Chinese Name vs English Name

It is very common here in China that people, especially those who work to foreign company, westernize their names. This of course eases a lot in the communication in the office but definetely not off works as no one in the house is familiar to the husband/wife/children's English name.

The English name is not something that they officially legalize and stick to them forever, but it is mainly something that they feel like having for that certain period. It is also common that they change it again some times in the future if the situation change as most of the time, the English name is given by their bosses at work, or someone that they respesct.

It could also be that a chinese picks one English name because he/she likes the character. I've know couple of people whose English name is Flower (literally translated from her Chinese name) or Garfield (remember Garfield the cartoon character?!).

Below is an amateur TV program about Sophie who makes a small documentaries about cultures she finds in her day to day life in Beijing. I found the video is funny but yet true.

And, just like Sophie, I have also my chinese name, 艾芙琳 (read as Ai Fu Lin) literally translated from Eveline, of course.



More link to her others TV programs here