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Asian folks, how often do you see other Asian people switching to European names while they already have a name? (self.theasiandiaspora)
submitted 11 months ago by to c/theasiandiaspora@piefed.social
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Random thought that I had the other day: I meant an Asian guy at a random event, he presented himself with a very local name (imagine Jan in Germany), and we discuss a bit (turns out his parents are from Guangzhou) , but later on when I checked his LinkedIn he actually has a very Chinese-sounding name (he doesn't speak Mandarin, he told me his parents spoke another language).

I then remembered that I have a couple of cousins in their mid 20s which are now switching to European names on their social media profiles.

Not sure how to feel about it, I've always been proud of my Vietnamese first name, it never really crossed my mind to change to a European one.

However I'm lucky that my parents picked one that is simple to pronounce and read (and Vietnamese names can be though on that regard), so I guess if indeed my name was always butchered I might want to change it to something easier to get for the majority of the people I would encounter in my daily life.

What do you think? Have you seen similar situations around you?

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[–] 1 point 4 months ago

Heh. Many Thais, particularly women, have a Western name. I've met too many people who refer to themselves as "Bee", "Apple", and "Mari/y/e", and when I ask them their birth name, some get squirrely about revealing it. Personally, I would prefer calling someone "Noo", "Lek (Thai for 'small', written as เล่น)", "Oy", "Som", "Pook", or "Porn" (yes, that's a legit name in Thailand!) than a European name, but I also understand the constant butchering and confused stares would get annoying, hence the choice for a simple name.

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