詹 百 臣
You know I thought my name was just fine. But when I got here, I found that I should have a Chine se name. How did I get this old with one name?More than once I’ve been asked to sign something, when there is this little space provided. When I script out my “John Henry”, I get this inquisitive look, and then the typical question: “But what’s your Chinese name?”
Well, now I have a Chinese name. Sara Lee gave it to me several weeks ago, when she needed to put in an order to upholstery a sofa for my apartment. Entering the order into the plant, she figured it didn’t do any good to have my name in English. Very few people would be able to read it, so she gave me a name. I’m now known here as: 詹 百 臣
It sounds sorta like “Jim Bitson”, which I guess is about as close as my name can be in Chinese and sound similar to my English name. When you look it up online, translation of it comes out as: Zhan hundred feudal officials. I’ve had other Americans tell me they were dubbed descriptive names, like “Big Mountain”. But in the long run they weren’t too impressed with those names.
Well, now I’m 詹 百 臣 . I guess we all know now. I just gotta figure out how to write it out!
posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 5:27 PM
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