Why Hong Kong people like to have english name?

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NiceCold

Senior member
May 14, 2011
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Why Hong Kong people like to have english first name?

i dont mean hong kong people born in the western, i mean the hong kong people born and live in hong kong. why would they have english first name? Jacky Chang seems normal for him to have english first name as he is international actor and have lived in america.

but the ones that born and live in hong kong..... i dont get it. to me i say having native first name is better and shows that we have strong love and proud for our country.

is there any real explanation to this? any official answer of why they like to have first english name? english people settle at their land at some point or something?


while filipinos born and live in phillipines i can understand why they have mexican last name is cause spanish used to settle and run there in some point. and now talking filipinos..... why would they have mexican last name? it dont matter if spanish used to run their country. changing last name is like changing blood.... last name is blood.... native... root. why would they change their last name?



hong kongnese's english first name vs filipinos's mexican last name..... hong kong more better as they still keep their last name... root.
 
Doppel

Doppel

Lifer
Feb 5, 2011
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I have worked with some and they all have English names but Chinese last names. I was told but could not verify that each Chinese name has a literal translation to English, so that whatever Chinese name they are born with also ends up determining their English, which tends to be the name they go with when dealing with Westerners.

Anybody know if that's true? I had thought prior that Chinese simply just pick whatever the heck name they want when they go into business.
 
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NiceCold

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May 14, 2011
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Capt Caveman

Capt Caveman

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Jan 30, 2005
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Bee4945

Bee4945

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Aug 22, 2011
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I'm chinese in indonesia and i don't use chinese name too . all chinese here use english / indonesian name i think and it just like that i think since i was born LOL
 
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NiceCold

Senior member
May 14, 2011
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Capt Caveman said:
You didn't know that? Wow.
Click to expand...

ofcourse not. i just learn just now right here. i was curious for a long time but never do the effort to try to find out. before i ask here i google as well but no real answer... just hearing people saying "its cause they dont want american to pronounce their name in funny sound"

now finally real answer. other nation used to run their land. i knew it gotta be something like that. similar to the filipinos. i know about the filipinos just cause theres alot of filipinos around here.
 
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NiceCold

Senior member
May 14, 2011
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Bee4945 said:
I'm chinese in indonesia and i don't use chinese name too . all chinese here use english / indonesian name i think and it just like that i think since i was born LOL
Click to expand...

wow is that you on the picture? nice!
 
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rsutoratosu

Platinum Member
Feb 18, 2011
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No they have these weird names, aka "Top man"

I was watching those TVB and they go around calling the guy topman

ahHAHAHAHAHA
 
TuxDave

TuxDave

Lifer
Oct 8, 2002
10,572
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NiceCold said:
ofcourse not. i just learn just now right here. i was curious for a long time but never do the effort to try to find out. before i ask here i google as well but no real answer... just hearing people saying "its cause they dont want american to pronounce their name in funny sound"

now finally real answer. other nation used to run their land. i knew it gotta be something like that. similar to the filipinos. i know about the filipinos just cause theres alot of filipinos around here.
Click to expand...

Geez. I hope you're some young guy because it was all over tv when it was handed back in 1997.
 
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NiceCold

Senior member
May 14, 2011
543
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TuxDave said:
Geez. I hope you're some young guy because it was all over tv when it was handed back in 1997.
Click to expand...

i remembered that on tv with fireworks and such. but that was american giving hong kong back to china right? america got hong kong for less than 10 years? if so it shouldnt be the reason why hong kong have english first name as they been having english first name since way back.

anyway yeah i admit i almost forgot about the 1997 american gave back hong kong. if being very young can excuse me from forgetness.... yes i am very young!

note: i dont know much geography/history.




Bee4945 said:
Yeah~ it's me LOL unless i have a twin?
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oh cool. nice nice. nice to have you here.
 
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NiceCold

Senior member
May 14, 2011
543
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rsutoratosu said:
No they have these weird names, aka "Top man"

I was watching those TVB and they go around calling the guy topman

ahHAHAHAHAHA
Click to expand...

you know what? that actually is funny because i think i saw that on tvb movie too! not sure but kindda sure! topman!


hong kong fooey
 
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rchiu

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2002
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NiceCold said:
i remembered that on tv with fireworks and such. but that was american giving hong kong back to china right? america got hong kong for less than 10 years? if so it shouldnt be the reason why hong kong have english first name as they been having english first name since way back.

anyway yeah i admit i almost forgot about the 1997 american gave back hong kong. if being very young can excuse me from forgetness.... yes i am very young!

note: i dont know much geography/history.





oh cool. nice nice. nice to have you here.
Click to expand...

Dude you are trolling right? You can't be that ignorant......
 
Printer Bandit

Printer Bandit

Lifer
Mar 16, 2005
13,864
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I have more respect for Chinese people that use Chinese first names. The crazy ones that think different.
 
sdifox

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
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Doppel said:
I have worked with some and they all have English names but Chinese last names. I was told but could not verify that each Chinese name has a literal translation to English, so that whatever Chinese name they are born with also ends up determining their English, which tends to be the name they go with when dealing with Westerners.

Anybody know if that's true? I had thought prior that Chinese simply just pick whatever the heck name they want when they go into business.
Click to expand...

err, no. Chinese name has nothing to do with the English name.

HK people like to pick weird English names too.
 
F

FleshLight

Diamond Member
Mar 18, 2004
6,883
0
71
hong kongnese's english first name vs filipinos's mexican last name..... hong kong more better as they still keep their last name... root.
 
Born2bwire

Born2bwire

Diamond Member
Oct 28, 2005
9,840
6
71
sdifox said:
err, no. Chinese name has nothing to do with the English name.

HK people like to pick weird English names too.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've met a lot of Mainlanders that generally chose English names that were close to their Chinese names, but I did not find Hong Kongers to follow such a fashion. I didn't meet too weird of a name set, one girl was named Apple. But my favorite was a girl named Cake that worked at one of the Western bakeries.
 
M

Mark R

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
8,513
14
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Born2bwire said:
Yeah, I've met a lot of Mainlanders that generally chose English names that were close to their Chinese names, but I did not find Hong Kongers to follow such a fashion. I didn't meet too weird of a name set, one girl was named Apple. But my favorite was a girl named Cake that worked at one of the Western bakeries.
Click to expand...

I've met quite a couple of Hong Kong people who have Chinese names specifically chosen to be close to English names.

e.g. Yee-Len == Elaine; Lu-Xi == Lucy
 
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