English Names

So, when I first began teaching English here in Pengshan, I started by teaching only sophomores who were also all English majors. This meant that not only was their English quite advanced, but also that they all had given themselves English names from previous years of study. My freshman, who I began teaching two weeks later, were a different story. Only about one in every ten of them had an English name at all. Therefore, for their first night of homework, I set them to the task of finding an English name.

I found out later that the other foreign teachers had mostly all chosen to give their students a list of English names, which they could choose from. I, on the other hand, decided to let them follow their whimsy. It's a human name, after all--not christening a new element of the periodic table. How strange could it get?

Oh, how wrong I was. And it was the best mistake of my life.

Some of the "English" names that the students chose were obviously just pinyin of various Chinese names, such as Zhu Yi, Xiao Ma, or Lee He. Others were very average American names, like Steven, Sarah, or Jack (so many Jacks). And still others were badly misspelled versions of English names, which the students had evidently only heard before and never seen spelled, such as Criss, Krystal, Bulinda, or Alen. And of course, there's the nature inspired ones, including Leaf, Meteor, Wonder, and Rice.

But it was the truely creative ones that had me chortling with laughter as I created the class roster for each class. Below is a list of my favorite "English" names compiled from my freshman classes:

Faust (yes, it's 'normal', I know. But I just love that someone chose Faust)
Lanetia Wang
Nidhogg
Mr. Obamdon
Lingshaw
Longnius
Panthon
Jacksong
Emerhoucia
Elodie
Roya
Goshen
Scofield
Shellin

But my personal favorite would have to be: Illidan Stormrage. I can just imagine him introducing himself to a forigner: "Yes, hello my name is Illidan Stormrage."
"Call me Illidan."
"Here's your coffee Mr...Stormrage."

I'm not sure if he's confused or a genius.