开学后，找实习，有必要起个英文名字吗

Cortega

语言交流能力确实重要，但这个是面试的时候看出来的，不是看个名字就决定的吧。

It is absolutely true that a lot of times HR or the people screening resumes will automatically throw out or disregard the ones w/ foreign names and/or education.  The assumption there is that your communication skill (written or oral) is not up to par.  Sure, this country is supposed to encourage diversity, but firms are profit-making enterprises.  They only care about hiring the best people for their money, and the best people are often the ones that demonstrate the best "fit" (especially in finance - they rather hire people that they can confidently put in front of clients than people who can crank out a 3-statement model in 10 mins).  There's nothing wrong with keeping your name, and you should do so if you feel strongly about it.  But just know that working in the U.S. requires you to more or less assimilate, and that means toning down parts of your identity/culture/language that would make you seem "foreign".  Again, there's no right or wrong choice here; it's a personal decision that you have to make.  

-- by 会员 REgirl07 (2010/5/28 5:06:16)

REgirl07

语言交流能力确实重要，但这个是面试的时候看出来的，不是看个名字就决定的吧。

-- by 会员 Cortega (2010/5/28 6:35:12)

You are right, but you have to get the interview in the first place.  Once you get the interview, everything else (school, GPA, etc) actually becomes less relevant, and you are almost on equal playing field with all the other interviewees.  The situation we talked about here is when candidates are not even given the chance to interview, because of a prejudice/bias against "foreign" candidates.

For those who are not familiar with the process, firms get these resume books that are literally 4-5 ins thick (or 10-13 cms for people who are smart enough to use the metrics system, haha).  HR or a selected group will pull 15-20 resumes out of that pile to interview.  So each resume get looked at anywhere from a few seconds to a min or two.  Since there are so many resumes and so few interview spots, most selectors have some "auto filters" in their mind.  Unfortunately, at time they just look at a foreign name and immediately move on to the next resume, so you don't even get the chance to demonstrate your abilities.  Of course, if you went to a U.S. school for undergrad, or have worked in the U.S., then it's not that big of a deal.  But if you have no prior experience working here, then a foreign name just goes to reaffirm their idea that you probably don't fit in as much.

I am not saying this is right or this is how things always work, but it's a situation that I have seen many, many times.    

June28

至于什么印度人日本人为什么不起英文名，那是因为美国人对他们太熟悉了。就好像在中国有人跟我介绍说他叫爱新觉罗xxx，我最多觉得说，哦，满族人，不会觉得别的什么的。

-- by 会员 携隐 (2010/5/27 11:29:30)

印度人为什么不起英文名，我还没时间去研究。不过日本人为什么不起，携隐姐姐，我在这里大胆猜测，是因为日文名都有相应的罗马拼音，外国人都可以发的出那些名字吧。但是汉语拼音顾及了发音的准确，恰恰忽略了有时候，语言模糊比准确本身更实用。所以当自己的中文名字变成汉语拼音让外国人看起来和读起来都很困难，不妨起个英文名字，不过不一定要叫什么Mary, Linda...和自己的中文名发音相近的都可以，我记得小s的英文名就叫Dee

Cortega

我比较好奇，如果真的是这种情况，为什么印度人，日本人，和东欧人不改个英文名来避免这种被歧视的情况呢？还是说你这种情况只是针对中国人？

语言交流能力确实重要，但这个是面试的时候看出来的，不是看个名字就决定的吧。

-- by 会员 Cortega (2010/5/28 6:35:12)

You are right, but you have to get the interview in the first place.  Once you get the interview, everything else (school, GPA, etc) actually becomes less relevant, and you are almost on equal playing field with all the other interviewees.  The situation we talked about here is when candidates are not even given the chance to interview, because of a prejudice/bias against "foreign" candidates.

For those who are not familiar with the process, firms get these resume books that are literally 4-5 ins thick (or 10-13 cms for people who are smart enough to use the metrics system, haha).  HR or a selected group will pull 15-20 resumes out of that pile to interview.  So each resume get looked at anywhere from a few seconds to a min or two.  Since there are so many resumes and so few interview spots, most selectors have some "auto filters" in their mind.  Unfortunately, at time they just look at a foreign name and immediately move on to the next resume, so you don't even get the chance to demonstrate your abilities.  Of course, if you went to a U.S. school for undergrad, or have worked in the U.S., then it's not that big of a deal.  But if you have no prior experience working here, then a foreign name just goes to reaffirm their idea that you probably don't fit in as much.

I am not saying this is right or this is how things always work, but it's a situation that I have seen many, many times.    

-- by 会员 REgirl07 (2010/5/28 7:14:06)

ChinaRepresent

In that case, why stop at having an English name? Why not have an English surname to maximize the opportunity?

We once interviewed a candidate whose name is "Andrew Stevenson". And he turned out to be a Chinese guy.

You are right, but you have to get the interview in the first place.  Once you get the interview, everything else (school, GPA, etc) actually becomes less relevant, and you are almost on equal playing field with all the other interviewees.  The situation we talked about here is when candidates are not even given the chance to interview, because of a prejudice/bias against "foreign" candidates.

For those who are not familiar with the process, firms get these resume books that are literally 4-5 ins thick (or 10-13 cms for people who are smart enough to use the metrics system, haha).  HR or a selected group will pull 15-20 resumes out of that pile to interview.  So each resume get looked at anywhere from a few seconds to a min or two.  Since there are so many resumes and so few interview spots, most selectors have some "auto filters" in their mind.  Unfortunately, at time they just look at a foreign name and immediately move on to the next resume, so you don't even get the chance to demonstrate your abilities.  Of course, if you went to a U.S. school for undergrad, or have worked in the U.S., then it's not that big of a deal.  But if you have no prior experience working here, then a foreign name just goes to reaffirm their idea that you probably don't fit in as much.

I am not saying this is right or this is how things always work, but it's a situation that I have seen many, many times.    

-- by 会员 REgirl07 (2010/5/28 7:14:06)

kevin1473

取一个别名，不至于算恶心吧？这也要上纲上线到爱国爱民族的程度？？

有个例子：
一个英格兰伯明翰的朋友（纯撒克逊爷们），到了加拿大以后，因为自己的名字ARTHUR太英国化了，自己取了一个别名JOE，以适应北美的习惯。
怎么没见他的英国亲戚朋友对他口诛笔伐？

按照改名就恶心的逻辑，大家的网名都换成护照上的名字好了，CD可以率先实行实名制！！

我觉得如果你的中文名不难读的话，没必要起英文名


印度人的名字不比咱们的难念？人家阿三就是不改，而且在美国生了孩子也是用印度的传统名字，不像咱们老中生了孩子就叫什么stanley ，sam，挺恶心的

最好还是起个英文名字，除非你这人特有个性，宁愿失去相当的工作机会也不在乎。

-- by 会员 caesar2005 (2010/5/23 11:41:21)

-- by 会员 Cortega (2010/5/24 2:41:01)

REgirl07

That's a good point, but that question really only applies to Indians.  For whatever reason, there are not as many Japanese or Eastern Europeans applying for these jobs.  (I think most Japanese candidates tend to go back to Japan, and Europeans tend to apply to London).  

For Indians, you actually can't tell if they are "foreign" or not from just their names.  Most American-born Indians still have Indian names.  But for Chinese, the difference is very clear.  Most (95% +) ABC have names like "Michael Chen" or "Michelle Liu", so when you come across a first name that's in Chinese phonics, they are almost always foreign visa holders from China.  So in a way, you can say that the early Chinese immigrants were so desperate to assimilate, they gave up that part of their heritage and created an unfair disadvantage for Chinese nationals.  But there's no way to go back and change history, so it's what it is.

ChinaRepresent

Very true. Very few Indians have English names. So I guess it is okay.

That's a good point, but that question really only applies to Indians.  For whatever reason, there are not as many Japanese or Eastern Europeans applying for these jobs.  (I think most Japanese candidates tend to go back to Japan, and Europeans tend to apply to London).  

For Indians, you actually can't tell if they are "foreign" or not from just their names.  Most American-born Indians still have Indian names.  But for Chinese, the difference is very clear.  Most (95% +) ABC have names like "Michael Chen" or "Michelle Liu", so when you come across a first name that's in Chinese phonics, they are almost always foreign visa holders from China.  So in a way, you can say that the early Chinese immigrants were so desperate to assimilate, they gave up that part of their heritage and created an unfair disadvantage for Chinese nationals.  But there's no way to go back and change history, so it's what it is.

-- by 会员 REgirl07 (2010/5/28 12:42:14)

morespring

这个帖子讨论的正式我这一阵也在考虑的一个问题。虽然在外企工作了好几年，周围的同事大都用英文名字，但我一直没用过英文名。但现在出国在即，开始考虑是否慢慢习惯用英文名字了。首先是我的名字是两个字的，且外国人发音及其困难，每次听了都像受折磨。另外单字又不好用initials（只剩一个字母了）

另外一个有点奇怪的原因也让我开始考虑在国内（起码在工作环境中）开始用英文名。因为外企中一般有英文名的会叫英文名，没英文名的如果名字是双字会叫后两个字，不论年龄。如王二狗一般会被叫“二狗”。但对于单字的就比较不定。如张三往往不会被叫“三”，叫“张三”又略显生分。比较嫩的可能被叫“小张”，但谁都不会也不愿意被叫一辈子“小张”。对于不熟的人，就更不好叫了，有时候只能叫“张总”，但这样叫有时会让张三自己都觉得不太自在。所以这个时候就体现出英文名字的优越性了，尤其是外企环境中，起个英文名字倒是一了百了了。

作为折中，我在考虑用 San (Sandy) Zhang 的落款格式，对方爱叫什么就叫什么吧 呵呵

June28

我实在想象不出有一个名字和国籍身份有什么必然联系。在美国的印第安人是不是也要取个Michael或者Michelle来证明自己不是外国人呢？人家本来就是这片土地的原住民哟！这里有一个国籍和种族（裔）的区分，在美国的华裔，特别是上世纪四五十年代以前来美国的，姑且不论是因为什么原因来到这片土地，至少我看到的都非常认同自己的传统，可以称之为root吧！家族聚会的时候相互也不会以英文名自居！当然找工作的时候也许情况就不同了，中国人勤劳聪慧，多多少少招人嫉妒，起一个普通的英文名，确实在一定程度上，对融入美国社会甚至主流社会起到帮助作用，但绝对不会是决定性作用。类似例子在世界其他地方仍然可以看得到，如在泰国的华裔都有一个官方的泰文名字。Anyway, 就事论事的谈，there is no downside for this issue, lz你觉得有必要就大胆地起个英文名，有啥好考虑的。不免俗地说一句，本人观点。