Odd Names

[Sinlaeshel]

While creating user accounts this morning, I happened upon a new employee named He Li. I found myself typing the oddest sentence in an E-mail this morning; I thought you people may find it somewhat amusing.

"To avoid this, He’s username will be hli2."

Without proper capitalization, someone may think my grammar skills have totally disappeared on me

 

[CajunCenturion]

Very good!

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[Trevoke]

Is it pronounced "He-h" or "He" like the pronoun ?

"That time in Seattle... was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."
"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."
-- Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon"

 

[Sinlaeshel]

I wouldn't know, having not met him yet. I'd presume it's like the pronoun. If it -is- 'He-h', then I suppose you're setting up to call him He Li Copter?

 

[Trevoke]

Haha, no, sadly enough I'm not that witty.
I just wonder how names are pronounced in different languages, and "He" like the pronoun strikes me as a very, very strange pronounciation for a chinese name.

"That time in Seattle... was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."
"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."
-- Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon"

 

[Stella740pl]

How do you know then that He is a he?

 

[Sinlaeshel]

I don't, now that you mention it. Though I hope you'd forgive me for overlooking this; the name heavily lends itself to He being a male.

Calling He a she would sound odd, if the name is in fact pronounced like the pronoun.

 

[Stella740pl]

"Calling He a she would sound odd"
Not much odder than the name itself, right?

 

[Stella740pl]

Well, when I saw the title of this thread, before opening it, I was thinking: "Odd names? From what language bearer's point of view?"

I heard/read some foreign names that would be hard to pronounce for me, because they sound/look when written as swearing/inappropriate words in my language.

Luckily, there are no names like that in my workplace.

 

[Sinlaeshel]

I can empathize with the swearing note; I'm Canadian born and raised, but working at an electronics company, we have quite a few oriental workers here. Many of them opt to go by names more easily pronounced (Example: Rachel instead of Qian), but we have this one man named Fu-Xing. Pronouncing his name phoenetically could almost be considered swearing. I believe proper pronounciation would be Foo-Zhing. Thankfully, to avoid embarassment of mispronounciations, everyone simply calls him 'FX' (Eff-Ex)

 

[CRilliterate]

I once got a job where my boss was from Pakistan and he kept telling me 'you will talk Sunday', 'ask Sunday' and I was under impression that people working Sundays at this company or...I was confused but never questioned because whole interview/hiring thing was enough of torture already.

So later I found out that lady I was suppose to team up with was named Sundae. She was explaining to everyone 'my parents were irresponsible' but she was making friends in a heartbeat right after announcing her name.

 

[Trevoke]

If we do talk about odd names, mine is pretty high on the list.

How many people named "Aldric" have you ever met?

"That time in Seattle... was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."
"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."
-- Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon"

 

[Turkbear]

Hi, Never met them but Google has a few ( I am sure you have Googled your name as well, but in case not):

http://www.ldsfilm.com/directors/Porter.html

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01281a.htm

http://www.hollywood.com/celebs/detail/id/1625532

Mixed company, but all famous..Perhaps you are next...



To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[CRilliterate]

You know what? I don't mined odd names but I do really mind when people knowing that their name is not 'John' or 'Susan' when first meet you just blubbre it like 'AldrcBruhmrtmv' and I always like "DARN, what was that he just said?" and how am I suppose to address him now?

 

[Trevoke]

My main issue is that I have *no* idea how many is supposed to be pronounced in english, so my introduction is always a toss-up between the following scenarios :

A)
"Hi, my name is Aldric" (pronounced Ah-ldric, or Oh-ldric, with various nuances on the A-level or O-level of the vowel)
"What?"
-- Move on to Scenario B

B)
"Okay, I have no idea how to say my name in english, so .. It's spelt : "A, L, D, R, I, C", say it however you like and I'll probably reply.

"That time in Seattle... was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."
"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."
-- Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon"

 

[CajunCenturion]

Trevoke - It's your name. You can pronounce it any way you please.

--------------
Good Luck
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[tgreer]

A restuarant named "Hua Xing" opened nearby. I would pronounce that "wah-zhing", with hovering/equal stress, and so internalized it as such, right or wrong.

Some friends wanted to go to dinner, and my buddy mentioned this new place we should try. He said he didn't know what kind of food it served, but it was called "HOO-uh Crossing".

<expression type='blank'>
<laughter type='hysterical' />
</expression>

Thomas D. Greer

http://www.tgreer.com

 

[Stella740pl]

How about a combined scenario:

C)"Hi, my name is Aldric"
"What?"
"Ah-ldric"
"I am so sorry, but how do you say it, again?"
"It's not an English name; it's [whatever should be here]. It's spelt : A, L, D, R, I, C; say it however you like, and I'll probably reply.

 

[Trevoke]

Cajun, didn't we already establish that "ghoti" cannot be pronounced "fish" ? It takes all the fun out of what you wrote

Stella : that's an idea

"That time in Seattle... was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."
"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."
-- Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon"

 

[CRilliterate]

The point was if you slow down and say your name so people can grasp it - it doesn't matter what name it is but saying it like 'A*w*ri' will make me wondering.
When on the phone I always take deep breath before saying my name, when meeting people I am doing the same so people can hear me. It is nothing, really.