Dubai: Zhang Peng may not be a particularly difficult name to pronounce for a non-Chinese. Yet the 33-year-old Chinese managing director of a trading firm in Sharjah prefers to use his adopted English name, Vincent.
The English name is also embossed on his business card.
The man who hails from Qingdao in east China says it gives him greater acceptability in a global city like Dubai and recalls choosing the name ‘just like that’ during his days as a student of international business in France. “It’s given me a lot of convenience and definitely greater confidence since,” said Vincent who’s been a Dubai resident since 2007.
Peng is just one among a growing number of well-travelled Chinese who are adopting English names to avoid being alienated due to their ‘difficult-to-pronounce’ and ‘alien-sounding’ names.
Take the case of Jackson He, 46. Born He Jiacai (family names appear first in Chinese), which name also appears on his passport, he has been Jackson to everyone for the last 30 years.
“My teacher said Jiacai was difficult to pronounce and felt Jackson sounded similar. I gladly accepted the name,” recalls the Dubai-based businessman of his days in Wimbledon where he studied business administration.
He says earlier people picked up traditional English names, but not so anymore. “They pick names like ‘Strong’. They think using such a name should reflect their character,” he says.
Chen Zhengfeng, 26 also from Qingdao, uses Harry because he is a fan of Harry Potter, while Chen Mo chose Kathryn because she found it in the dictionary. “It looks different from others,” said the 26-year old from Nanjing.
Her friend Chen Lin, 26, from Nanjing uses Tracy because of a basketball player of the same name, while Shi Liufeng took the William inspired by a real life hero. “I want to be a solider like William Wallace from the movie Brave Heart,” said the 29-year-old resident of International City.
Chen Jiewei, 23, from Guangzhou calls herself Jerry. “Like the one in the Tom and Jerry series. I like them,” said the assistant to the legal adviser at the Chinese Community Centre in Dubai.
Chu Sem Chaan, who came to Dubai in 1978 and opened his own restaurant The Imperial Dragon in Bur Dubai (often known as Calcutta’s Chinese) is known to his clients as simply Patrick. “It’s a name that’s remained my identity forever,” said the shy 57-year-old who was born in Kolkata, India.
