Key Points
- People with 'funny sounding names' are choosing not to adopt an English name.
- But some people with hard to pronounce names experience negative impacts including being socially excluded.
- People are making more effort to pronounce names correctly and there are practical measures to make this easier.
For a short period in his early 20s, Jieh-Yung Lo introduced himself as "J-Lo".
"It caught on, and then all of a sudden I started adopting it myself because everybody treated me differently when I called myself J-Lo," Jieh-Yung told SBS News.
To many Jieh-Yung was and sometimes still is, the "guy with a funny-sounding name".
The 37-year-old started simplifying his name to J-Lo when he began running the multicultural programs at the Essendon Football Club, because many players just couldn't pronounce his name.
"I felt like some barrier was broken, they were much friendlier and they were more engaging," he said of people's response to him as J-Lo.
"By using that nickname they felt that they could break the ice with me and they definitely didn't see me as exotic or ethnic, they saw me as one of them."
Jieh-Yung Lo is the director of the Centre for Asian-Australian Leadership at The Australian National University. Source: Supplied
"A lot of people in the Labor party, which I am no longer a member of, they still call me J-Lo," he said.
But over time Jieh-Yung began to regret his decision.
"I felt like I was betraying my heritage and my identity, as well as betraying my parents," he said.
Jieh-Yung's parents say his name means to have a big and generous heart and to not let the little things bother him or get in the way.
"Your name is one of the most important things that your parents give you, especially in the Chinese context," he said. "Your name is meant to reflect the aspiration of your parents - their hopes and aspirations for what they want you to become or to be when you grow up."
So when Jieh-Yung decided to put his hand up to be a councillor at the City of Monash in 2008, he resisted advice from some colleagues in the Labor party to change his name to something like "Jeff" or "Jason" to counteract perceptions that he may not be able to speak English properly. He wanted to be more authentic and true to himself.
Your name is one of the most important things that your parents give you, especially in the Chinese contextJieh-Yung Lo
Jieh-Yung was vindicated when he was elected using his real name, and at the age of 23, became the first Chinese-Australian to sit on Monash council in Melbourne.
He believes the desire to prove those in the party wrong about changing his name gave him extra motivation to knock on doors and campaign as hard as possible to get himself across the line.
"My parents were proud of me that I didn't conform, but I kept the name," he said.
Move from 'assimilation to authenticity'
Nowadays, Jieh-Yung, who is the director of the Centre for Asian-Australian Leadership at The Australian National University, said it seems more people are choosing not to take on an English name, especially newer migrants.
"I think it's because Australia is becoming more and more diverse, accepting and more global," he said.
Australia is becoming more diverse, accepting and global, says Jieh-Yung Lo. Source: AAP
"They wear it now as a badge of honour rather than trying to hide it."
Jieh-Yung also believes there has been a societal move from "assimilation to authenticity".
"People are wanting to be more authentic, they want to be more real," he said.
People with unusual names can be excluded socially
Dr Fiona Swee-Lin Price is a cross-cultural communication specialist who has worked with universities for decades to help them pronounce students' names at graduation ceremonies and in other settings.
The director of Globalise Consulting said there was increasing recognition of the importance of pronouncing people's names correctly.
"If you can't use someone's name it kind of excludes them socially," she said.
Dr Price said she'd heard stories about some people adopting English names because their colleagues' attempts at addressing them were so bad they didn't even realise they were being called.
"I've had people say that [it's] caused a major issue in their career, because when people are coming around introducing someone who's visiting .... they hesitate, they dodge them or they avoid them in the corridors," she said.
But Dr Price said people should not make assumptions about people from diverse backgrounds who had English names. She said one Korean woman had told her about feeling patronised by her son's teacher, who commented on her Korean name and then said "oh, good girl, I'm glad you haven't adopted an English name".
"Don't give me a little round of applause for doing what you think is correct - there's some people who are quite comfortable with it," she said.
She said some Chinese people used different names in different contexts, and other cultures encouraged people to adopt new names when they reached adulthood.
Dr Fiona Swee-Lin Price is a cross-cultural communication specialist. Source: Supplied
Dr Price said having an unusual name also put a lot of pressure on the person to constantly coach others on how to say it - something that not everyone wants to do.
Need for focus on practical solutions
Dr Price believes it's important to treat the pronunciation of names as a practical issue that needs practical solutions, rather than a moral issue that somehow reflects on a person's character.
"There's a lot of pressure on people to do better but not a lot of support in how to do better," she said.
For those brought up in English-only speaking households, Dr Price said they may not be able to make some of the sounds from unfamiliar languages, let alone remember how a name should be pronounced after hearing it once, especially as names are often not spelt phonetically.
READ MORE
How multicultural is your suburb?
Her advice to someone who wants to try and get the pronunciation right is to first ask the person, or someone who knows them or speaks the same language. Make a record of how they say it so you can remember it later - either via an audio recording or by writing it down phonetically.
She said people are often very pleased that others are making an effort to get it right.
Otherwise, you can often find name pronunciations online, even Google Translate can sometimes be useful if you know the language.
"They're not foolproof but if you've got no clue, they're certainly worth a try."
She said LinkedIn also had a useful feature that allowed people to upload an audio recording of their name to their profile.
'Funny-sounding names' becoming more common
Jieh-Yung said it used to frustrate him when he was younger that people used to describe him as the "guy with a funny-sounding name". Now he doesn't think it's such a bad thing because it shows that he at least made a memorable impression, and hopefully they could learn his name over time.
He has also developed some measures to make it easier for others to remember his name, including using a hyphen as many people used to - and still think - Yung is his middle name.
In social situations, people often ask Jieh-Yung to introduce himself rather than someone else introducing him. He also tries to refer to himself in the third person, giving him a chance to repeat his name and helping others to pick it up.
For example, he might tell a story and say 'Jieh-Yung what were you thinking?'.
But he doesn't get offended if people can't pronounce his name right.
"I have Chinese people say my name wrong so I don't expect everybody to get it right," he said.
Jieh-Yung Lo has a name that's difficult to pronounce but he doesn't want people to call him J-Lo anymore. Source: Supplied / Charis Chang
"Because they were forced to suppress it for so long when they were growing up," he said. "Now there is an environment where they can just be themselves and be comfortable ... and you can balance the two, you can be Australian and you can be Australian-Chinese, you don't have to choose," he said.
"Now when I introduce myself to new people ... it's the same type of enthusiasm that I got when I called myself J-Lo back in 2008, which tells me that we as a society are changing for the better.
"I am no longer the odd fish to have a 'funny-sounding name', there are many other people out there with 'funny-sounding names'."
