Is this name weird?

[Roosevelt]

The name I've chosen for myself is 金近海. I've gotten a lot of Chinese people asking me who gave me my name, which makes wonder if it is weird. So, is it?

[honglam]

I don't really know how to describe my feeling if I see a foreign Chinese learner choosing this name. I think it is the fact that this name is too normal that makes people feel weird. It sounds like a name that someone from the northern area of China born in the 60s or 70s would have. It is likely that there is a feeling of contrast between this name and your identity.

[Lu]

I understand what Honglam means, the name is extremely normal-Chinese and many people would expect a more unusual name for someone who is in fact not a normal Chinese person. I have the same feeling with the Dutch names some Chinese people choose when they live here or study Dutch. There's a man with the name Albert-Jan [Chinese surname], which is so extremely normal-Dutch of a specific demographic that before I'd seen his face, for the longest time I fully assumed he was a Dutchman who took his Chinese wife's surname, until I found out he is in fact Chinese.

 

At the same time, I've also had many, many people ask me who gave me my name, and I never got the impression they asked because they felt it's weird. I always understood it as just making conversation. There's always a story there that the foreign person is usually perfectly happy to tell.

[Roosevelt]

Thank you for the responses. To clarify, I've been asked about how I got my name in situations where multiple people have given their Chinese names, but I'm the only one who gets asked about my name.