Nice Work, WINKY!

Article Tools

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

On a cold, gray morning in China's Hunan province, I met a Unicorn. And then a Pepsi and a Strawberry. Next, an Angel King, and a No Foot Bird. These middle school students all stood around me in their red-white-and-blue uniforms, smiling sweetly, launching questions like cannon fire.

Do you like basketball?

'Well, Jackrary, I am actually very bad at sports . . . '

Do you watch Friends?

'Yes, Killer, sometimes I watch Friends-it's a pretty funny show!'

In American high school, do girls and boys go out on dates?

'It really depends, Small Bat. Some American teenagers date, but not all of them . . . '

What is your favorite thing in China?

Their eyes shone a little brighter in pride and expectation. I rattled off the standard litany of history, culture, food, but I thought to myself: 'Well, Fashion Words, at this moment it might just be your name.'

In the same way you might have been dubbed Dominique in a middle school French class, all the little Jiangs and Ziao Weis also get new monikers for their study of English. Yes, there is still an abundance of Janes and Jacks. But then there are the wild cards: Bison, Feeling, Lawyer Yo-Yo, Wiance, Blackhorse, Waterman, Shaq, None, Superdonkey, Beyond, Yuki Juice, Rubbin, Viva, Felix, Santemillion, Bear, Leg, Lala, Lalala, Icy Cat, Civic, Captain, Lettuce, Coker, Win Kids, Email, Renus, Vitality, Panday, Double, Landfill, Square, Jekyll, Snakie, Orange, Do Do, Shiny.

Despite the strangeness of these names, there is some method to the madness. For one thing, unlike the Pierres who were christened with a teacher-scrawled name card, the English students of China mainly pick their own names. And considering that they learn foreign languages sooner than Americans, this means 6-year-olds sometimes are left to choose their own names.

Diana Lin, a teacher at Zhongshan University in Guangzhou, recalls the self-chosen toddler names she encountered working at a Montessori preschool in Beijing: 'I had a Flying Tiger, Dragon, Happy, and Hamburger-from her Chinese name, Han Bao Bao [which happens to mean hamburger, too]-an unfortunate name for a cute little girl.' But the most popular name was Monkey King, inspired by the classic Chinese tale Journey to the West. 'I'll have to say it was rather fun running after a kid screaming, 'moooonkeeeeey kiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!! Come back, Monkey King!' '

The many Monkey Kings of Lin's class won't necessarily stay Monkey Kings. After a few years, they may move on to something else, perhaps equally as zany. Part of the fun of these names seems to be their malleability. While the students' Chinese names were chosen after much deliberation by a convocation of parents and grandparents, students can try on and then abandon English names as if they were trendy T-shirts. Like Han Bao Bao/Hamburger, some students do choose English names that are linked either by sound or meaning to their Chinese name-Tao ('cherry' in Chinese) becomes Cherry, Luo Man Xi becomes Romancy, Luo Yi becomes Roy (even if she is a girl). Most students, however, go with names that have little connection to their Chinese identity and are that much easier to mix, match, and trade in.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print