What's in a name?

One of the first things I noticed after arriving in China, was that the students in our school adopted some very strange English names. I used to think that it was wrong to take on an English name if you are from another culture. I thought it was akin to eating hamburgers instead of a local dish like noodles or watching Friends on TV instead of... oh I don't know... instead of doing something less American. I used to think it was a sign of English imperialism. I used to think it was a sign of being consumed by a dominant culture. But maybe I`m wrong.

Now I'm getting sort of used to the idea, and many of the Chinese names are so hard to pronounce that an English name makes it much easier for me. Maybe I have warmed to the idea partly because the Chinese typically do not choose your typical English name. They choose English names that are distinctly Chinese. The Daves, Johns and Marys are few and far between. They have been replaced with names like Apple and Zero and Grass.

I have been making a list of the interesting Chinese names I have heard. Now if I could only find it.... Well, here are some of the interesting names I've heard:

Apple
Cherry
Orange
Fat Joe (he likes rap music)
Morning (a guy!)
Rambo (a skinny guy!)
Kathy (she can't say 'th', comes out like Kacey)
Grass
Rainbow
Echo
January (she was born in....)
Vivi (and you x-Coreleans thought there was only one Vivi in the world!)
Zero
Even
Miracle
Smile
Haze
Queenie
Ice Cream
Hymen (I`m not making this up)
Boner (Really, I`m not!)
Snow
Summer

I`ve been facinated with these names since I arrived and in talking to the students I`ve learned a few things that may shed some light on their choices. In China a person`s name can come from words such as beautiful or lovely or echo. In fact you can take two words that you like and take a written symbol from each, combine them together and form a name. It works. I think they try to do the same in English, however since we don`t have the same system of writing, they cannot mix and match like they do in Chinese so they just pick one nice word. I`m not sure if they pick the name based on what it means or how it sounds. I suspect some do one and some do the other. Sometimes I think they pick a word because it sounds like their Chinese name. Whatever the reason, I like it! I`ve been here for three months and I am still coming across new and interesting names.