上班族必備軟實力

[Richard is an English name from ancient Germany. It means “Powerful Leader”.]

Many people in Taiwan have an English name. It makes it convenient for many of the native English-speaking teachers, because some of them have trouble with Chinese names.

Dinosaur would be an excellent English name.

Potato, Eco, and Kyle are some strange English names that I have heard of. These names are unofficial, they don’t have to be registered with the government, so there is no reason not to have fun with them.

Yang Chenglin is a famous singer and actor whose English name is Rainie. She used to hang around with Sunnie, Cloudie, and Snowie. There is also a couple of TV stars who go by the single letter “S”. (One is a capital and the other is lower case.)

We can all have fun with nicknames and making up alternative names for ourselves. People do it a lot on the Internet. Many modern music stars in the West change their names to make themselves sound DJ cool, J.

Not every Taiwanese celebrity uses an English name. A-Mei and Jolin don’t. Politicians almost never do. Most English classes I have taught were filled with students who chose English names, but there was usually at least one who refused to go by anything but their given names. I respect that.

One’s name is important and it must be cherished and protected. Just call me Ishmael from now on. Thank you for reading.