This morning I received a phone call from oversea, and I had just awoke from my dreamland, so I was extremely groogy.
Mr. X: “Hello! May I speak to Mr. Ehng?”
ME: “Sorry, I think you got the wrong number.”
Mr. X: “Oh I mean Mr. Adrian Ehng.”
ME: : “Hmm… [after a 3 seconds pause] Oh! That’s him.”
Foreigners, especially those from English speaking countries, always have problem pronouncing my name properly. I am always Mr. Ehng when I was in the States, and even when I tried to correct them and pronounced my name Ang (pronounce as “Ah-ng”), they would still call me “Ehng”. So I made the smart move; I stopped trying to correct them and became Mr. Ehng.
And then, I have a friend who became Mr. Ten (His name is “Tan”, and its pronounce as “T-ah-n”). So we usually joked that he became the tanning oil, and the ironic thing was that he wasn’t tan at all; he was the fair guy in our group.
And then there was this girl who’s last name is Khaw. People in her class, including the Professor, pronounce her name as “Cow”. She was really pissed at that, especially when they kept calling her Ms. Cow.
That’s why sometimes we appeared aloof, in the eyes of our classmates, because when they called us on the street, we didn’t respond to them. Actually, we were not arrogant, it was just that we didn’t know someone was calling us. It was such a strange name that even ourselves had problems identifying ourselves, in the mouth of foreigners. Furthermore, most of them don’t call me Adrian because they feel that by calling me Adrian, it would loose the authentic oriental specialty in me.
Like I have oriental smell in me.
Anyway, while I am at it, here are some of the names that you should avoid. I personally know these people, but I am sacrificing them to provide you the guide:
Paul Chan - It means “bankcrupt” or “broke”
Harry Kwok - Kwok, or Kok, is pronounce as “Cock”… you get the idea…
Steve Kwok - Do I need to say more?
Anne Kwok - You certainly don’t want to name your daughter this…
Ng Kwong Tuck - In Cantonese, it means “Cannot say”. So when people ask him what was his name, he said “Cannot say”
Lee Yong Sui - In Cantonese, it means “You have ugly face”. I met this guy at work and imagined the shock I got when I asked his name (for being told that I got an ugly face)
Choong Lok Hoi - One of my ex-colleague got this name, and in Cantonese, it means “jumping into the sea”
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