I posted this here because I remember when I taught English to children in a Taiwan cram school, my favorite part of the job was giving the students their English names.
“Steve” is the name of one of the security guards at the building where I work. He’s a good guy - friendly and attentive, quick with a smile and a hearty wave of the hand. Whenever he sees me, he bellows out his greetings, “Good morning!” or “Good night!”. I have been working here for about a year now, and the warm greetings and farewells that we exchange sum up most of the substance of our relationship. He speaks some English, and at a level that it wouldn’t surprise me if in fact he spent a little time abroad - although not more than a year.
Steve has asked me to give him a new English name. Since I consider Steve an upstanding sort of person, I would like to give him a short list to choose from.
He has not given me many parameters to guide me. So here’s my own impression of him, and below are some suggestions I have in mind. Please suggest more below.
Helpful
Friendly
Loud voice
Approachable
Age: late 30’s - early 40’s
A bit stocky
Medium build
If confronted with a foreign visitor who doesn’t speak any Chinese and is lost on the street, Steve should be able to hold his own in a simple conversation and general directions (Main Roads, MRT stations), at least until he could find someone who could give proper directions for more specilized needs.
Here is my list of potential names for Steve the Security Guard:
Bull (Night Court)
Ajax (The Iliad)
Harald (Fairhair Dynasty - Varangian Guard and King of Norway)
Heimdall (sentry at the rainbow bridge to Asgard)
Sebastian (mistook him for a security guard in Blade Runner)
Maximilian (nice long name with a short nickname)
Bull (Night Court)
Ajax (The Iliad)
Harald (Fairhair Dynasty - Varangian Guard and King of Norway)
Heimdall (sentry at the rainbow bridge to Asgard)
Sebastian (mistook him for a security guard in Blade Runner)
Maximilian (nice long name with a short nickname)[/quote]
Those are all pretty strange names, and some of them unlikely to be pronounced properly by the majority of the population of our fair island. You might ask him if he wants something common or unique.
I like Micah, myself. Although that could be seen as a mispronunciation. Mike-uh.
His existing name makes me think of the monkey in ‘Cloudy with a chance of meatballs’.
Steeeeve!
Apart from that it’s a perfectly good name. Why does he want to change it?
Please don’t give him another name that ends up in the “strange Taiwanese names” thread though. I mean, seriously, why would you do that to someone you like? Just choose something boring, with one syllable, or at most two. No diphthongs, because they inevitably get mangled.
[quote=“Celeborn”]
Bull (Night Court)
Ajax (The Iliad)
Harald (Fairhair Dynasty - Varangian Guard and King of Norway)
Heimdall (sentry at the rainbow bridge to Asgard)
Sebastian (mistook him for a security guard in Blade Runner)
Maximilian (nice long name with a short nickname)[/quote]
Whywhywhywhy, in the name of all that is holy, would you change a grown man’s name to any of these? :roflmao:
I think that Steve is already a very suitable name for a security guard. It has a bit of a working class ring to it, but would not sound out of place in the company boardroom if he ever does start to climb that career ladder.
Holy Cow, I would have had 50 different names by now if I followed that reasoning [/quote]
Which is why the government only allows for two or three changes. Otherwise most people here would have a new name every year.
Back on topic - How about … wait for it… Security Steve!
[quote=“Celeborn”]Here is my list of potential names for Steve the Security Guard:
Bull (Night Court)
Ajax (The Iliad)
Harald (Fairhair Dynasty - Varangian Guard and King of Norway)
Heimdall (sentry at the rainbow bridge to Asgard)
Sebastian (mistook him for a security guard in Blade Runner)
Maximilian (nice long name with a short nickname)[/quote]
I thought the reason why Taiwanese asked a foreigner to come up with an English name was so that they could avoid a a name that sounds ridiculous.
I have an idea. Probably won’t fly, but I’ll put it out there anyway.
Since Americans find names such as Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and Red Cloud to be not only acceptable, but preferable to their native American originals, why not address Chinese by what their names really mean.
We think literal translations of Chinese names sound “strange”.
But isn’t that just our own ethnocentrism?
They don’t sound strange to Chinese speakers.
Thank you for your responses. I gave Steve a list, including your other suggestions, and he thanked me saying he would give it further thought. I said that my favorite was Maximilian, because in addition to being a meaningful name with an interesting history, it is easy shortened to “Max” as a nickname.
I asked him why he wanted to change his name. I hadn’t asked before because I didn’t think it was my business to ask. I cited the reasons some of you have posted: “Steve is a great name, easy to pronounce, spell, remember. Why change it?!”
There were no burning reasons why. At least, he couldn’t explain any at that moment to me. He said that he’s been known as Steven for over 10 years and felt it was time for a change. I sense there must be something more to this because he had followed up with me for my suggestions several times this past week, even to the point that last Wednesday he subtly set a deadline for me (I didn’t mind, I had agreed to help and I was dragging my feet).
There are so many reasons why we might want to change our names - and not only because we might believe doing so will change our fortunes I have noticed that people on this website change their handles from time to time. Could some of the reasons be similar to Steve’s reasons, whatever they may be? After all, I don’t expect his change of English name is going to affect many other areas of his life.
If Trek names are on the table, and your friend is a just man who works as a security officer, I would like to suggest Odo. Granted it’s not an English name, the etymology is Cardassian and it means unknown samples, but I think it represents all those qualities you mentioned.
I have noticed that people on this website change their handles from time to time. Could some of the reasons be similar to Steve’s reasons, whatever they may be? After all, I don’t expect his change of English name is going to affect many other areas of his life.