BlakeYangHu

Blake Yang Hu / 胡扬 (Hú Yáng)

When he turned 16, McCormick first-year Blake Yang — who went by Yang Hu at the time — decided to adopt a more pronounceable English name. He decided on “Blake,” after a character from the animated web series RWBY.

Hu says his decision was unconsciously influenced by shame. According to Hu, who is from Singapore, negative stereotypes about immigrants from mainland China are common there. He recalls telling his friends he’d never get a job with a name like Yang Hu because employers might assume he didn’t speak English, even though he was born in Singapore.

“The ‘Blake’ part [of my name] is the more driven, professionally minded side of myself,” Hu says. “It’s less sentimental and more practical.”

Still, Hu kept “Yang” in his official documents and includes it in his signature. He says it links him to his heritage and pays tribute to his family, who chose it because it means “to look up.” Hu says it represents his parents’ wishes for him to achieve great heights.

Looking back, Hu wonders if he should have kept his Chinese name.

“It probably would have been harder to pronounce, but I think it represents me,” he says.

Angie Chung / 정은지 (Chung Eun Ji)

Weinberg second-year Angie Chung’s parents also consulted a naming specialist to choose her Korean name: “Eun Ji,” which comes from the Hanja characters “恩,” for kindness or grace, and “智,” wisdom.

But since Chung left Korea to start college in the U.S., she says she exclusively goes by her English name, derived from both her baptismal name, Angela, and the pronunciation of her Korean name.

“It feels awkward when people address me with my Korean name using an English accent, because that’s not the way it’s meant to sound,” Chung says. “It has cultural significance and it’s a part of my identity, so I wouldn’t want people to butcher it.”

For Chung, there’s something liberating about using her English name, too. She says the deliberation her parents put into her Korean name made it feel like a mold she had to grow into.

“[‘Angie’] just feels more casual and more like myself,” Chung says. “I feel like I’ve gotten to develop over time with my name.”