My real name is Zou Ji En (邹吉恩）and my given name is Gene Zou, an Anglosaxon name. My father’s name is Min Zou and his given name is Bill Zou. My mother’s name is Li Ming Chang and her given name is Lisa Chang. Is your name just as unique and uncommon as my name? The most common Anglosaxon names I have heard given to Asian males are:
— Kevin
— Daniel/Danny/Dan
— Eugene
— Phillip/Phil
— Peter/Pete
— Michael/Mike
— Nicholas/Nick/Nickie
— Chris/Christopher
— Tim/Timothy/Timmy
— Jeff/Jeffery
— Will/William/Willy
— John/Jon/Jonathan/Johnathan/Johnny
— Andy/Andrew
— Marcus
— Wayne
— Tony
— Ryan
— Vincent
— Sam/Samuel
- Adrian
- Ricky/Rick
— Eric
— Ben/Benny/Benjanim
— Matt/Matthew
— Martin
— James
— Richard/Rich/Dick
— Francis
— Justin
— Nathan
— Kelvin/Calvin
— Oscar
— Steve/Steven
— Ian
— Brian
On the other hand, the most common Anglosaxon names I have heard given to Asian females are:
— Alice/Alicia
— Janny/Jenny/Jen/Jennifer
— Emily
— Amy
— Natalie
— Anna/Anne/Ann/Annie
— Lisa
— Vivian/Vivien
— Sara/Sarah
— Victoria/Vicky
— Jasmine
— Chris/Christine/Christina/Christy
— Sylvia
- Karen
- Cindy / Sindy
— Jess/Jessica/Jessie
— Elizabeth/Ellie
— Ivy
— Kim/Kimberley
— Anita
— Lucy/Lucie
— Katie/Kate
— Katherine/Catherine/Kathy/Cathy
— Rachel/Rachael
— Mimi
— Lily
— Stephanie/Steph
— Vicky/Vicki
— Michelle
— Angela
— Tina
— Nicole
— Nikki/Nicky/Nikkie
— Sue
If you know any other common given names given to Asians, feel free to add it in the comment section.
Not only we name people, we also name objects around us big and small, fast and slow, high and low, long and short, colourful or colourless. We also name concepts, entities, principles based on its:
— Function
— Historical origins
— Significance to society
— Discovery by pure coincidence or accident
— Impact on the human body
— Discoverer e.g. Nobelium, Francium
— Structure
— Regions of land
— Purpose
— Composition
— Proposer
— Artificial tastes
— Odours
— Its location when it was first discovered
— Perception by animals and humans
— Metaphor, Gags, Similes and Analogies
— Geographical location
— Role in society
— Ancient languages
— Visual description
This include ships, automobiles, public transportation, machines, dolls, reading material, houses, buildings, rooms, molecules/drugs/toxins, sections of DNA (genes), proteins, body parts, food, masterpieces/artworks, electronics, viruses/pathogens/bacteria, diseases, disorders, stadiums, stations, shops, murals, wildlife, flora and fauna, herbs and spices, suburbs, cities, states, provinces, landmarks, temples/mosques, roads, bridges, railway lines, organisations, departments, fashion, toiletries, waterways, entertainment (tv shows, soaps, movies), kitchenware and industries.
http://howmanyofme.com/search/
Although my name is very rare, I was curious to find out whether there are other, if any, Gene Zou(s) out there on Earth right now. So I checked out a website in the link above to find out. Right now in the USA alone, there are 149,309 people named "Gene" with 95% of them being male. I guess the other 5% have female variant names like Jean and Eugenia. There are 2,216 people with the surname "Zou". To my surprise there is actually 1 person right now living in the USA who shares the exact same name as me. I wish I could meet this other "Gene Zou" and see whether we are genetic copies of the same personality, intelligence, social bonding and attitude.
It’s understandable that everyone including myself have trouble remembering all these names. Things can get awkward if we forget their name after numerous interactions. But why do we tend to forget names? Apparently these names don’t provide a clear indication or a signpost that distinguishes one person from another. Sometimes facial recognition doesn’t help either because of the scenario of identical twins, lookalikes and doppelgängers. The fact that everyone around me are not too dissimilar in terms of appearance, personality, attitude and fashion sense, it can often discombobulate me. I, for one, personally met 4 Ivy Nguyens and it was an absolute nightmare trying to distinguish all 4 of them. I cannot rely on one indicator but several indicators to help me determine who they are and this could take me a few seconds of awkward silence to distinguish each and every one of them. Based on the information my brain is feeding me through my senses, I have to look into their facial appearance for distinct features like a mole, dimples or wrinkles, the shape and juxtaposition of their facial features, their body height, the schools they attended, their daily fashion choices, their personality, the friends they often hang out with, their interests, their voices, their laughs, the train line they often ride home, any memorable moments they experienced and their social status. It’s evident why my brain is large and hurting all the time when I meet someone new. My biggest weakness is, in fact, forgetting names, more often boys than girls and it seems that Asian parents are following each other’s baby naming bandwagon. Combined with their choice of spectacles, the schools they went to, the personality they have and their outstanding academic achievements, it’s no wonder I often get Asian guys’ names mixed up virtually all the time. This is why I have to ask deep, philosophical questions to get their opinions and values on the world’s current affairs and issues to date.
Nowadays we tend to give nicknames to help us distinguish and remember our friends, objects, animals like dogs & horses, and places making it easy on the tongue when calling them out. For example, the London Underground is nicknamed "The Tube". People give me original but uncreative nicknames like Genenonator, Genius, Genetics, MasterSlayer, KungFu Panda. Sportsmen especially cricketers are bound to have nicknames and funnily enough I can recall many of their nicknames;
-- Mark Taylor (Tubs)
-- Michael Slater(Slats)
-- Mark Waugh (Junior)
-- Andrew Symonds (Roy)
-- Matthew Hayden (Haydos)
-- Adam Gilchrist (Gilly / Churchie)
-- Brett Lee (Binga)
-- Ricky Ponting (Punter)
-- Michael Hussey (Mr. Cricket)
-- Michael Clarke (Pup)
-- Steve Smith (Smudge)
-- Josh Hazlewood(Hoff)
-- Shaun Tait (The Wild Thing)
-- Sachin Tendulkar (The Little Master)
-- Rahul Dravid (The Wall)
-- Shahid Afridi (Boom Boom)
-- Shoaib Akhtar (The Rawalpindi Express)
-- Glenn McGrath (Pigeon)
-- Phil Taylor (The Power)
-- Ray Warren (Rabbits)
-- Phil Gould (Gus)
-- Brad Fittler (Freddie)
-- Paul Vautin (Fatty)
-- Andrew Flintoff (Freddie)
-- Darryl Brohman (The Big Marn)
-- Nathan Lyon (Garry / GOAT)
-- Sam Thaiday (Slammin' Sam)
-- Paul Gallen (G-Train)
-- Billy Slater (Billy The Kid)
-- Dave Taylor (Coal Train)
Artists, DJs, bands and rappers form their own names like Iggy Azalea, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Pitbull, Flo Rida, The Proclaimers, The Who, 50Cent, Destiny's Child, Hardwell, Avicii, NERVO, Queen, Kings of Leon, Finger Eleven, Maroon 5, Green Day, Nirvana, Nickelback, ACDC and Gun N'Roses.
How many nicknames of your friends, family members, peers, athletes and celebrities can you remember?
-- Technically, giving a nickname is substituting a fitting name of a familiar person or thing as a sign of affection or ridicule and symbol of acceptance into your group.
-- A moniker also means a nickname or personal name, but it distinguishes personal names from nicknames that became proper names out of former nicknames. Examples include Bob & Rob (variants of Robert), Mike & Mickey & Mikey (variants of Michael), Rich & Richie & Dick (variants of Richard).
-- A hypocoristic name refers to a nickname of affection between those in love or with a close emotional bond, reminiscent of terms of endearment. E.g. my boo, this one, this b**ch, this lil' sh*t, my lovely, bae/babe/baby, cutie, beautiful, sweetie/sweetheart and honey.
-- A diminutive name refers to nicknames that convey smallness, regarding affection or familiarity, or contempt. These are mostly used when we're talking to little children or when we're expressing tenderness and intimacy to an adult.
-- A pseudonym or alias is a name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which can differ from their original identity or true name (Orthonym). Examples include stage names (actors, musicians and performers), usernames, ring names, pen names, nicknames, superhero identities, code names, gamer identities, and regnal names of emperors, popes and other monarchs.
I thought a person centuries ago named Nick invented the word "nickname" after himself but I found out this is not the case. The word "nickname" originated as the Latin word ekename, meaning "additional name", was believed to be first used as early as 1303. It derived from the Old English phrase eaca "an increase" related to eacian "to increase". By the 15th century, a misdivision of the syllables of the phrase "ekename" gradually led to its reanalysis as a "nekename". It is not known who coined the first ever nickname amongst the human population but it is known that people in ancient tribes and communities like the Vikings used nicknames. In Old Norse language, the Vikings had heiti, viðrnefni, or kenningarnöfn. You can read more about nicknames and their use in different societies and cultures via the link below.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickname
No one seems to know why we instinctively name everything we interact and witness in our surroundings. Some say it is evidence of development of human intellect naturally selected by evolution rather than psychological development. Some say giving something an identity is an affectionate and honourable act, labelling our close interpersonal connection with it in a fun and exciting manner. Scientists say giving names stimulates development of novel neural pathways in the brain’s limbic system especially in the Amygdala, which is a sign of increasing intelligence. But is there a limit to how dense our memory capacity can we generate in our brains? The number of neurons and neural pathways we can generate in our brains and periphery is always finite, hence it’s safe to say that the answer is not infinity. However the rate of which we make new neurons in the form of learning is infinite throughout our lifetime until we die.
Our modern human language along with its numerous linguistic roots and neighbours, the language that you and I speak every day has the flexibility and capability to name and label everything we interact on a daily basis or in one-off situations. I don’t know if animal language can enable animals to label objects, fellow creatures of the contrasting and identical species and images but I won’t be surprised if it has the linguistic flexibility to do so. The amazing thing about our language is how we borrowed words from other languages that are either extinct or rarely spoken nowadays like Latin, Hebrew, Greek and Germanic. But then how did these ancient languages came to be? When did we shift from cave drawings, and sign language to speech intonation? How does the human brain have this ability to invent words by putting random syllables together that its vocals can generate and count that as a new language? How is a language born? Evolution of the human brain is certainly a complex question which no one seems to understand. I will try to answer this question in another post.
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