New Names for Everyone

We promised no children of our own while in Korea (and believe us after controlling 50 kids throughout the day, we don't want any of our own just yet). But that doesn't stop us from having to think about baby names. If you're wondering what I'm talking about, let's just say that naming children is not only the duty of new parents in Korea. Foriegn teachers in ESL classes must give English names to students who are new to the class or don't already have an English name. On my first day of class, I had a new student and I was told by my Korean teaching partner to give him a name. Just like that. No planning or negotiating with the kid's parents. I was given the sole responsibility of naming a kid that wasn't my own. And I found myself without my handy Baby Name book. So, I named him Willy. For no other reason that it sounded good and I was under pressure to come up with a name on the spot. Since then I have named Wendy and Enid.

One trick we have come up with is to ask their Korean name and make an English name that sounds similar. Or sometimes the Korean name has a meaning and we can formulate an English name from that. For instance, the one new student that Jenn has had so far has a Korean name that means pearl; she is now called Pearl. This doesn't always work, of course, and we will have to be creative sometimes because every new studnet from hereafter will need to be named by us. It's one thing to name your own baby, but we have to come up with an English identity for dozens of kids. Oh, the pressure. I wouldn't be surprised if our school starts sounding like Chatham and Windsor, with Liams and Evelyns and Keelys and Audreys and Jacks and Aidans and Venessas and Andrews and so on. Maybe a little Korean who seems to have an unusual gift with making money will be called The Donald. And it's not out of the question that sooner or later there will be The Patrick walking around in our school. So I guess we don't need a Baby Name book after all, we'll just draw from the names of our family and friends back home.

And speaking of names, Jenn and I have acquired our own new names at school. On our first day, we were introduced as Darin Teacher and Jennifer Teacher and that is what we are known as. "Teacher" has become our new last name. From what I gather, being a teacher is a respected position, so it won't harm us to forfeit our real last names for a year.