The Asian Diaspora

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A community for Asian people around the world to share their cultures, news, life stories.

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WongKaKui@quokk.au

Saigon@piefed.social

Asian folks, how often do you see other Asian people switching to European names while they already have a name? (quokk.au)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by Saigon@quokk.au 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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[–] mintiefresh@piefed.ca 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I feel a bit of sadness whenever I see a western name but I also understand why people do that. I am also very proud to have a Vietnamese first name and no english name. But unfortunately it also means not a lot of people spell my name correctly so even getting a coffee is sometimes amusing.

I think it's just a consequence of growing up in a different country. I think things are better now than they were 20-30 years ago and I am noticing more people using their names in their native language instead of a western name.

[–] Saigon@quokk.au 4 points 1 month ago

Yes, the coffee/pizza ordering can be quite wild sometimes ha ha.

Indeed, things are better now than 20 years ago for sure!

[–] WongKaKui@piefed.social 4 points 1 month ago

Lol. For restaurants, I'd just make up a random localized name that I'd never use.

Not giving a store my real name lmfao. Fuck the tracking.