On the first day of classes, Parsons professors often ask their new students if they have a preferred name, as they go down the attendance list. As American students raise their hands to provide shortened nicknames, many international students will raise their hands to provide “American” names.
International students at The New School sometimes complain about professors and other students mispronouncing their names. The Parsons student body is 47 percent international, according to data collected by the New School in Fall 2014. Therefore, there is a lot of room for error in the form of garbled monikers by native English speakers. For this reason and more, many foreign students adopt Western names for Americans to call them.
The Free Press spoke to several international students who have adopted additional names to fit in with the cultural norm of their peer groups.
Beyond Bi (Bi Yuncong), 25, China
Bi, a junior in fashion design, got his English name of “Beyond” at seven, in his grade school English class. It is common in China and other Asian countries for children to get an English name to be called in their English language class. Often a teacher will name his or her students, but in Bi’s case, his parents came up with his English moniker. It was inspired by Beyond, an ‘80s Hong Kong rock group. Beyond also stuck with him because the spelling resembled his birth name. Bi believes having an English name opens doors and facilitates conversations that maybe have been obstructed by a Chinese name that is difficult for English speakers to pronounce.
“The meaning evokes a sense of motivation, going further, going beyond…Beyond is more like a stage name, a brand name for me.”
Min Woo Kim (previously Stephen Kim), 23, South Korea
If you’ve met Kim, a junior majoring in fashion design, you wouldn’t know him by any name other than Min, but he didn’t always go by his birth name. At age nine, Min was given the name of Eric by his English tutor and then at age thirteen, he moved to America and a friend helped him chose the name Stephen. By high school, his social identity got even more misconstrued when people began calling Kim ‘Stefen’
due to a mispronunciation. Upon starting college at The New School, Kim introduced himself as Min once again. He was thinking of branding and merchandising for his career and admitted he hated the name Stephen or Stefen. He also said it was very confusing having several names and different people calling him by different ones.
“I’m Min so why would I need an easier or another name for people to call me. I’d want people around me to remember me as Min.”
Noni Zhang (Zhang Yuzhu), 20, China
Zhang, a sophomore in Fashion Design, was given the unique name of Noni by her English teacher when she was six years old. Her family calls her by her birth name, Yuzhu, and Noni is just like a nickname. Zhang said she felt no pressure to change her name to connect with Western culture.
“I like [Noni] because I don’t see a lot of people with that name.”
Roma Rakesh Menon (Xiao Cai & Su Ae), 20, India
Menon, a junior majoring in fashion design, was born in India but moved to Singapore at age eight and grew up there for the majority of her childhood. For that reason, she adopted a Chinese moniker, Xiao Cai, meaning a “colorful sunny disposition.” Since moving to America, Menon has taken Korean classes and was given a Korean name by the professor. She introduces herself based on what language she is speaking, but never felt the need to have an “English name,” as Roma felt natural to her. When she first arrived in Singapore, she was surprised that many of her friends there had English names. Menon has recently started taking Japanese and says she will take on a Japanese moniker as well, once she becomes more fluent.
“I wouldn’t say I identify myself as one specific culture. I guess ‘cause I’m a third culture kid. I recognize myself as many cultures put into me and then here I am. [Having multiple names from different cultures] feels very me.”
Molly San Liu (Liu Anrui), 21, China
Liu, a junior majoring in illustration, was born in Los Angeles to Chinese parents, who named their daughter Molly San, an English first name and a Greek middle name. However, when she was six months old, her family moved back to China and they decided that Liu also needed a Chinese name. Originally, her parents were going to name her Eric instead of Molly, but decided that was too masculine. However, ‘Eric’ inspired her Chinese name, Anrui. Lui says she identifies more with her birth name, despite it being from a different culture. It also helps that her family calls her Molly.
Interestingly, Lui’s American birth name connects her to another culture, other than her own or Western. “Because I love Japanese culture — there is also a word in Japanese called ‘molly’ that means ‘the forest’ — I kind of like that.”
Tom Nguyen (Viet Hung Nguyen), 24, Vietnam
Nguyen, a junior in fashion design, was given the name Tom at age five by his mother, who simultaneously gave his sister the name Jerry. The two would frequently get into sibling fights almost everyday
while watching “Tom and Jerry.” According to Nguyen, it is common for children to be given nicknames in Vietnam and other Asian countries, but it is very uncommon for those nicknames to be English ones. While in high school, Nguyen went by his birth name, Hung, but once coming to the United States for college, he returned to using his nickname of Tom, as it was easy to remember.
There is another reason, Nguyen prefers Tom over Hung. “I’m gay and in gay communities, ‘hung’ means something really bad, so I got lots of trouble. So many guys hit on me because they thought my name was really interesting. So, I said nevermind, I’ll go by Tom.”
Allie is the News Editor for the Free Press. She is a super senior finishing her fifth year as a Journalism & Design student at Lang and a Fashion Design student at Parsons. She also covers local news for the Staten Island Advance and writes about issues within the fashion industry for a not-for-profit online publication. A native New Yorker, Allie now calls Brooklyn home, where she resides with an orange cat and a pint of coffee ice cream hidden in her freezer at all times.
