North Texas Republican asks Asian-Americans to change their names

[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.