"Call me Natalie"

[Randy W]

A well-written and interesting little story from Quartz

 

How I learned to live with a name that’s a constant source of humiliation

 

 

 

My name—my given name—is Fuk-yu (馥瑜).

Call me Natalie

I was born and raised in Hong Kong, where both Cantonese and English are official languages, thanks to its colonial past. Most official documents and signs are bilingual, including our names on our identification documents.

For many Hong Kong people, their English name may be the Romanization of their Chinese name, such as the billionaire Li Ka-shing. Many others choose to adopt a conventional English name like Paul or Mary or, in a famous case, Jackie Chan. Ultimately, it is their choice, or their parents’, to include either or both of those English names on their ID.

My parents decided to only include the Romanization of my name, Lung Fuk-yu, on my birth certificate. They wanted to leave the choice to me when I could make changes to my ID at the age of 18. When my mother discovered that I liked dancing to any music that came on TV at an early age, she chose the English name “Natalie,” after the American actress Natalie Wood who starred in the hit musical West Side Story. It was one of many Hollywood movies whose sweethearts and heartthrobs my mother swooned over as a teenager.

 

 

 

 

[Dennis143]

What an awful cross to bear. She seems to be carrying it well though. But still, that's a tough one.

 

I've known a few men with interesting Vietnam names like: Fung Ki Chao, Thong Ding Dang and one who goes by "DT" because his given Vietnam name is Dung To and he learned that introducing himself as Dung wasn't best.