Beer.
He said that all foreigners like beer so they would never forget his name.
Shadow.
He was a shady character, so it fit him pretty well.
[quote=“dumas”]Here is a list of real people I have met in Taiwan with Engrish names.
Lady’s Engrish Names:
Apple (popular)
Avon
Belinda
Feeling
Malinda
Selina
Men’s Engrish Names:
Clement
Cowley
Jensen
Johnson (popular)
Spencer
Weston
Wilfred[/quote]Some of those are quite common names, not just here but everywhere. Belinda, Selina, Clement, and Wilfred are perfectly respectable names, and I imagine that some of the other men’s names are also “real” ones.
Some “Engrish” names here remind me of the characters in the children’s book “The Borrowers”. The borrowers were little people who lived under the floorboards of a normal house. They “borrowed” everything from the regular big people, including their names. However, the names got changed slightly in the process, so one character was called “Arriety” and another one “Homily”. Seems remarkably like what goes on here when people choose “English” names for themselves.
I get a little political about this: I question the need for English names. In Spain and Latin America, you wouldn’t get guys called “Juan” changing their names to “John” just because they were studying English. I do see it can serve a useful practical purpose though, as Chinese names can be quite difficult for non-Chinese speakers to remember and pronounce.
[quote=“gooner”][b]Beer.
He said that all foreigners like beer so they would never forget his name. [/b]
Shadow.
He was a shady character, so it fit him pretty well.[/quote]
Such a wise man! Remarkeably well-informed, isn’t he? 
I read an article about the difference between Chinese and Japanese attitudes to this topic once; some interesting differences.
As a side note; I got a Chinese name when I studied at Shida, which the teachers insisted on. I thought it was quite funny at the time because it was kind of inappropriate; 高潔玲。 I actually refuse to use it now; my parents gave me my name; I’m not going to discard it and use a made up name; it’s disrespectful. Just my take on the subject.
[quote=“gooner”]Beer.
He said that all foreigners like beer so they would never forget his name.
[/quote]
I used to know a Thai woman whose name was Beer.
One of my Thai relatives is called Porn. Common nicknames.
[quote=“Buttercup”]I read an article about the difference between Chinese and Japanese attitudes to this topic once; some interesting differences.
As a side note; I got a Chinese name when I studied at Shi-Da, which the teachers insisted on. I thought it was quite funny at the time because it was kind of inappropriate; 高潔玲。 I actually refuse to use it now; my parents gave me my name; I’m not going to discard it and use a made up name; it’s disrespectful. Just my take on the subject.[/quote]Apologies to the OP, but while we’re on the topic of nomenclatorial (?) bugbears, here’s another of mine. I hate the Taiwanese buxiban habit of calling two kids in the same class with the same name “1” and and “2”, for example “Jack 1 and Jack 2”. It’s ridiculous. This kids have family names, and the family names probably aren’t even hard to pronounce, so just call the kids Jack Huang and Jack Dai or whatever.
I’ve been given various “Chinese names” at different times, but none of them have stuck. I’ll probably end up using one in future, but it will have to be a real one and not one of those transliterated versions of my “English name”.
My ex had an English name. I never used it. I called him by his Chinese name. People would come up to me and ask how Eric was. Eric is also the name of my close friend, so I would tell them he was surfing down south or something and they would say “But he is standing over there.” Same people, over the course of a year, never got it through their heads to use his Chinese name with me.
You mean, they didn’t name you 毛茛 (buttercup)?
Maybe I should use that! 
Joe Sax wrote:
I concede that these may be “real” names, but they are not common. Maybe they are popular in certain regions only, as I’ve met plenty of Nigels from UK, but never from the US. I think a lot of people try to outdo each other by having a prestigious/rare/difficult name.
Joe Sax wrote:
I remember a series of books like that only they were called “The Littles”
Joe Sax wrote:
I agree on principal, but I actually inherited a class with a Cherry 1 and Cherry 2. (This is also a good Engrish name.) One girl’s family name was Romanized as Hsu. Whenever I tried to say Cherry Hsu, she put up such a fuss over my mispronunciation that I went back to the number system.
Joe Sax wrote:
Well besides making it easier for the furiners teaching engrish, it’s debatable. When I studied Spanish, I was given a Spanish name. When I came to work here, my company gave me a Chinese name. In my office about half the staff use their Engrish name even when speaking with other Chinese people. This is also the case in my girlfriends company where they don’t have any furiners.
[quote=“Anubis”][quote=“gooner”][b]Beer.
He said that all foreigners like beer so they would never forget his name. [/b]
Shadow.
He was a shady character, so it fit him pretty well.[/quote]
Such a wise man! Remarkeably well-informed, isn’t he? [/quote]
no need to be wise or well informed to smell the breath of your english teacher 
I’ve posted about this before. I think it’s pretentious.
I was in Singapore, sitting at a table with 7 Taiwanese and one Australian whose parents were from Bangladesh. He was like, “I would never use an English name. I was born with a Bangladeshi name and people will have to learn to say it.” Then he asked all the girls at my table what their Chinese names were…
“Well,… you probably can’t say it…” said one.
“Yes,… you know… Chinese has 4 tones…” said another…
and on… and on… and on…
Finally, I just looked at him and said, “so in other words, ‘forget it’.”
Well, make of it what you will, but the fact is that these people wouldn’t even tell him their names and give him a chance to even try to say it. It was just - “No - my name is ‘Susan’… (period).” He thought it was odd that Taiwanese used English names. I agree. It just strikes me as silly and very “崇洋” (West-worshipping).
But I think parents are starting to give them English names from birth, so… whatever. It’s just the mentality here.
The entire Chinese idea of others not being able to speak the language is really quite irritating.
I use vinegar on my dumplings. Every time I go to the place next to my man’s house for dumplings she tries to stop me and make me put on soy sauce. Every time I tell her I don’t want soy I want vinegar. Once he went with me and she did this with him there. I told her I had told her 100 times I don’t want soy and she told him that she just assumed it was a Chinese language error. That I had the words for soy and vinegar confused.
This is also displayed in the “HaoLiHai” that you get for even saying no thank you in Chinese. Heaven forbid you mispronounce their names even though about 90% of them cannot pronounce their English names right and also mispronounce our names.
Rude… If people tell me I can’t pronounce their names, I ask them to write the character and bopomofo in my notebook and make a point of pronouncing it correctly. And I make them call me by my full name, which I know they can not pronounce, not the shortened version, just to be bloody minded.
I actually shortened my name during my first adult teaching job because Thai students couldn’t pronounce my name. Thai names are harder to pronounce than Chinese but Thai people whouldn’t dream of throwing away their name and calling themselves after a piece of fruit.
I can never decide whether ‘English names’ are supremely arrogant or just show a lack of self esteem.
[quote=“Buttercup”]
As a side note; I got a Chinese name when I studied at Shi-Da, which the teachers insisted on. I thought it was quite funny at the time because it was kind of inappropriate; 高潔玲。 I actually refuse to use it now; my parents gave me my name; I’m not going to discard it and use a made up name; it’s disrespectful. Just my take on the subject.[/quote]
I agree. In fact I derive pleasure when dealing with officialdom and they demand my “Chinese name.”
“I’m not Chinese. My parents don’t speak Chinese, so I obviously don’t have a CHinese name.”
“Must have Chinese name.”
“Look (signs signature, adds name in block letters). That’s my name. That’s my passport. That’s my name.”
“Need Chinese name.”
“So just write anything you like – I really don’t give a toss.”
“Must have Chinese name.”
“OK. Mee Kee Lao shu. How’s that? Chiang Kai-shek? Mao Tse-tung? Lee Teng-hui? Any of those will do. I don’t care.”
“No. They’re stupid names.”
“So do you have an English name? What is it?”
“Skroont.”
And so on and so forth.
Instead, Thais prefer to call us foreigners pieces of fruit: “guava” to be specific!
Possibly. Most people think it is a shortening of the Thai word for ‘French’, as the French were the first whiteys that went there is any number. 
[quote=“Buttercup”]
I can never decide whether ‘English names’ are supremely arrogant or just show a lack of self esteem.[/quote]
Both.
[quote=“dumas”]Joe Sax wrote:
Well besides making it easier for the furiners teaching engrish, it’s debatable. When I studied Spanish, I was given a Spanish name. When I came to work here, my company gave me a Chinese name. In my office about half the staff use their Engrish name even when speaking with other Chinese people. This is also the case in my girlfriends company where they don’t have any furiners.[/quote]Well, it’s up to people themselves what they want to be called, of course. I just disagree with the notion that everybody has to have an English name.