Hello, I’m Ray! Today we’ll be using English to discuss English names
Welcome to Ray’s English Corner
it’s been a while since I’ve done a video completely in English
but this topic in particular today, I feel like
it’s meant to be discussed in English and I’m talking about English names
Now first off, it is already pretty weird that every single person here in Taiwan
is kind of required to have an English name
I mean really, every single person that I know in my life has an English name
What’s most interesting to me is how people got their English names
So, taking me as an example, I just so happen to have the character 瑞 in my Chinese name
so I go by the English name, Ray, R-A-Y. Reasonable, right?
But for most people their names just don’t make any sense, it has nothing to do with their Chinese name
and some just got randomly assigned a name by their English teacher perhaps?
And that stuck for the rest of their lives
Come to think of it this is giving so much power to the English teachers
If in your classroom you don’t like a particular student
you can just name him Dick and ruin the rest of his life for him
As it stands, everyone here has their own English names
and I actually kind of, personally prefer it this way
just because of how English names are so much easier to spell out compared to Chinese names
Don’t know what I’m talking about?
Well this is usually what goes down when people ask me to write their names for them
Ray can you sign for me?
Yeah, sure, what’s your name?
I-Ting
Which “I” and which “Ting”?
(Describes Chinese character by positioning each parts)
......
Do you have an English name?
Oh, oh yeah, Cindy!
Oh! Cindy! Okay, good, Cindy~
But sometimes in Taiwan, you meet people with really, really strange English names
I think everywhere in the world, there’s gonna be weird names
but in Taiwan we have a particular style of English names weirdness
So in the States you can be creative and spell a name backwards and create another name off that
for example Nevaeh is heaven spelled backwards, and that’s pretty cool
But a problem with that
you start questioning regular names and start spelling them backwards and they’re ruined
For example, Natasha is Ah Satan
And here in Taiwan people can get really creative as well with their English names
In my past experience dealing with strange, weird English names here in Taiwan
I usually come across really literal sayings, you know
things that are not supposed to be names, but they’re used as an English name
For example, true story here
I’ve known people who call themselves “Steak”, “Purple”, “Diploma”
Wait...but why?
Usually they’ll go something like, “Oh I enjoy steaks, I like the color purple”
No. No, you don’t. No. Shut up. Go kill yourself. Don’t get that name
Now, I would like to think that I have a really regular name, Ray right?
R-A-Y, it’s very common, it’s very easy, it’s very short, nobody should get it wrong
But sometimes when I introduce myself in English, I be like, “Hi, I’m Ray."
and people would go, “Did you say Rain? Like 雨?"
Just because you have a weird name doesn’t mean I have to have a weird name, okay?
My name is Ray, R-A-Y, not any other words that’s not supposed to be a name
But it’s understandable, right? Ray and rain, it kinda sounds similar
but other times I be like, “Hi, I’m Ray.”, and they be like
“Rebecca?”
No, I’m just kidding, doesn’t happen
Another thing I can’t stand is people having my exact name
I remember in middle school there was this senior who was also called Ray
he was way more attractive and muscular than me
and he was taking all the attention and credit and glory away from my name
After a while I got so upset that I downright changed my name into X-ray
I know, it’s a little bit weird. (It’s very weird!) But, but it’s completely justified, right?!
There was dude stealing my name, I had to adapt!
So the name X-ray stuck with me from middle school to college
so all of my friends back in those days would still remember me as X-ray
After I graduated from college, however, I got into a master’s program, and as a MA student
as you all know, we have to write a thesis, and on the cover, you have to put what?
Your name
And it was at that moment when I had to put X-ray on the cover of my thesis
did I realize how incredibly stupid the name was
So, it was then when I dropped the X and became just Ray
But enough about me. What is your English name? How did you get it?
What do you think of Taiwanese people having English names in general?
Do you have a weird name? Do you think my name is weird?
Leave it down in the comment (section) below, I’m curious
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And that is a wrap, thank you guys for watching as always, and I’ll catch you guys next time! See ya!