Why are old fashioned names popular with Chinese parents for children?

[wannabechinaman]

A few years ago I knew a Chinese woman who ran a restaurant and she had an adorable little girl named Sharon, which isn't a name you hear very often for a young person.

If a young girl/woman is named Wendy, Cheryl, Sharon, Tammy or Vivian there's a very good chance she is Chinese or has Chinese parents. Do you think it's because these names are sort of similar phonetically to a lot of Mandarin characters?

I guess it might also have to do with the fact they might have outmoded ideas about what are popular names in the West due to old movies songs etc they knew from the West back in China (if such things were even available prior to the 90s).

[Demonic_Duck]

I often wonder about this myself, although I wouldn't have thought of "Sharon" or "Cheryl" in particular as old-fashioned. It seems when Chinese people choose English names for themselves, they don't give much thought to which names are actually used by native English speakers, let alone which ones are commonly in contemporary usage. I've seen my fair share of Dorises and Veras, and an absurdly large number of Angels, Cindies and Cherries (nothing wrong with these, except that they're like 100x more common here than back home).

Anyway, here's a cross-section of some of the more unusual ones I've come across:

Watermelon (I've taught 2 children with this name); Cake (cutest little girl ever); Baby (a boy); Fish (this was a grown man, his Chinese name was 鱼); Ocean (also a grown man); Shortage (ironically enough, a rather short child, he pronounced it this way but spelt it "Shatage" which if anything is even worse); Run (a boy); Offer (a girl); Arthur (a woman); Pony, Panda, Hippo (all boys).

I always wonder whether the majority of these names come from the parents, the kids themselves, unwitting sales staff at English teaching institutions, Google translations of things my child likes, or elsewhere.

Getting back to the question of old-fashioned names though, my personal suspicion is that they go on naming websites and look for a name that they like the sound and meaning of, without giving any thought as to whether or not it's commonly used these days. Quite likely there are Chinese websites that exist for the purpose of finding English names, which may compound the issue if they're run by people who themselves don't live in an English speaking environment.

[imron]

Getting back to the question of old-fashioned names though, my personal suspicion is that they go on naming websites and look for a name that they like the sound and meaning of

Highly unlikely if you consider the number of adult people with such names and the date when Internet usage became widespread.

[OneEye]

Makes me think of

.

I've known a Noodles, a Lemon (she was Noodles' girlfriend, appropriately enough), a Pudding, a QQ (does this mean "chewy" in China, or is it a Taiwan thing? She had puffy cheeks, so it worked), among others. But there are a lot of Vivians, Wendys, Veras, Sarahs, Sharons, etc. I've never thought of those names (except maybe Vera) as being old-fashioned, and actually prefer them to a lot of the names Americans are using these days. Uh-oh. I think that means I'm old (-fashioned).

A friend of mine was teaching a guy who didn't have an English name yet. The conversation went like this:

Friend: So what do you want your English name to be?

無名氏: John.

Friend: No, there are too many Johns. (which I just realized is a funny sentence in itself)

無名氏: Oh. How about Polar Bear?

Friend: No. How about John?

John: OK!

But I have this sneaking suspicion that some of the ridiculous names are the result of foreign English teachers trying to see just how much they can get away with.

[Demonic_Duck]

Highly unlikely if you consider the number of adult people with such names and the date when Internet usage became widespread.

Fair point. Maybe before the advent of widespread internet usage it was simply books of baby names? Really I'm just going on what people use/used to use in English speaking countries (albeit with a fair bit more idea as to what was appropriate).

[tysond]

The Onion noted this phenomenon in 1999....

http://www.theonion.com/articles/most-popular-us-baby-names,7296/

[Ruben von Zwack]

I'd guess the answer lies in prominent figures like Vera Wang, Sharon Stone. Or, another iconic American, Cindy Crawford. Even if those people's names aren't in fact the norm, they are the ones who stand out and represent American culture to the (world) public.

Vivian and Vera are almost Chinese names to me - not because of their sound quality, but because I'll automatically expect a family name like "Wang".

Outmoded is a bit of a negative judgement though, isn't it? I find those names cute. Is it really preferrable to be named after a federal state, or a dish?

[WestTexas]

EHh maybe I'm a terrible person but I had a strategy when giving out English names for my classes this semester.

Class 1:

Samantha

Miranda

Carrie

Stanford

Steve

Aiden

Charlotte

Class 2:

Walter

Jessie

Jack

Hank

Skyler

Marie

Lydia

Class 3:

Getting the idea yet?

(It's better than another half dozen Helens and Lindas).

Yeah some students will choose old fashioned names. If they want to, that's fine. Yes, I have a 18-year-old girl in my class who chose the name Dorothy. I also met a white American girl my last time in the U.S. named 'Chilton'. Yeah, like the hotel with a C stuck in front. Which one's worse?

[Ruben von Zwack]

Haha, I love your Class 2. Your system is genius! Did you try to match name and character?

[renzhe]

I love names like Vera, Dorothy, Sharon and Doris. Authentic and not overused (today, at least).

Certainly better than calling yourself "Cream" or "Watermelon", surely!

[Ruben von Zwack]

But I have this sneaking suspicion that some of the ridiculous names are the result of foreign English teachers trying to see just how much they can get away with.

Nah, people just genuinely love "unique" names. There is a creative name craze in Germany too. http://chantalismus.tumblr.com/ - an equivalent of Hanzismatter but for German children names.

You can have your own name pimped modernised here:

http://chantalisator.de/

No English version unfortunately, but it's self explanatory. Fill in your 1. Given name 2. second given name (optional) 3. family name - press "chantalise"

[WestTexas]

But I have this sneaking suspicion that some of the ridiculous names are the result of foreign English teachers trying to see just how much they can get away with.

Supposedly, there was a foreign teacher who gave all her students Native American names: running bear, laughing water, hunting eagle, etc.

Did you try to match name and character?

Nah, I go more on appearance. Like Hank is slightly chubby, Walter was the oldest dude in the class, Lydia was a really pale girl, etc. This makes it easy to remember, which is always difficult with 100+ students.

[crazy-meiguoren]

Everyone I've known who has used English names has taken a name that was phonetically approximate to their own.  I've also known a fair number of people who still continue to use their own Chinese names.  The English names that were used were not always commonly given to children these days, but nothing unusual.  Thankfully, no one I know has taken Frank Zappa's lead in naming children.