I have so many names and pronunciations of names it’s hard to keep track. As I now work somewhere with lots of Spanish speakers, those folks get to call me by the Spanish version of my name (same spelling, sounds completely different). Monolingual English speakers have no idea who they’re referring to. I give my Mandarin name away only to people I interact with here in a somewhat intimate way (so, not to Chinese restaurants, where I only use ‘Ms Chen’, but yes at Chinese massage places, where I think if you’re poking me all over you can probably know my name).
However, my Mandarin name causes me a lot of anxiety, so any time someone uses it I think I’m about to be reprimanded for my homework.
Then there’s the Cantonese version of my name (same characters, pronounced differently) that I only use with monolingual Cantonese speakers like some tailors in Chinatown.
And if someone uses my passport name, as in Tan Teochewname Adrianna, I will assume that the ghosts of my grandparents have arisen, because nobody uses that name and I even took it out of my passport because I don’t want Anglophones to mess it up (and frankly too much trouble).
I’m considering a nom de plume just for writing fiction, but it won’t be hard since I’ll be able to mix and match from diff languages.
Forgot the Korean version of my Chinese name that a handful of relatives use for me..
My passport name is so long, my parents made me a self-inking stamp so I could stamp it on every page of my test documents as a kid. I even had a seal with my Chinese name for the same reason (too many strokes in one of the characters)
Might be hard to imagine outside of Anglo context names, but basically Tan is Chen is Chan is Tran and Jin (Teochew, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Korean). So it’s the same word but different pronunciation in each language. So it all feels legitimately like my name, especially in the languages I speak. Just many of them
@skinnylatte seems a bit like how John in English can become anything from Shaun to Ivan to Yahya to Ian to Juan to Jens and more. It's cool how words and names change over time and distance!
@douglasvb @skinnylatte But VB *always* means “Victoria Bitter”, DouglasVB! #AHardEarnedThirst
@pmonks @douglasvb Yep exactly the same except with the additional aspect that many of these Asian languages were classically written in Chinese characters, so I guess it is kind of equivalent to the Latin in that context
@skinnylatte @pmonks while Victoria Bitters is pretty good, I always preferred Tooheys or XXXX. Carlton was pretty good, too.
@douglasvb @skinnylatte Q. Do you know why Queensland beer is called “XXXX”?
A. Because Queenslanders can’t spell “beer”.
@douglasvb @skinnylatte (Queensland is like if Texas and Florida had a baby)
@pmonks @skinnylatte Queenslanders definitely feel like my people. I had some wonderful times partying with truckies in Brisvegas back in the day. They introduced me to a bogan invention: the adult beverage-filled baby bottle that they called a "biddy." Absolutely brilliant stuff especially when trampolines are involved.
@pmonks @skinnylatte plus Mount Isa is the Venice of Northern Queensland so many gorgeous views of open pit mining! And the rodeo is excellent.
@douglasvb @skinnylatte I’m guessing the contents were Bundy (coke optional)?