It may be way too late but if I were you then, I could have used

"Kwan" (sounds like a Chinese?) or "Tai" (a cute and very informal name).

You could have gone as far as "Khan" (wow, a Mongolian emperor?).

Choi Kahn, your majesty??

It may not be too late to use "Tai" though, like "Hey, Tai, got an eagle today?"

Will you get mad at me if I call you "Tai"? ㅎ, ㅎ, ㅎ,  just kidding.

I guess one of the reasons we did not want to change our name to an American one

was that we did not know if we were to return to Korea in those days.

So, we dearly held on the name that was given by our parents.

My first name, Seongsoo", is a super difficult one for Americans.

For God's sake, I do not blame my father for my name.

Back then, he would never have thought that I would be forever lost in America.

When I started my medical practice, I decided to use "Soo" as Soo Kim.

and then they said, "Hey, a boy by the name of Soo (they meant Sue)."

After a couple of years, I quit using it in our local medical society.

Then, I went to "Steven". Since then, there have been no problems.

However, it may seem to remind my friends for my being "stubborn".

They would say, "Yeah, you sound just like you."

Nowadays, when you have a child or grandkid, we got to carefully consider

how it sounds in America (or in the English language.)

We have to give them a good name because they will live with it for the rest of their life.

I enjoyed both stories so much we all share!

Indeed, my name BOONG - my grandfather designated on his fifth grandson even before I was born, along common middle (?) name BYUNG sharing with all the cousins!- is the worst. Even Korean friends had a hard time to call properly. Then, you can imagine it is a night mare for my American friends/colleagues!

Indeed when I was assigned to the lab soon after I arrived at Richmond, my roommate, Gilbert Robertshaw hopelessly failed to pronounce my name correctly and called me 'boing boing'. One day over the dinner, a visiting professor from Japan sheepishly cautioned me not to let them call me boing-boing because in Japan it means a big tit/boob!

So, my mentor, David Hume instantly suggested me to use the initial instead, that is BB like HM Lee and I accepted.

So we all had a problem with the first name like all other foreigners after all!

God bless America!

BB Lee

enjoyed reading the stories.

When I started the rotating internship in Albany, NY, in 1965,

there were 3 Lee's, and the page operator suggested she would use

my first name, Hahn(which is the common name of my generation sharing

with my three brothers and hundreds of relatives or cousins. Joong which was

named jointly by my grandfather and father is used as a middle name so that

Hahn J. Lee has been my American name ever since) when she paged me 

over the hospital speakers. Then in 1966 when I started residency in Michigan 

I got my last name back. There was no other Dr. Lee and no more confusion.

There are some Americans with last name Hahn and many with the first name Lee

so that on a few occasions they got my first name and last name reversed.

Other than that it's been a smooth ride. Thank goodness for that.

As far as my three children, I did away with middle names and found first names

that could be used both here and in Korea. I haven't heard any complaints from them so far.

선배님들의 재미있는 댓글 감사 드립니다. 운영자 선배님의 Khan( 汗) 에 대해 잠시 떠오르는 생각이 있어 몇자 적습니다.

   저는 Star Trek original series 를 다 보았는데(I am a Trekkie:비현실적, also a Trekker: 현실적). 여기 drama 중 한 episode 중에 "칸의 분노" ( The Wrath of Khan ) 라는것이 1982년 에 영화로 만들어져 나왔는데 Khan은 유전자 조작으로 정신 신체가 우수한 super human 인데 독재로 지구의 일부를 다스리다 반대파들과 싸워서 져서 냉동선을 타고 멀리 갑니다. 깨어난 그는 결국 커크와 싸웁니다. Khan은 여기서 악의 표상입니다. 또 징기스칸을 암시 하기도 하지요. 성경에 나오는 믿음의 인간으로 하나님의 많은 사랑을 받은 (물론 밧세바 사건 같은 실수도 있지만) 다윗(David) 을 nickname 으로 20 여년 사용한 지난 세월을 후회 안하고, 지금도 골프장에서 모르는 미국사람과 골프칠때 이름이 David 이라고 말합니다.  Star Trek 에는 재미있는 것들이 많았지요. matter, antimatter 를 작용시켜 연료로 쓰고, beam transporter, warp drive, wormhole 등이 나옵니다. 실제로 positive charge 의 electron 인 positron 은 영상의학에도 이용되어 PET (positron emission tomogram) 에 사용됩니다. 제작자인 Gene Roddenberry 는 천재라고 생각됩니다. 그는 경찰의 아들로 태어나, 이차대전때 Army Pilot으로 전쟁에 참여 overshoot of runway 로 두 동료가 죽기도 합니다. 전후 Pan Am 의 Pilot 으로 추락사고가 나서 14명이 죽습니다. (Syrian Desert). 그후 아버지처럼 LA 경찰에서 일하면서 writer, producer로 일합니다. 약물 사용과 말년에 stroke 로 고생하다 1991 년 10월 24일 사망하고 ash 의 일부는 space 에 올려졌으나 orbit deterioration 으로 대기중 소멸. 나머지 ash는 space 로 보내기 위해 대기중.   이야기가 많이 옆으로 가서 죄송합니다.