Tuesday, December 6, 2011

what's up with your name...

i've recently had a few funny incidents to do with my name. so i thought i'd clear the air a little since today is a slow news day! :) but i'll start off with a story first.



once i dated this guy who would drop me off at home. my house is snugly tucked in the furthest corner in a private estate like a labyrinth. there are a few ways you can access my house but the fastest way involves multiple confusing turns. so when i first starting seeing him, i showed him the longer way which was so much easier. it wasn't until we were seriously dating when i said sheepishly one day "maybe i can teach you the easier way now." so it became a joke that only the serious boyfriends get to learn the "secret" way home. personally, i like the secret way more. its more difficult but its like a secret code..

so why am i telling this story. when i went to switzerland, it was difficult for people to remember or say my given name "zhiying". i don't blame them buy to simplify matters, i started going by the spiffy  "zhing". and that has stuck. i love the jokes, and songs and quotes people spring when i introduce myself. and the name is very me. and my co-worker sweetly kept a copy of the economist cos the word "zinging" made it in! im legitimate....

BUT...

i don't hate my given name. i love it equally. it means the most beautiful things in life. and to the dear reader, who needed to inform me that im asian even if i have a western name, rest assured, im aware and extremely proud to be asian. and i respond to both names. so i guess it just means im twice as special!!

think of it as the "secret" but windy path to my home or the more direct way. 
 both gets the job done!!

how about you? do you have a different "blog" name and a real name?
or am i the only one?
xx

19 comments:

  1. You have a beautiful name (both versions). It sounds poetic to me. Thank you for your story. I also have difficulties with people here in America saying my name correctly. I tried to change to Shanna (insted of Oksana), but my family didn't like it, so I went back to Oksana :-)) It's very common Ukrainian name.

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  2. me too me too! i have resorted to using just 'chui' (pronounced 'chewy', yay! don't have to change!) because americans don't get the concept of two separate names as a first name. they keep thinking ying is my middle name. but of course they don't know about the sisters and twenty other cousins all with the same name 'chui'. yeesh.

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  3. Thank you Zhing. My name means "hospitality" in Greek. Is your name pretty common?
    Punkychewster: it is funny about "twenty other cousins" :-))

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  4. What a great story behind your name, Zhing! I love it...full of energy and yes, very you.

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  6. I hardly go by my Chinese name anymore mostly because non-Singaporeans / Chinese can't pronounce Q. And truthfully I'd rather not be called Mei.

    So it's just Jess. Even then, there are some super annoying ones who kept calling me Jessie (excuse me it's JessLYN, NOT jessie, jessica, jocelyn. I use Jzlyn as a nick online for years now and it seems that some friends have gone on to spell it as that.

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  7. I go by my Chinese name. The only concession I've made was to hyphenate it, so they don't drop the Ling! I figure if I can pronounce and remember names like Xochitl, Muyatwa or Bjorn...they can pronounce and remember my name :p

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  8. i'm quite pleased by the fact that i can pronounce BOTH your names correctly heehee

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  9. @punkychewster

    i never knew that! i thought chewy was chui-ying squished! :) but lol on the sisters names! are they all chewies too! :)

    xx

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  10. @OksanaB

    nope! i have a pretty uncommon name!

    the "ying" part is actually the same character as punkychewster!!!! but the "zhi" party is pretty unique! :)

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  11. @J xxx

    totally! :) me too! :) my dad spells my name zhing sometimes too!!!

    p.s. never knew that your name is mei! :)

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  12. @Yi-Ling

    thats a great idea! :) should have thought of that!

    p.s. how do you say xochitl? :)

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  13. @E. Kay

    you're super special!!

    can't say the same for your gym trainer! :)

    xx

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  14. the story behind my blog name is boring, but i will tell you about my husbands family/ surname! It's 'Ferroa' (pronounced fair-ro) like the ancient Egyptian royals?

    One of the reasons i have been adamant on keeping my maiden (family) name is because everyone keeps mis-pronouncing his!! there's meant to be a diphthong in there somewhere. most folks (including myself) don't know how to these fancy names.

    so now, i get called Mrs. "Fur-row-wa". the worse so far is Mrs. "Furry"!!!!! WTH man. wish he had a cooler surname. sheeesh.

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  15. @guerrrilla

    i love love love fair-ro (ie the way its meant to be!!) :)

    i recently found a fun way to love daniel's last name which i adopted. some friends were thinking of silly fruit names for me and i got watermallender!! how awesome!

    xx

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  16. You get a cool Waterallender and I get a miserable Liu Lian. -_-

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  17. @Yi LianIt's watermallender!!! ;)

    I love that you quickly reminded us that liu Lian is king of all fruits!! ;) xx

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