EAST ASIANS: Why do you all change your names to English names?
466635
I don't have an answer but I'd like to share with you my experience of this.I recently worked at a local building society and a co worker of mine was Chinese.He told me he was called Ben but that it wasn't his real name,He'd changed his name to sound more 'westernized '.out of 'feminine curiosity' I asked him his real name,expecting something UN pronounceable............"LEE", was his reply !!!!!
1101845
me japan english no lol
543418
Why do the others have their given name first? :)\nI have a theory... Many family names come from the place where you live. In English, for example, you say Richard of York. In Hungarian because of the grammar you say Yorki Richard. This can be a reason.
284277
In the US, people say Chinese-American, or Italian-American, or whatever.\n\nThe only exception I can think of is that Chinese-Americans sometimes want to distinguish between Chinese people born in China and those born in America.  So they call the ones born in America "ABC" for American-born Chinese".\n\nEthnically Chinese people also have this idea that, no matter where you are born, you are always Chinese first.  Regardless of citiizenship, passport, where you actually live, etc.  But that's a peculiarity of Chinese people, not of American English.
617705
If he/she is afriend why would you want to remove your real name
654028
Not me, I wouldn't change it cuz its the name my mom and dad gave me when i was born...my name is my given name. I love it. If i ever changed it, I would never get used to it.
626216
Yes, but I prefer to be called English!
471222
Oh is a common surname in Korea and there are similar names in Japan. Korean & Japanese are both thought to originate in China though, and there are surnames in China which are similar too eg. Or and Au. Also be aware of "same" surnames (the Korean/Japanese/Chinese character is the same) but different English spellings because of variations in dialects, language and pronunciation.
642259
One of the problems you may encounter is that sometimes immigrants changed their names in the new country.  For example, in John Jake's book "Homeland" he tells the story of a German immigrant family to the US named 'Kronin', who upon arriving in the US changed their name to 'Crown'.  The name 'Delbrey' could have been made up.  I know a person who was of Hungarian ancestry, and I believe the original name may have been something like 'Fulke', after a divorce changed her name from Shaeffer to 'Folk'.  So you see the problems in trying to trace things like this can be overwhelming.  Unless you have some record of the family line going way back it could be a very difficult search indeed.
750262
One thing to remember is that because we name children with any character or any of the two characters put together, we don't have lists of men's names or women's names. You can say that Chinese people actually "invent" names!\n\nWhen parents name their children, it usually depends on either \n1. fortuneteller's suggestion\n2. what happened or under what condition they are born\n3. what they hope their children to be in the future or\n4. what personality they hope their children to have\n\nI think you can add this fact in your novel if you like. It can be a very good factor of a conflict.\n\nShen Huan is a good name, as Shen (沈) is really a Chinese surname, and there are characters pronounced "huan".\n\nIf Chloe is raised in the UK, I think you can give her a name that implies "China" or "Chinese culture", since many overseas Chinese parents don't want their children to "forget their roots", meaning to lose their own culture (the Chinese culture) and forget their true idendity (that they are Chinese). Names like 思中 (Si Zhong) and 思華 (Si Hua) (both of which mean "thinking about China") are of this kind.
1115764
are we supposed to say    "you"  cause of your name??
616021
i'm chinese.........in China........u'll say last name then first name.........example: steve nash would be nash steve.
660235
If you want to change your name, change it! Who cares what the old man thinks! It's not like he's around much, right? You are going to be an adult soon and you need to start making your own decisions. Change your name if you want to, otherwise, why bother?
806159
because its by english
1032405
Unless you're made of porcelain, put "Chinese".  Actually, you can just put the generic "Asian", unless they specifically request differently.
1053854
That question is as dangerous as asking "Why do we need other races? Isn't it just a waste of humanity?".\nEach language shows a different reality. Each of them expresses things in a different way. Why would I like to use English to say love words to my wife when English is so poor at that?\nNot everyone speaks English. Not even in your own country. It is not the language most of people in the world speaks. Maybe it is the one with more students. But.. then.. why would the rest of the world would like to give up their own culture to adopt English? that's just an absurd thing.\nFrom your question, I asume you speak ONLY English. Then you are missing a lot.\n(lol and.. by the way.. for foreigners [talking from the American or British or Australian, etc. point of view] English IS a foreign language)
772578
Oh gods, yes. And yes, part of that is just a general reluctance to embrace change, which is a natural part of all of us; but a larger part is bitter experience. Ever since the advent of spelling checkers, we've had to endure people who can't tell "too" from "to", let alone "accent" from "assent" and the like. I dread the day (and I know it's coming) when I'll get a business memo that uses "ur" and "pls" and "b4".\n\nFor those that argue that these sorts of things increase the flexibility of the English language, I think that's an incorrect conclusion. Borrowing words, or inventing new ones by mashing together parts of existing words, has a long tradition in English, and is the main reason our language has such a large and nuanced vocabulary. Textspeak and other entropic practices do the opposite: people end up using fewer words, and worse, using the few words they know incorrectly. \n\nThere's flexibility, and then there's sloppiness. Let's try not to confuse the two.