerner name. Both are valid aliases for the person.
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?
"Richard Kim" means I grew up in America and will have no problem talking to you.
"Han Yong Kim" means you're going to have trouble communicating with me in the workplace.
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.
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).
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.
If you have a 字 or a 號 in this century (or even most of the last), you're very odd.
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.)