Trying to educate myself - is it normal for an Asian man to have two different names?

Dimple said:
:confused:
How does changing your name from Mr Razi Siddique to Mr Mohammed Khan combat racism?

I can't wait for this one - F5 F5 F5.
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Ok maybe not that example, but you get people called Mohammed Ali or something and then at school they have a registered name of Moe.

I wish racism didn't come into it, but sometimes it does.

Maybe so that he doesn't get bullied.

As for the ones that change it from one Asian name to another, I guess that's just personal preference, maybe easier to pronounce?

But I do one or two people that have English names registered at school, the look on some teachers faces when they ask who Dave is and realise it's the Asian kid.
 
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Yep, we have a security guard who we call (by his request/he has no issue with it at least) Ali, but I'm fairly certain he has another 'real' name or whatever. We do have another guy called Balbir who initially told us to call him "Charlie" although I think that was just a pseudo-racist nickname from his last workplace, so I call him Balbir. Or Bilbo Baggins, for the lulz.
 
ilcp said:
why does everything get connected to "Islam"?
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Oh, bite me. The times I've seen this phenomenon it's involved Islamic folk. If you know the first thing about me you wouldn't leap on me with some politically correct cobblers because you're afraid that a connection to Islam might be relevant.
 
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I was working for an Indian family a few years ago and their kids had very western names, I can't remember them now but they were traditional names like Robert. Seemed really strange at the time, but I guess they could have had an Indian name as well.
 
Yes, it's very common amongst asian's (Of all types). It's not unheard of for other groups either, normally where they consider their names too complex for us mere-english speakers.
 
Some of you are missing the point of the thread.
It isn't somebody called Mujarinda Ghatsane called themselves Michael Gates to make it easier for us, it's somebody who has got two totally different Asian first name and second name.
It has been answered I think.
 
Mark A said:
I was working for an Indian family a few years ago and their kids had very western names, I can't remember them now but they were traditional names like Robert. Seemed really strange at the time, but I guess they could have had an Indian name as well.
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Never come across anyone like that, they all seem to want to have their Indian/Pakistani heritage despite being 1st or 2nd British born generations. :confused:
 
Naming in asian, especially muslim cultures, gets rather complicated, there's whole structures around what names you can have, how they relate, what they mean and so on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistani_name

For some examples.

To complicate things further, names change between childhood and adulthood...
 
RomanNose said:
An English name and a name in their native language? If that is what you mean, then yes it is common.
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Its only a Chinese thing I think?

Indians / Pakistanis dont do this.

cheets64 said:
Never come across anyone like that, they all seem to want to have their Indian/Pakistani heritage despite being 1st or 2nd British born generations. :confused:
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P.S. Cheets is also an Indian nickname, which I used to think you were.
 
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This confuses the hell out of me at work.

All the Asian people have initials that don't match their 'Common name'
 
PianoBasher said:
This confuses the hell out of me at work.

All the Asian people have initials that don't match their 'Common name'
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I wanted to change my name to something westerny, my friends thought I should be called Roy Stone taken from someone famous apparantly that I have never heard of.

I disagreed, though I used the name on messenger and created a few profiles here and there with it for the lulz.
 
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Dimple said:
Some of you are missing the point of the thread.
It isn't somebody called Mujarinda Ghatsane called themselves Michael Gates to make it easier for us, it's somebody who has got two totally different Asian first name and second name.
It has been answered I think.
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Half the reason is that English people can't say the Asian (e.g. Chinese) name properly.

The other half is to "fit" in better because of the above.

Indian names is different in that their pronunciation as a whole is a lot easier for westerner's tongues. It is VERY difficult for a westerner to say a Chinese name correctly. Because in the chinese language, the same word can be pronounced a few different ways, or the same sound can be 4 different words. A slight wrong pronunciation could mean a totally different word. The named person would simply don't realise you can calling him, or you would be saying something totally confusing, but most probably not making sense.

The English name part really is for westerner's benefit.

/my 2 cents.
 
Mark A said:
I was working for an Indian family a few years ago and their kids had very western names, I can't remember them now but they were traditional names like Robert. Seemed really strange at the time, but I guess they could have had an Indian name as well.
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At work there is a real mix of people, and I know 2 indian girls call Monica, and it is her real name, one of which has a English word for surname and she is not mixed race.
 
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