About Our Words: Names, Names, Names
Brian Barratt from Mount Waverley in sunny Melbourne enjoyed an article by Sandy James which took readers on a lexicological journey.
Brian writes:
Hello Sandy, what a fascinating article, thank you.
Spelling foreign names... My mind goes back to when I was private tutor to several Chinese senior secondary school students. Each had a Chinese name and an English name. Thus I coached brothers Matthew and Arthur, sisters Pauline and Gloria, etc. But also Pearl and her brother Wing Ho. When I got to know the parents well enough, I asked why Wing Ho didn't have an English name. The story was that when they registered his birth, nobody knew how to spell the English name they had picked, so he remained simply Wing Ho. (And a particularly bright boy he was, too.)
Brian
http://www.openwriting.com/archives/2011/06/why_would_you_b_1.php
