Chinese names in Singapore and Malaysia aren’t weird; they reflect cultural diversity
Chinese names were once pronounced according to a person’s local dialect. Thanks to standardisation and the pinyin system, this is changing
Someone had an issue with my name recently.
It was not a person more familiar with European or English names – “Oh great! Why can’t he make it easier for everyone and call himself Matthew or Mark?” – nor was it a Hongkonger, like that officer from the Immigration Department from years before who had actually asked me, “Why is your name so weird?”
That someone was a mainland Chinese university professor, who had to enter my name in an application for the funding of a project.
Unlike that Hong Kong immigration officer, she was very polite and respectful when she inquired, via email, about the correlation between my Chinese name “黃克群” and “Wee Kek Koon”, the name on my identity cards and passport and the name I have always used in my personal and professional life.
The naming convention for people of Chinese descent in Singapore and Malaysia is different from that in China.