Call Me Adam
From what I know (which isn’t much), I think I’m going to start teaching sometime next week. It’ll probably be Junior 1 and 2 students (7th and 8th grade), so there’s a good chance that many of them will not yet have English names. And I’ll bet you know what that means … it’s student-naming time!
I’m not sure if I’ll do it Garden-of-Eden-style or more democratically … but either way, I need suggestions! They could be common names, celebrities, exotic names, people I know in America, adjectives, historical characters, common household objects … anything, really:
- Shaquille
- Broom
- Speedy
- Oprah
- George
- Frankfurt
- Matilda
- Echo
- Shaniqua
- Cable
- Bob
- Jose
- Wicker
- Sweet Action
Come on … what other suggestons do you have? Just leave comment with 5 or 10 (or 40!) names …

August 28th, 2006 at 11:04 am EST
if it were me, i’d try to name them in some way that i could remember them by their face with their name. Other than that, here are some suggestions…
Hank (there’s gotta be a hank)
Dorothy
Jackson
Larry
Ethel
Tabithia
Pebbles
Gilligan (the Skipper too?)
and last but not least (for Mom): Beulah
August 28th, 2006 at 11:08 am EST
Nice … those are all quality names, HP! The zhonguaren (Chinese people) here in the Internet bar are giving me strange looks here because I can’t stop laughing!
August 28th, 2006 at 12:17 pm EST
I devoted about 15 minutes of my day to naming your Chinese students, it was so much fun! Here are my top three choices for each letter of the alphabet. I hope this is helpful:
Apple, Atari, Anna
Boomer, Bubble, Betsy
Corduroy, Conner, Cutie
Donald, Debbie, Duck
Eagle, Emmy, Edge
Fawn, Fanny, Frame
Gem, George, Giant
Homer, Handy, Hannah
Ida, Intro, iPod
Jolly, Jamie, Justice
Kind, Kangaroo, Kimber
Lamb, Light, Lou-lou
Matty, Mister, Matchbox
Noon, Norris, NoName
Opry, Okey-Dokey, Otthelo
Pearl, Peach, Pooh Bear
Queenie, Quill, Quentin
Rahab, Road, Roger Rabbit
Sid, Samson, Shirley
Top, Tessa, Today
Uma, Unity, Uranium
Vine, Vision, Victor
Waldo, Wing, Winter
Xenia, Xerxes, Xavier
Young, Yani, Yolanda
Zane, Zelda, Zzz
August 28th, 2006 at 12:31 pm EST
The first one (Shaquille) is a no-brainer. The American name should be “O Neil”. Shaq would love to know that his fame stretched clear to China! MOM
August 28th, 2006 at 12:35 pm EST
Good O’le Mom………I read this blog when doing 1,000 other things, and assumed that the above list WAS the names of your students. Have another good laugh on me! LOVE, MOM
August 28th, 2006 at 2:36 pm EST
Kim - You came up with all those names in only 15 minutes?? Amazing! And Lance, what are you doing in an “internet bar” at 11:08pm China-time? You brave soul…
August 28th, 2006 at 3:47 pm EST
THE STUDENT MOST LIKE ME SHOULD BE NAMED AFFECTIONATELY “ANNIE”. WHADDA YOU SAY? MOM
August 28th, 2006 at 9:45 pm EST
Cities and states make for interesting names- Cincinnati, Wyoming, Charleston, Atlanta, Toronto…
Lars would be a fun name, especially with L and R being apparently easy to mix up (thinking of the ending of Christmas Story)
Bob
Ziggy
Ralph (also thinking of Christmas Story)
August 28th, 2006 at 11:25 pm EST
Lenny and Squiggy?
Bo and Luke?
Bert and Ernie?
if you find the right two guys, i’m just sayin…
August 29th, 2006 at 9:41 am EST
I have been contemplating for hours about names for your new students. Please file them in a folder so you don’t lose them. They are excellant choices! Here we go…….Nathaniel, Caleb, Naomi, Claire, Jakob, Ilona, Jesslyn, Grace, Rachel, and Drew.
N A M E S ……………..M I L L I O N S
T H E S E ……………..P R I C E L E S S
Love,MOM
August 29th, 2006 at 9:41 am EST
I have been contemplating for hours about names for your new students. Please file them in a folder so you don’t lose them. They are excellant choices! Here we go…….Nathaniel, Caleb, Naomi, Claire, Jakob, Ilona, Jesslyn, Grace, Rachel, and Drew.
N A M E S ……………..M I L L I O N S
T H E S E ……………..P R I C E L E S S
Love,MOM
August 29th, 2006 at 9:44 am EST
bonnie and clyde, wyatt, mickey, minnie… thats all i got right now
August 29th, 2006 at 9:54 am EST
You’re a lucky one! My kids are going to be either Senior 1 or 2! But if I got to name kids, they’d get these:
Awesome (duh!)
Gus
Corey
Rad
Bama
Safari
Persimmon
Sweet
Cola
Hella
Ping
Good rucks!
August 29th, 2006 at 10:07 am EST
You could always go with the names of the seven dwarves…
August 29th, 2006 at 2:10 pm EST
I’m thinkin Buford Cletis, and Petunia Sue. This from a particularly long car trip during which we were trying to think of baby names (for Caleb). Those, and Luboslaw. If you have trouble, go to a baby names website. You can come up with some stellar stuff there :-).
August 29th, 2006 at 5:10 pm EST
my sister’s best friend was just teaching in China…she asked them to pick out their own names that they wanted in English. A quick word of caution… if you don’t mind almost dieing everyday of laughter this is your plan…her kids choose names like Elvis Presly,kitten, and some name of a veggitable (alack I do not remember). Just an idea!
August 29th, 2006 at 9:29 pm EST
Beth’s are the best! Buford, Cletis, and Petunia Sue are redneck favorites! Don’t forget Roscoe P. Coltrane!
August 29th, 2006 at 11:05 pm EST
so you could use some of the names that hollywood has passed on to their children……
shawn and i argue about these: audio science, moxie crimefighter, and pilot inspektor
so i suggested a name along those lines (since he’s so taken w/ those) if we ever have a child: quinn essential
August 30th, 2006 at 12:50 am EST
There has got to be an Adolf…..
August 30th, 2006 at 1:46 am EST
These are absolutely fantastic … good thing I should have over 1,000 students!
I think that I am going to let them choose their names, but I’d like to have a good list of suggestions ready in case if they need help. And I’m sure that there will be a few that I just have to strongly suggest a name for …
August 31st, 2006 at 3:17 am EST
Kitty, Isaac, Sky, Tina, Pisces, Leo, Lillian, Lily, Clare, Hailey, King (this is a girl’s name…), Jennifer, Ben, Justin, Chris, Benji, Kinty, Michael, Eric…
August 31st, 2006 at 4:36 pm EST
so your mom comments on your blog, too.
August 31st, 2006 at 8:36 pm EST
Yeah, she’s pretty high tech.
August 31st, 2006 at 10:08 pm EST
[…] ur Tour
Chinese Names
Ok … now that I’ve got such great suggestions for English names for my students, I need some suggestions for a Chinese name for myself! I […]
September 7th, 2006 at 7:02 pm EST
I feel honored Lance, thanks buddy. You just can’t go to an exhotic local without a Wicker.