从李雷韩梅梅到丽萨杰克:取个好的英文名怎么那么难？
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“Hello how are you I’m fine thank you and you?” unCoVer 给各位读者呈上一句有声问候。上个世纪90年代英语教科书中的李雷和韩梅梅让人们深深怀念；总叫别人帮忙写信的英语作文钉子户李华也在2020年退出高考的舞台。用汉语拼音作“英文名”的TA们在层出不穷的丽萨、琳达、杰克们中似乎是一股清流，但也未完全成为过去式。“洋气”的英文名受着英语母语国家的深刻影响：它们来自美剧、来自偶像、来自外国朋友、更来自英语语言本身的优势与特权。中西文化加速交流的背景下，人们在“洋气”与个性中进行思考与挣扎：什么表现了“中国性”？什么又展示了开放性？最重要的是，如何表达多元、丰富而有趣的“我”？英文名则成为了一个简单而复杂的起点。
本期unCoVer为你呈现七位读者与英文名的故事，TA们来自不同背景，取英文名的缘由考虑也不尽相同。本文配合《和按摩技师聊天一场后，我写下这首诗》食用更佳。对各位真诚而勇敢的分享者，unCoVer想说：3Q！unCoVer也希望与更多的读者一起互动~
外研社小学英语课本人物｜Updated English textbook characters，图片来源：https://ss2.bdstatic.com/70cFvnSh_Q1YnxGkpoWK1HF6hhy/it/u=1356882643,2510607889&fm=26&gp=0.jpg
“Hello, how are you? I’m fine, thank you. And you?” Greetings from unCoVer~ These are among the first few sentences that almost all Chinese English learners start to speak. The names Li Lei and Han Meimei are no stranger to us, either. They are the main characters from the official English textbooks in the ‘90s, as well as a fond, nostalgic memory belonging to generations of Chinese English learners. However, it doesn’t take long to notice the subtle peculiarity of their English/Pinyin names, now that there are more and more Lisas, Lindas, and Jacks. These names with a more “foreign flair” are greatly influenced by English-speaking countries; they are from TV shows, celebrities, friends from other countries, but above all the dominance and privilege of the English language itself. Increased mobility and cultural communication between China and the West has posed important questions for people to ponder: What does “Chineseness” mean? What do tolerance and openness embody? And most importantly, how can one showcase their incredibly diverse and interesting “self” when various cultural forces intersect with each other? English names thus become a simple yet nuanced gateway to our more complex identities.
In this Issue, unCoVer presents to you seven name stories from our readers. Coming from different backgrounds, they have different reasons, considerations, and perspectives on their English names. Many are, not unexpectedly, bittersweet.
正文
1. Stella
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我的英文名叫Stella。记得最早的时候我并不是这个名字，那会小学英文补习班的老师给我安排了一个英文名叫Lisa，我的好朋友叫Linda；班上男孩好像还有叫David、Jack和John的。那是我们的90年代，7、8岁的孩子被叫着英文名都觉得自己挺酷的。但那会儿英文名还是只是班上使用，说实话我也不觉得当时每次被叫“Lisa”的时候是在叫我自己。后来，默默地被叫了”Lisa”若干年直到中学，我在听歌的时候听到了一个新加坡歌手叫Stella，就莫名地喜欢上了这个名字。查了查原来这个名字来自意大利语和拉丁语，意为“star”。太好了，我从小就喜欢星星，喜欢浩瀚神秘的宇宙，还特别喜欢黑夜。于是这个名字就一直陪伴着我到现在。
不过有意思的是，大学毕业以后，我到美国上学后拥有了一个“新名字”。开学的第一天，彼时的美国导师问我的名字，我理直气壮地回答了“My name is Stella”，可没想到教授竟然非常惊讶与不解，说我的名字与我的这个中国样子不搭，他还是建议我用自己的中文名Yan Xian。但他和同学们怎么都无法统一发出我名字的普通话发音，尤其在我教了TA们本人名字的粤语发音后就更加混乱了。于是，在国外留学的几年，同学老师都叫我中文名，但发音既不是我名字的普通话发音，也不是我母语的粤语发音，而发成了一个独特的只有老美能念出来的发音—— 一个发成“呀”一样的音。我的中文名成为了我在美国学校生活的代号，而私底下的朋友以及到今天一起工作的小伙伴都叫我Stella。如果你问我，哪个名字才是我呢？我会说它们代表了不同身份，不同时期，不同文化间交流碰撞后形成的那个多元的我。
来自油管Vox频道，视频名为“名字中到底有什么？有很多！” 鼓励学生礼貌纠正老师对学生名字的不正确发音
Screenshot from Vox video “What’s in a name? A lot, actually.” encouraging students to politely correct teachers’ inaccurate pronunciation of their names.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7I8gEhZfX4
My English name is Stella. I remember this wasn’t my first English name; back in primary school my English tutor gave me the name Lisa and called my friend Linda. I also remember some Davids, Jacks, and Johns in my class. That was in the ‘90s when kids aged seven or eight felt cool being called by their English names. Back then, the English names were for class only, and to be honest I never felt like people were referring to me when calling me “Lisa.” I went by that name until middle school, when I started listening to a Singaporean singer called Stella. I was somehow attracted to that name. After looking it up, I found it originated from Italian and Latin, meaning “star”. It was perfect -- in addition to my love for the night, I have loved stars and the vast, mysterious universe growing up. The name has stayed with me since.
Interestingly enough, I adopted a new name after graduating from college and pursuing education in the United States. On the first day of school, my American advisor asked for my name, to which I confidently replied, “My name is Stella.” To my surprise, the professor was astonished and confused, saying that the name did not match my Chinese appearance and suggested using my Chinese name, Yan Xian. He and the students never managed to agree on the Mandarin pronunciation of my name and it became worse when I tried to teach the Cantonese pronunciation. Therefore, during my years abroad, my fellow students and professors called me by my Chinese name, but pronounced it neither in the Mandarin nor the Cantonese way. Instead, they replaced it with a sound only Americans could come up with -- something similar to “ya”. My Chinese name became a code for my American school life, while all my friends and colleagues today call me Stella. If you ask me, “Which name is really yours?” I would say they represent my diverse “self” that has been forged through different identities, time periods, and cultures.
2. Viola
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我想来分享一个女儿的英文名。女儿叫Viola。在美待产的时候，先生希望我先挑选一下孩子的英文名字。于是我翻了美国人起名的词典，从A-Z好好找了个遍，找出了一些多少与音乐有关系的名字。本来首选Iris，但先生说和命运多舛的爱尔兰相关联，后就未考虑它。然后我俩就在Cecelia和Viola中纠结。先生喜欢前者，我想选后者。“Viola（中提琴）”作为乐器在音乐中出现得很多，但是作为名字好久都没有听到了。而Viola的词根还来源自“violet（紫罗兰）”，颜色中我就觉得紫罗兰好，神秘又娇艳。但说实话，那会真就不想选先生中意的名字，于是最后拍板了这个名字。
今天想想，我们俩应该等孩子出生再起名，起码还能感知一下她对哪个读音更有反应些。在美国，早期移民多用自己的中文拼音为名字，到了给二代、三代起名的时候似乎不假思索地就起了一个更在地的名字，于是一代又一代ABC（美籍华裔）从名字开始远离自己的中国属性。现在我的孩子在国内幼儿园上学，班里每一个小朋友都有一个英文名字，哪怕不是生于国外。小朋友们似乎特别自然地就叫起了对方的英文名。不过这些孩子估计还和那些离散的华人不同，他们被教育的很好，都说自己是骄傲的中国人。孩子们估计也还不知道许多英文名字，或那个叫Jenny的按摩师背后隐藏了多少不为人知的故事。
图片来源：http://www.jinboshi.cc/
I’d like to share the story of my daughter Viola’s English name. When I was pregnant and about to deliver in the United States, my husband wanted me to choose an English name for the child first. So I went through an American baby name dictionary from A to Z and ended up with a few names that are more or less related to music. The first choice had been Iris, but my husband said that the name was associated with ill-fated Ireland. Then we were struggling between Cecelia and Viola. “Viola”, as an instrument, appears a lot in music, but it has not been a popular name for a long time. And the root of “Viola” comes from the word “violet”. Among all colors, I feel that violet is the best one, mysterious and dainty. And to be honest, I didn't really want to choose the name picked out by my husband, so I made the final decision on this name.
Now when I look back, I think we should’ve waited for the baby to be born, at least to get a sense of which pronunciation she would be more responsive to. In the United States, early immigrants used their own Chinese pinyin as their name. But when it came to naming their second or third generations, they seemed to choose more local names without hesitation. Therefore, from something as small as names, ABCs (American-born Chinese) have begun to move away from their Chineseness generation after generation. Now, my daughter goes to a kindergarten in China. Every kid in her class, even if they weren’t born abroad, has an English name. They seem to use each other’s English names naturally. But I guess these children are different from those Chinese in the United States. They are well educated and perceive themselves as proud Chinese people. These children probably don’t know many English names yet; neither do they know the many hidden stories behind that masseuse named Jenny (referring to our previous issue “After a chat with the masseuse, I wrote down this poem.”).
3. Jam
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我的第一个英文名“Jam”是我上司给我取的，他说这比较女孩子。但之后我的行为和Jam这个词的含义相差倍远，每次和别人解释的英文名含义都会尬笑两声，后来这位上司走了，英文名留下来了。每次想起这个英文名的来源，都会想起初生牛犊不怕虎毕业就直冲冲去上海的自己。
I got my first English name “Jam” from my boss, who said it was more girlish. But my demeanor was far from the meaning of “Jam”. Every time I explained the meaning of my English name to other people, I couldn’t help laughing awkwardly. Later my boss left and the English name stayed. Now, whenever I think of the origin of this English name, memories come flooding back. This brave girl rushed straight to Shanghai upon graduation, just like a newborn calf that is not afraid of the tiger.
4. Dennis
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因为爸妈都是英语老师，英文名似乎甚至比我的中文名都早起好了，叫做Dennis，所以用起来很自然没有什么奇怪的（但有时很羡慕可以给自己选英文名的同学）。据父母说，TA们是在看了一部叫《淘气阿丹》（Dennis the Menace）的电影后，觉得那个主角男孩很可爱，于是给我取了这个名字。
Both my parents are English teachers, and they decided on the name Dennis even before my Chinese name. So there is virtually no awkwardness when I use it (but I’ve always envied my fellow friends who can pick English names for themselves). According to my parents, they watched this movie called Dennis the Menace and thought the boy was cute. The rest is history.
《淘气阿丹》｜Dennis the Menace 图片来源：https://www.amazon.com/Dennis-Menace-Anniversary-Walter-Matthau/dp/B01JH3KLTU
5. Jingyao
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我的英文名就是我的原名Jingyao。我马上大三，专业是西班牙语，辅修新闻学。小学的时候，我的英语老师给了我一个英文名叫Julie（茱莉）。但是我不喜欢这个名字，因为我们班上有个同学叫Romeo（罗密欧）。现在我在学校有一个西班牙名字，叫做Eloísa。
I just go with my original name Jingyao. I am majoring in Spanish with a minor in journalism. When I was in primary school my English teacher named me Julie but I disliked it because I had a classmate named Romeo. Now in university I have a Spanish name, Eloísa. :)
6. Huiyin
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刚上高中的时候，我曾给自己取了一个英文名叫Aurora，它象征着北极光和希腊神话中的曙光女神（这听起来好像特别自恋哈哈）。但是后来我去芬兰交换学习的那年激励了我用我的中文拼音Huiyin（徽音）作为英文名，去重新连结我名字背后厚重丰富的文化内涵。“徽音”的意思是令闻美誉，是我父母从中国现存最古老的诗集《诗经》里面挑选出来的。从那之后，我就一直用Huiyin作为英文名了。
Upon entering high school I had given myself an English name, Aurora, which means northern lights and the goddess of dawn in Greek mythology (it sounds super narcissistic). But my exchange year in Finland inspired me to use my Chinese Pinyin name, Huiyin, to reconnect with the rich cultural meanings behind it -- it means "virtuous reputation," selected by my parents from 《诗经》(Shijing), the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry. And I have gone with Huiyin ever since then.
中文音译英文名字｜Chinese transliteration of English names
图片来源：https://www.yoyochinese.com/blog/learn-mandarin-chinese-how-not-to-choose-a-chinese-name-transliteration
7. Chunhao
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很长一段时间我更常用英文名字Vincent。直到18年去景德镇待了一段时间。大家都叫我春豪，就渐渐习惯了。
去年决定不用英文名字了，在非汉语的环境中就用Chunhao。转折点是一次参加学校的讲座，嘉宾是美国人。提问环节大家先自我介绍。一连几个都是Hi, my name is ___. (某个英文名）I’m from New York or somewhere in America.（我来自纽约或美国的某个地方） 突然感觉这个环境非常的美国中心。之后就想如何更好地纪念我的中国性。于是决定退休英文名字。
这之后和中国同事、朋友在一起的时候，有些人还是习惯性地叫我Vincent或者文森特。对特别好的朋友而言，这样的称呼其实是对“我是谁”的印证和认可。因为过去这十多年，见证彼此生活中的种种时，我的名字就是Vincent/文森特。名字与经历本身不可分割，改名字似乎否定了那段过去，让他们叫我Chunhao可能会突然有一种陌生感，我自己也会觉得别扭。
离开了学校的环境，有时遇到外国人还是会说漏嘴，边握手边就Vincent了。虽然事后有时会说，Chunhao is great if it’s not too hard. (如果发音不太困难的话，“春豪”其实就很好。）回想当初很多人起英文名应该也是为了让对方好记、好念吧。我的姓是钱Qian，几乎从来没有美国人念对甚至是拼对。每次我说Q-I-A-N对方都会说QU- and? 在英文中，习惯性地Q的后面都会有U。甚至在学校的电话系统中我的姓氏都是错误的QIEN。看来美国人少了Q之后的U就无所适从了……至于读音，Kuan, Kian, 好一点的是Chan。总之，习惯就好！我甚至会把他当成一个乐趣，每次等待别人叫我姓氏的时候都充满惊喜，不知道这次会是什么。
最后想感谢一下纵容我自由改名的可爱的人们！TA们如果不小心说漏嘴又冒出了Vincent还会给我道歉……背后对个体的充分尊重高尚而可爱。如果说我自己从整个变化中收获了什么，那就是行动是赋予人力量的。我想要庆祝自己的个性，就这么去做了。在这个行动和实验的过程中，我也更清楚地感受到了自己身份本身的多元性。
来自油管Vox频道，视频名为“名字中到底有什么？有很多！”，文字中文翻译：
“你的名字本身并不难，只是我还没有学会如何念你的名字，但我正在努力，因为你很重要。”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7I8gEhZfX4
For the longest time, I preferred to use the English name Vincent. In 2018, I stayed in Jingdezhen (a city in Jiangxi Province) for some time, where everyone called me Chunhao, and I gradually got used to it.
Last year I decided to drop the English name and just use Chunhao in non-Chinese environments. The turning point was when I attended a lecture at a college that had an American guest speaker. In the Q&A session, everyone introduced themselves first. The phrase "Hi, my name is ___ (an English name) I’m from New York (or somewhere in America)" went many times in a row. Suddenly I felt that this environment was very American-dominant. Then I thought about how to better celebrate my Chineseness. So I decided to retire my English name.
After that, when I was with my Chinese colleagues and friends, some people still called me Vincent out of habit. For really close friends, such a name is actually a confirmation and recognition of who I am. For the past ten years, as we witnessed each other’s lives, my name has been Vincent. After all, the name is inseparable from the experience itself. Changing my name seems to negate the past. Asking them to call me Chunhao suddenly feels strange, and I even get awkward myself.
After leaving school, I sometimes still introduce myself as Vincent -- an innocent slip of the tongue. Occasionally I would add, "Chunhao is great if it's not too hard". In retrospect, perhaps many people use English names to make memorizing and pronouncing their names easier. My last name is Qian, and almost no American has ever pronounced it correctly or even spelled it correctly. Every time I say Q-I-A-N, they would reply, QU- and? Even in the work phone system, my last name is the incorrect spelling "QIEN." It seems that Americans are at a loss if Q isn't followed by U... As for pronunciation, it’s Kuan, Kian, or somewhat better, Chan. Overall, I have just gotten used to it! I even think of it as a kind of pleasure: every time I wait for someone to pronounce my last name, I am ready for a surprise, not knowing what it will be this time.
Finally, I want to thank the lovely people who tolerated my wilful name change! They would even apologize to me if they accidentally called me Vincent... The utter respect for an individual behind this gesture is noble and lovely. If I have gained anything from this experiment, it is that concrete action empowers people. I had wanted to celebrate my identity, and so I did. Through my course of action, I have also felt more clear about the diversity of my identity.
「 编辑 」Maggie
「 翻译 」Sandy, Dennis
「 校对 」Carly, Rayna
「 排版 」Linlin
往期阅读 ▼
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