Names Names Names

I never knew the Royals had to change their names. They were too German sounding apparently, and that was bad in the early 20th century.

I often wonder too about my name, and its weird non-English sounding double consonant. I too often wonder when I'm applying for a job, if they will read it and think, "Nah, I ain't pronouncing that." I wonder what images spring up when they hear my name, because we all have an image of a John or a Sophie or even a Patel or Singh. But what does a "Kwok" look like? How would he behave under pressure? Are you even sure if Kwok's a boy or a girl?

Other problems also occur when you have a name like mine. In one of the companies I worked for previously, they gave us automatically generated username. The took the first letter of your first name and put it after your surname. Other people were "thompsonb". I was "wank". They also put it into my email address. "Yep, my email address is WANK at blahblah company dot com."

But actually I love my name. I love introducing myself as Kwok and seeing people's reaction. Some smile like they know exactly what I said. Some ignore it and say "right". I can see some people think, "What the fuck was that!!?" Some people just ask me to repeat it again. That, obviously, is the best reaction.

And I've not asked everyone, but I'm pretty sure everyone with a funny first or last name would agree. If you don't know what the hell they said, just ask him/her again. They'll be happy you did it.