When I was in China there was a bloke who worked for Shanghai Information Technology who called himself Cow.
We used to get emails from him signed…
Best regards
Cow
SH I.T.
I think he got fired because he refused to change his name, though we always thought it was the company’s fault for choosing such a crappy name in the first place.
the distinction between an acronym and an initialism, is technical, pedantic, and not universally supported, IMHO. the most important thing weighing against such a specialists’ distinction is just that: it’s a specialists’ distinction, and as such is known by very few people.
Anyway, DKNY is pronounced Donkey. FCUK, anybody knows that.
[quote=“cmdjing”]DKNY is an acronym, so pronounce each letter individually.
It stands for Donna Karan New York, its actually a fashion label. Maybe you should recommend that they simply call themselves Donna, or maybe Kar(e)n instead of the whole acronym. In fact, using DKNY as a name may qualify as a trademark violation.[/quote]
I don’t know the person; I just saw his name in print. And it’s a guy.
DKNY Tseng.
I know how it’s pronounced in real life, and what it stands for, but I have no idea how one would pronounce it as an adopted “English” name. The longest I’ve ever seen for just pronouncing letters is W.E.B. DuBois. But at least those stand for something.
I don’t think some clueless local could get in serious legal trouble for taking an unofficial name. I’ve met a Sony and a Kennex.
At my school right now there’s an English teacher who calls herself Santa. I haven’t approached the subject as to why.
I have students named Jammy, Durden, Cherly, Hebe, and other odd sounding things. A guy I know is named Phymen.
My favorite are the kids a colleague in the states had at our high school whose parents were illiterate or had totally whacked senses of humor.
A girl named Tremendous Johnson, twins named Lemonjello and Orangejello (emphasis on the second syllable), a girl named Abc (pronounced “Uh-bee-cee” with the emphasis in the send syllable), a girl named Female (“fe-maa-lee”), and a boy named Houston Opera, though his middle name was not Grand.
We met a nice, helpful young gal at the Tax Office named Leo (it mimics her Chinese name, Li-you). I guess Leo could be short for Leonarda, too, though. 
I have some students with choice names. An adult woman named Dolphin, a university student named Chubby~he’s actually painfully skinny, another one (male) named Hana, yet another who calls himself Pepsi, of all things. Another varsity girl calls herself Douma- (doo-ma). And one teacher who referred to himself as “Always”. And all except for the last two, I suggested strongly that they change their names, but no, not interested. And these are all adults!
What amuses me is the resistance to changing an embarrassing name to a more normal one. Yes, I understand it’s a face issue, but isn’t the bizarre name more of a face-loser?
I worked for awhile at an adult cram school. One student came to class proclaiming his name as “homo”. I didnt’ tell him aabout the implications. About a month later I learned that another instructor had told him of the meaning of his name. He never came back to the school. If students choose these weird names, it’s best to just accept and go forward.
I grew up in the great state of Texas, where this insanity (and lots more) occurred. What you wrote is partially true. The first paragraph of this page explains it: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Hogg
I taught a class for Chunghua Post where one middle aged student was a lady called ‘Banana’. I asked her why she called herself Banana and she said ‘because I like bananas’.
I’ve taught a lot of classes with Apples but that one takes the cake.
I got served by a 7-11 girl named “Play boy” today.
[quote=“Charlie Phillips”]I taught a class for Chunghua Post where one middle aged student was a lady called ‘Banana’. I asked her why she called herself Banana and she said ‘because I like bananas’.
I’ve taught a lot of classes with Apples but that one takes the cake.[/quote]
Mwahahahahahaha! Lovely!
waiter at seven eleven (guy) : fatty , but he was not fat at all 
I was served by a female 7-11 clerk named “Career” yesterday. And no, her Chinese name didn’t resemble “career” in sound or meaning.
Just remembered young ‘Chunnel’! When quizzed, she explained that she thought it was a more elegant and individual spelling of ‘Chanel’. Didn’t feel that I wanted to tell her that that’s a nickname for the Channel Tunnel between England and France.
The vowel substitution you mention reminds me of a guy I met here whose name was a more “individual” spelling of “Kant”.
True story.
There’s someone in my company called “Table”. No idea if it’s a boy or a girl.
Lots of fun at meetings. See how much ‘under the table’, ‘on the table’, ‘bring to the table’, stoopido biz-speak you can incorporate into the nonsense.
don’t know if anyone had these…
female: Hoho, Candy