Re: nightmare butchery of lastnames (was Re: Whiteness?)

Barry Garcia wrote:
    "I know that a many of the Korean kids here have their names
"Americanized" [...] Some of the parents however decided to just give their
kids American names, instead of Korean ones."

    In my hometown (on the Jersey shore) there is a rather large Korean
community.  One family had made all of its money selling diamonds and were,
incidentally, members of "the Family," if you know what I mean (the Genevese
- one of the Five Families of New York and New Jersey).  Not surprisingly,
their children were given names like Stefano and Caterina.  I believe that
"Steve" Kim ended up at Cornell - he and his sister "Cathy" were friends of
my family.
    I once met a fellow of Chinese ancestry who had been raised in
Indonesia.  Apparently, during the time when he was born, the government had
outlawed Chinese names (in an attempt to force the Chinese minority there to
assimilate).  So his parents were forced to choose a non-Chinese name for
him - and he was christened "David Williams."  I kid you not.
-Chollie
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