Naming Multicultural Babies

Objections to Multiple Names 

1. Changing your child's name or having multiple names is confusing to friends and family. Rarely is there a clean cultural division among your friends, family, and acquaintances.
2. Having an odd name can build character. You can't protect your child from all teasing and bullying, nor should you. Generally, the reason parents give their children more common or more easily pronounced names is so that they will "fit in." A parent's goal shouldn't be to raise unexceptional wall-flowers who are afraid to stand out of the crowd, but rather children who respect themselves and their cultural heritage.
3. Am I missing an important point? Let me know by posting in the guest book or e-mailing me using the contact link in the right tool bar.

In Defense of Multiple Names 

1. I've had many Taiwanese and Chinese people tell me that they hate how English-speakers butcher their names. My wife's name, for example, contains a sound that doesn't exist in the English language (the Mandarin Chinese aspirated "r"), so when we were living in the United States, nobody could pronounce it unless they practiced Chinese pronunciation. She hated the way American's pronounced her name and didn't want to have to hear it anymore. The best solution to naming our baby might be to find a name that sounds good in both Chinese and English. But it is hard to find a good Chinese name that sounds nice in English and doing so may mean compromising on other important naming considerations such as local beliefs, family tradition, and what our preference would be if we didn't need to consider how it would sound to Americans.
2. If your child's name is difficult to pronounce and remember, it could have a negative professional impact. By this, I don't mean due to racism or ethnic bigotry. Changing your name will do little to help with that and I would never advocate changing your name to make chauvinists happy. What I mean is that a very difficult name makes it more uncomfortable for people to do business with you and much harder for you to stick in their mind. This is a very personal choice for anyone doing business. I certainly respect people who refuse to change their name for business or making life more comfortable for themselves, but I also respect a person's decision to change their name for the same reason.
   
   I have little patience, however, with people who are overly self-righteous on this point and expect everyone to make strong efforts to get their name right. If you are my friend, a customer, or someone else that I care about for business or personal reasons I will certainly make that effort (it is only polite and a good business practice). But if you are a stranger trying to sell me something or convince me to do something, don't get upset by the fact that I haven't studied thousands of languages and am not inclined to give a whole lot of time to getting your name right.
   
   I don't expect people in Taiwan to get the English pronunciation of my name right and I don't mind using the Chinese translation of my name. If the Chinese translation of my English name was very difficult to remember and say for most Taiwanese, or if it sounded like a bad joke, I would simply select a more standard Chinese name.
3. Who says we have to use one name at one time our entire lives? In many cultures today or in the past, it was common for people to have multiple names for various purposes or phases in their lives (pen names, honorific names, religious names, and names for coming of age, the death of a parent, etc.) I see no reason why using multiple names should be objectionable in anyway.
4. Am I missing an important point? Let me know by posting in the guest book or e-mailing me using the contact link in the right tool bar.

Name Humor 

• Multicultural naming issues do not always arise from language differences. For example, I had an American acquaintance a while back named "Randy Geuy" (last name pronounced like "guy"). I never thought of it until another friend's Australian girlfriend heard the name and thought that we were joking. In Australia and England, "randy" means "horny" (i.e. sexually aroused). So to her, his name had the same effect that naming someone "Horny Guy" would have on an American hearing it.
• Another story related to multicultural, not language, differences is a friend named "Darcy." Nothing wrong with that name...except that he is a man and lives in the United States where Darcy is almost exclusively used for women. From what I've read, Darcy is a perfectly fine name for men in Ireland. Darcy claims that having an unusual name has made him a stronger person and says that he would never think of changing it.
• On the Forumosa thread (Click Here to Read) discussing naming children in mixed English/Chinese speaking households, QuincyQ suggests that before you select a name, try it out in front of a group of children.
  
  He writes:
  
  "p.s. I know my name is almost like KFC ['Kentucky Fried Chicken', ed.] backwards... I found that out after I offically [sic.] changed it and they warned me I couldn't change again.... Advice, if you are picking a new Chinese name (for yourself or your children) give the name to a class of kids to try out for a week... see if they can come up with anything funny. Nobody, teacher, wife, friends thought about the KFC connection until I told it to my first class and in 10 seconds they had made it. Sad Oh well."
• One reader reports a story about an American named Jeff who ran into problems with his name while participating in a study abroad program in Latin America. In Spanish there is no hard "J" sound like there is in English. Spanish speakers really struggled with his name and could only pronounce it as "Yeff". Some got so sick of trying to pronounce his name that they instead called him "Jefe". This in Spanish
  means "boss". Jeff was just fine with this change.
• "Connie" (an American) writes: "While I was in Guatemala there was a little boy in the family I was staying with who spoke very little Spanish as he was only three years old and being an indigenous family they only spoke Kachiquel in the house. He really
  struggled with my name, which is usually pronounced 'Kohnee' in Spanish. He kept trying to say my name 'Ka...Ka...' and finally gave up and called me 'Toucan' instead."
• "Connie" (who seems to be quite the world traveler) also writes: "In Korea [where she was teaching English] the kids thought my name was funny and would call me 'Kong Knee', a combination of the Korean word for elbow (kong) and the English word 'knee'. They thought they were so clever that they discovered my name could be
  'elbow-knee'." Editor's note: another example of how presenting a proposed name to a class of elementary school kids can be enlightening.
• Connie also points out a name that doesn't work
  well in English but is popular in Spanish. "This name is Jesus (in Spanish it is pronounced Hay-zeus). It is just strange in English to name your child Jesus." Editors note: I wonder if the "strangeness" of the name "Jesus" depends on where in the USA you live? See, my notes on the "USA Name Map", below.

Naming Baby on the Go! 

Software for mobile moms and Pocket PC papas

1. PALM
   
   Heybaby. Heybaby is your complete pregnancy tracking companion. Heybaby allows you to easily monitor your pregnancy progress, helps you pick baby names, plus a host of other useful information and tools. Perfect for the soon to be Mom and Dad." Include fun tools like a Chinese Birthing Chart, collection of Wives Takes, and favorite baby names list.
   
   American Baby On-the-Go. The "Baby Namer" is only one part of the feature-rich program. It contains everything you need to help prepare for your baby during pregnancy . Comes with free PC software so that you can synchronize and back up your data.
   
   
   
   
2. WINDOW MOBILE POCKET PC
   
   Baby Names 5000. "Baby Names 5000 comes with over 5000 baby names. Most of them have origin information, all of them have meaning information. You can also flag all the names that you like and want to remember and keep them on a favorites list. You can also add and maintain your own names. There is also a handy find feature where you can type in a name and pull up the info."
   
   Click here to get the version for the POCKET PC MIPS processor; click here to get the version for the POCKET PC SH3 processor; and click here to get the version for the POCKET PC Arm processor
   
   AmericanBaby On-the-Go for PPC w/ FREE PC v2.0. This feature-rich application help you track your pregnancy with advice and tips from the experts at American Baby. It includes a baby name tool as well as a weekly checklist, budget, mom's organizer, pregnancy guide, and more!
   Heybaby. Heybaby is your complete pregnancy tracking companion. Heybaby allows you to easily monitor your pregnancy progress, helps you pick baby names, plus a host of other useful information and tools. Perfect for the soon to be Mom and Dad." Include fun tools like a Chinese Birthing Chart, collection of Wives Takes, and favorite baby names list.
   
   Baby Names. Merchant description: "If you're looking for a baby name, this has over 1500 to choose from complete with meanings. To make life easier, you can also make a short list of chosen names."
   
   Hindu Baby Names. Merchant description: "If you're looking for a Hindu baby name, this has over 2800 to choose from complete with meanings. To make life easier, you can also make a short list of chosen names."
3. Note, all of the above software for hand-held devices is available on Handango, a cornucopia of software titles for palmtop and smartphone enthusiasts. Click on the image below to check it out: