The Name Game

Ever wondered how an Asian/foreigner picks their English name?

The reason I bring this up is that one of my students, named Julie, put up her hand in class today and told me that she wanted to change her name. I didn't want her to do this because I like the name Julie but I allowed it because in the end it is her name. (Truth be told I was also a little worried she was going to change it to Sarah or Jenny. You have no idea how popular these names are here. In one class we are up to Sarah4 and a class without at least one Jenny is unheard of). Well what did little Julie want to change her name to.......wait for it.....it is beautiful....OK, enough suspense... ESTHER! Now please tell me you know any Esther's under 80 (or even any that are still among the living for that matter)? I sure don't. I actually had to stop myself from laughing out loud at this and all class whenever I looked at her I couldn't help but thinking about hip replacements and the Golden Girls. I guess it is not a far stretch from all the other old person names the kids have: Eunice, Joe, Cathy etc... or the totally bizarre names like Everton.

Speaking of funny name changes, two girls changed their names today to Paris and Nicole (Hilton and Ritchie, I'm sure). Wonder if they have any idea how stupid these two Americans are? I asked their teacher if they were friends and he said, "Best friends," so I guess they probably don't know that the real-life due has gone Splitsville. Also today, one of my kids, Tony, told me he was changing his name to Lampard after the British soccer player (Frank Lampard). I refused.

Before I came to Korea, my cousin told me about one of her friends who quite enjoyed naming his students because he gave them lovely names....like Beavis. Although I think this is hilarious, I don't quite have the heart to do it myself. Also we don't have many really young kids so by the time they get to our school, the majority already have names, however, there is the odd exception. My first naming experience came on Monday and it was sort of exciting! I was picking a word that this person would be called by for the rest of her life (at least in English class). I thought long and hard and the girl reminded me of a friend from school so I chose the nice, modern name of Amber (also this is unique to the school). Later on I found out that this is similar to a bad Korean word (amburro) and so she had decided to go with Nancy instead. Ah well....at least its not another Esther!