Choose Trendy or Traditional Baby Names?

In the era we are living now, it is universal for anyone to meet and know personally another person of a different race, religion and nationality. The territories that our forefathers had conquered defended or fight for are now deemed as less important for many individuals in most developed as well as developing nations. Modern technologies has made it possible for many cultures to share or exchange their practices and customs. It is therefore no surprise when Chinese people have English names or the Westerners are starting to adopt Chinese names for good luck.

Some of us would view that the Chinese are having English names just to follow the trend of being accepted easily by the world because English is the international language. This might be true to a certain extent and they have reasons in including English names on top of their Chinese names. For the Chinese Christians, they want to feel the sense of belonging by having their names (in Western form) close to the languages of the Bible. For the non-Christian Chinese, they want to make it easier for the non-Chinese as Chinese names might be difficult for non-Chinese to pronounce or remember. This is simply because the ways we speak and pronounce words largely depend on which country we were brought up. A Caucasian person might be able to pronounce Chinese names if he grows up speaking Mandarin. And in most cases, it is easier for a person who knows nothing about the English language to be able to articulate any English name.

During the ancient times, the Chinese gave fake names to their unborn babies to scare away evil spirits from kidnapping them once the babies saw the world. The child would only be given a name once he was older. Sometimes, the child could be given four to five names depending on the phases of life he went through. For instance, one name for childhood, one for one for school, one for after graduation, one after marriage and even one after death. Traditional names have significant meanings to the Chinese as they represent the hardships and events that their ancestors experienced. Thus, it is actually impressive to acknowledge the fact that most Chinese still have Chinese names despite them having English names as part of their identification. This means they value their traditional names even if they do not use them as often as their English names.

As mentioned earlier, most of us have forgotten the effort that our forefathers had preserved for us. Yes, some of us do respect our own traditions. However, many of us are becoming more aware and tolerant of each other’s culture that even names have to be taken into consideration. The Westerners think the Eastern names are trendy, just like how Asians view Western names as trendy. Hence, the Westerners have every right to take on a Chinese name for good fortune and it is up to the Chinese to have English names. At the end of the day, the babies are yours and you have the right to choose any names for them.

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