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On Mon, 7/21/14, Freelance Traveller <editor@freelancetraveller.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [TML] Naming patterns (was: Re:  Question)
 To: tml@simplelists.com
 Date: Monday, July 21, 2014, 8:35 AM

 It is
 common for Chinese immigrants to western countries to take a
 local
 'use name' (ostensibly to make
 it 'easier' for the Westerners), with no
 necessary connection between the 'use
 name' and the Chinese name - so
 Hom
 Chi-Leung might be known as "Ted Hom" in the
 United States, and may
 even take that as a
 legal name (though it is not mandated). The 'use
 name' is NOT treated as a nickname, even if
 it would normally be so
 viewed (e.g.,
 'Jim Wong' is not a nickname for 'James
 Wong', if 'Jim
 Wong' is the
 'use name' of a Chinese immigrant).

 --
 Jeff
 Zeitlin, Editor
 Freelance Traveller
     The Electronic Fan-Supported
     Traveller® Fanzine and Resource
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I worked w/ two chinese men & one women during my career in IT.

One was from Hong Kong in the Crown Colony days & he used his 'traditional' chinese name.

He told me that, in Hong Kong, chinese who used 'european' names were almost always christians while non-christians would use 'tradtional' names.

The other guy, 'Kevin/Ying' had lived in Shanghai, in what used to be the French Sector of the old International Zone. He came to the US when his mother gained a research position at the local uni.
He had been living here for over 10 years & had become a US citizen by the time I met him.
He had chosen his 'western' name while still in China. He said it felt kind of cool to be able to pick your own name. He insisted on being called 'Kevin' & it took quite a bit of cajoling by me to extract his 'chinese' name. He was a real fount of knowledge wrt what it was like living in China.

The lady, though she *was* chinese, was actually a vietnamese refugee (boat people), & came to the US as an infant in 1975. She had used a traditional name most of her life. It was easy to pronounce, only two ltrs, but I can't recall it anymore! She legally changed her name to 'Joyce' shortly after she became engaged & about six months before the marriage. I rarely saw her but we seemed to get along well & she did seem to make a point of seeking me out for advice. As it turned out, I was unaware of the name change until I was sent the official paperwork for review in order to authorize & implement the changing of her official login ID. (The place where we worked had very strict rules for determining login ID's & I was the final gatekeeper who reviewed all the forms & implemented any changes that were needed) So, I had been calling her the 'old name' for quite some time as, working 3rd shift, I was frequently left 'out of the loop' for unofficial things.
 As it turned out, she never said anything to me & never seemed to mind, so I just kept calling her by the 'old' name. Funny thing was, a number of other co-workers took it upon themselves to correct me. The issue was never really settled as I was, as the british say, 'made redundant' & shortly thereafter, found myself 'retired'.