North Texas Republican asks Asian-Americans to change their names

[AKA_Monet]

Originally Posted by OTW

Then we must be related because I'm Tammy "Walmart" Brown.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by AKA_Monet

My new Asian converted name is: Tiffani "Walmart" Brown...

And DS,

Katrina is an ethnic name for a Hurricane...

Katrina is Germanic origins isnt it?

[AKA_Monet]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

Katrina is Germanic origins isnt it?

Depends on the pronunciation...

Kah-Tree-Nah...

vs.

Kat-rina

vs.

Kuh-treeena

vs.

Kaa-tri-na

[LucyKKG]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

Reminds me of a friend whose Russian ancestors came through Ellis Island. The patriarch could only say "Good. Fine." in English, so when asked for his surname his reply meant the family became "Gorfine".

Haha that's really funny. My family used to be Olsen, but apparently, my great-great grandfather changed it because he thought that was too common. I still have a super Norwegian last name which is pretty pronounceable, but some people think it's Jewish. (It's got "berg" in it. That means "mountain" in Norwegian.) My family was sharecroppers/tenant farmers and they took the name of the family that owned the land once they moved here.

[VandalSquirrel]

Originally Posted by LucyKKG

Haha that's really funny. My family used to be Olsen, but apparently, my great-great grandfather changed it because he thought that was too common. I still have a super Norwegian last name which is pretty pronounceable, but some people think it's Jewish. (It's got "berg" in it. That means "mountain" in Norwegian.) My family was sharecroppers/tenant farmers and they took the name of the family that owned the land once they moved here.

I know that my family took the name with the land, and not of the husband (since that's how we did it in Norway). If I moved to Norway to live with my family, technically I could take our family name, even though I have my father's Dutch/Frisian name everyone thinks is German. If I remember right there are some people who worked our dairy in the states who are "fictive kin" and took our Americanized name. Iverson isn't our real last name, but that's how it shook out at Ellis Island due to language barriers. Oh and my cousin's husband's family has a made up name so they could get better seats at church, that cracks me up.

So really, back to the thread, I don't understand why this is an issue as there are plenty of people with hyphenated names, more than one middle name, or all kinds of variations, and they aren't targeted as a community. It seems somewhat insensitive to target one community as I know plenty of people of Hispanic/Latino descent who go by various names (middle, mother's, other) due to their naming traditions, and I know that community exists in Texas.

[agzg]

My friend is Korean and when they moved here his parents encouraged him to pick an American first name. So he chose Eric. His real name is Hyo (which isn't that much of a challenge) but AFAIK all his legal paperwork uses Hyo. All of his friends know his Korean name and have no problem pronouncing it.

Incidentally, when his younger brother chose his name, he picked Allen. You don't see many teenagers named Allen nowadays.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by agzg

My friend is Korean and when they moved here his parents encouraged him to pick an American first name. So he chose Eric. His real name is Hyo (which isn't that much of a challenge) but AFAIK all his legal paperwork uses Hyo. All of his friends know his Korean name and have no problem pronouncing it.

Incidentally, when his younger brother chose his name, he picked Allen. You don't see many teenagers named Allen nowadays.

I have a few Vietnamese friends including a girl named Hang. She came to the US at 2 years old. Once they were here for awhile, her parents wanted to change their names to more Americanized names. One of her brothers changed to Allen, but the rest of them kept their original names. The name her parents picked for Hang was Seymour! Apparently, they didn't know that was a male name. Luckily she said "No!"

[epchick]

Originally Posted by agzg

My friend is Korean and when they moved here his parents encouraged him to pick an American first name. So he chose Eric. His real name is Hyo (which isn't that much of a challenge) but AFAIK all his legal paperwork uses Hyo. All of his friends know his Korean name and have no problem pronouncing it.

Incidentally, when his younger brother chose his name, he picked Allen. You don't see many teenagers named Allen nowadays.

A bunch of the Chinese students I lived with in the dorms were always testing out "American" names. My roommate's real name is Xin (prounounced 'shin') and she was always testing out new names she got from a baby book! She was Vicki, Arwen (although I kept telling her the little 'm' meant that was a male name), and some others that i can't remember. It's interesting to see the names they come up with--Iris, Celine, Janet, etc.

[WCsweet<3]

Two of my roommates have Americanized names.
Han Keul became Bella. It looks like an easy name, but she says I never pronounce it correctly.
Chia Lin is Erin. I used the name once and she said to neer use her Chinese name.
The third roommate goes by Mai, but her name is Maiko and is pretty easy.

Their last names are all pretty easy. I get in trouble with the first names, however I grew up with a lot of Asians in my community so maybe I am just use to the names.

[PM_Mama00]

Originally Posted by AGDee

That is what happened with my grandparents, Vincenzo and Ignazia. My grandfather stated his name as Vincenzo and could sign his name, but they said "We'll call you Jim". His name is correct on the ship's manifest. They made my grandmother "Nancy" and her first name is also correct on the ship's manifest. Her last name is the really crazy part though. Half the family is Tirrito and half is Tirrita. So, for family reunions, they made it Tirrit@. On the manifest from the ship, it's Eirrita so it took us a long time to find them. My uncle did some research with the Sons & Daughters of Sicily out of Chicago and settled the last name issue one and for all. It is Tiritto. There were no surnames of Tirrita in Sicily. I think it's a stretch to call it a lack of education when it is truly a language barrier. They didn't know how to spell in English when they first came, but they certainly knew how to spell in Italian. They are understandable errors but both of grandparents could write their names so I don't understand why they didn't just have people do that.

My grandparents had easy names... Filippa (ok not so easy and SHOULD have been my name), Rosolino, Salvatore, Caterina. I still love the name Vincenzo (I have an uncle on each side). Jim is a really weird translation. I'm surprised they didn't just say "Vince". Isn't Enza translated to Nancy? Ignazia is pretty similar. I still like calling my mom Girolama even though she hates it and is why she changed it. And another sidenote: My mom found all of their manifest papers and it is the coolest thing to see! I also got to see the trunk they used to come over. It's huge and super heavy.

I don't like my name being Americanized. I've never liked the name Phyllis and thought Filippa was nicer and more ethnic, but since my aunt and uncle set the precedent to Americanize it, the last 3 of us got stuck with it.