For my friends from the States, my middle initial has always been a mystery. The "J" stands for Jung, not pronounced like Carl, the psychologist. For the longest time, as early as my memory takes me, I've had two names, one Chinese name, and the one that you all know. In the US, it's not uncommon for the Chinese Americans to have a western name, and use their Chinese name as their middle name. I don't use my Chinese name because it sounds terrible when pronounced JUNG, in addition, Jung does not sound anything like my name in Chinese. I don't know why it's spelled that way, but if I was to spell it myself, it would be Rong, but that doesn't look very good either, because in English, you would have say it with an accent, but in Chinese, it's the second tone, and it's softer. Anyway, I'm not really attached to one name or another, all this is just for others to refer to me.
For my German-speaking friends, yes, it's odd that my name is Heidi, but there you have it, I didn't name myself. I was named by a German lady who thought it was appropriate because I was brought up by my grandfather, more or less in a mountain, not in Switzerland, but in Taiwan, close enough.
The problem rose when I moved to Spain: in the States, I'm identified by others as Heidi J. Tsai. Logically, first name, middle name, and last name (family name). All of a sudden, in Spain, my middle name became my family name, which makes no sense to me, or to the Spaniards. Whenever I wait in line to be called, I always have to pay attention when they scream out my non-name, "Heidi Jung". Who is Heidi Jung? oh right, that's me. When I swore in for my residency in Spain, apprently, it's obligatory to have, in addition to your first name, TWO second names, but also a THIRD last name. They don't care what you fill out on your form, they just take whatever names they see from the documents you submit.
When my ID came (after a two-year process plus 1/2 year wait), I was...Heidi Jung Tsai Chin. WHO THE HELL IS THIS??? Who is Jung and who is Chin, and what happened to my name? It's so, long. The third last name is your mother's maiden name, but in my case, it's NOT! My mother has changed the spelling of her last name as long as I can remember. HER last name is Chyn, but for some reason, in my original birth certificate, it still said Chin. So now, not only I am called Heidi Jung, I have an extra last name that doesn't belong to anyone in my family.
If you think this is not enough beauracracy, there's more:
I'm in the process of changing my name BACK to just H.T. as I am known most of my life. I have to fill out numerous forms stating WHY I am 'changing' my name (because of you stupid 'funcionaries'!). I had to submit at least 8 different documents which have my original name on it, so I thought, ok, let's make it serious and official: newspaper reviews (RAVING ones) in Catalan AND Spanish on my performances, concert programs, monthly pay receipts from the conservatory, etc...BUT! wait! You need TWO people to write a statement, sign their name (at least they have one!), and add their ID number. I thought, ok, I'll have Alfred do it, he's famous. NO! RANDOM PEOPLE! Apparently, all of my documents aren't enough, they want random people to sign random forms in order for me to change my name to what it has always been. What the f*)()C(*ck??
Incidentally, when I went in for my written test, I was (should not be by now) shocked to see a room of 70 men with names like Ali and Mohammad. And then I heard, Heidi Jung, and I said 'soy yo' (more or less meaning 'that's me', in this case). I've never thought much of names, especially mine. I figured that I'm not identified by my name, I didn't name myself, it just is. Perhaps I've been wrong?
What's YOUR name, and how do YOU like it?
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