What's in a Name Anyway?
So, I now realize that my readership went from maybe five people down to one but hey I don't know what I expected when I take such long breaks between posts. It's Sunday morning and I should be getting ready for church but I was laid out yesterday by something I ate (I think it was school lunch on Friday) and am still not quite up to going to church. I'm beginning to wonder if it's possible for all of us to be healthy at the same time.
Anyway, I've been meaning to post about student names since I got here and just haven't gotten around to it until now. Nearly everyone has a nickname that they go by in their classes and it's a good thing too because when you've got names that are 30 letters long . . . For example, look at some of these names:
Passawalee Seearamroongruang
Kuntida Chokboonsongsawat
Chuanfachom Navabunniyom
And these are just a couple in one of my classes. Anyway, I really get a kick out of the nicknames that they give their kids here. It's quite funny to a native English speaker. You have to keep in mind that some of these names are nicknames in Thai and they just romanize it into English and you end up with something like "Earn." I'm only going to list the funny and interesting ones.
Noon
Bonus
Plug
Ice
View
Oak
Dragon (Oh wait, that's not a nickname -- that's a real name!)
Earn
Simba
Turbo
Proud
Pee - Pee
Bank
It
Gift
Need
Big
Peach
Benz
Future
Fifa
Dear
Net
Bell
Flash
Arm
Mink
Dream
Alpha
Earth
Pop
Opal
Japan
Title
Donut
One of the other teachers was joking with me the other day. He asked if we have a boy if we're going to give him a Thai nickname. He said that he jokes with other teachers that they're like American Gladiator names -- Turbo, Flash, Bonus, etc. I like Nitro. So, if it's a boy, he'll have an American name but you can just call him "Nitro."
7 comments:
I'm a fan of 'PLUG'...who wouldn't want that nickname?
I'm still reading, John! I never gave up hope that you would start re-posting. I had friends who seriously considered naming their kid "Magnus". He would have either been beat up on the playground, or would have beat everyone else up.
P.S. We need to do a video call so Ethan can see Trea. Or is her nickname "Shoo Shoo" in Thai as well??
-Kimberly
Pee-Pee? Seriously? People need to research these nicknames before they start giving them out. Of course, I could say the same about Americans in some cases. For example, the name Chloe. The word "Klo" in German means toilet. So there you go. Maybe she could hang out with Pee Pee.
Hey, my favorite is "It," but no grandson is mine is going to be called "Nitro!"
Okay, okay, I know you well enough that you'll do it just to show me you can. :) Still, those nicknames are crazy.
Mom
I'm reading too John, we want to talk to Trea as well, we just hooked up a camera. We'll look for you online.
Well, in three weeks we find out the gender of our baby. So I'm wondering, would we use the name
Chuanfachom Navabunniyom for a girl or boy? Joseph still just thinks "we should name the baby Ducky"!
Thanks for the name ideas. We'll keep them in mind for the next one....
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