9/03/10 The delicate art of choosing an English name

Our last stop of the evening was “Surfer Ken’s Lounge”, an evening hangout for English expatriates.  It was there that I met Passion Fruit; Passion for short.  She told me her Chinese name is Pei Shen, so she thought that Passion Fruit (which grows in abundance in Taiwan) would be a fitting name.  Everyone, including her Canadian boyfriend called her by her full chosen name until just recently; apparently it took an inordinate amount of time for someone to suggest that the “fruit” part was a little over the top.  Luckily for her, she’s got what it takes to pull the name Passion off.

 

Choosing an English name is an exercise in freedom that can go horribly wrong, choose carefully my friends.