Recently in Australia, there have been a few news reports of racist incidents. Although I could write in length about any of those reports, this post is going to be about a study by the Australian National University. In the study it was found that job applicants with Anglo sounding names were more likely to be selected for interviews compared to applicants who did not have Anglo sounding names. It was found that only 21% of "Asian" named applicants were called in for interviews. Also on SBS news there was a report saying that job applicants with "Asian" sounding names have to send 68% more applications than those with Anglo sounding names in order to secure an interview. I have put quotation marks around the word Asian because the study distinguishes between Asian and Indian (East Indian) sounding names -- Indian sounding names are statistically more likely to get called in for interviews than other "Asian" sounding names. I am going to put the seriousness of this study into perspective. Consider this statistic: applicants with Australian Aboriginal sounding names have to send 12% more applications than those with Anglo sounding names. I can not vouch for the accuracy of the study, but even if the study were inaccurate by a few percentages, anything in the 60% range is a big number, don't you think?
But this is what really bothers me about the report: on SBS it was "reported" that people with "Asian" or non-Anglo Saxon sounding names could increase their chances of employment by anglicising their names. I have put quotation marks around "reported" because when I heard the report, at the time it seemed more like a "suggestion" than an actual report of... facts, meaning it was suggested that Asians anglicise their names in order to find employment.
Now... because this blog is about writing writing writing, I must remind the reader that female writers in the past have changed their names in order to seem more credible, and the anglicising of Asian names seems to be of the same nature. In the past, female writers changed their names because it allowed them to get the attention of publishers and to have their published work taken seriously by the public. Mary Ann Evans wrote under the pen name George Eliot. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë were published under the names Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell respectively. Even today, Joanne Rowling became J.K. Rowling when the initials J.K. were suggested to her by her publisher.
I suppose you might want to know if 1) I have an anglicised name because I am not white or 2) if I have a pseudonym because I am female.
My first name is not two Chinese syllables tacked together to produce an English phonetic variant of the Chinese name. Similarly, my middle name is not and never was a Chinese name.
Also, although my name might sound masculine, it is actually my name. My first name is a Biblical name, from the New Testament. In Islam it is also the name of a prophet and means "the one with the whale" (this is Jonah, in the Bible). The full story of the prophet Jonah is recounted in the Qur'an in Sura 37, verses 139-149. The following text was lifted from Wikipedia:
Like many important Biblical characters, Jonah is also important in Islam as a prophet who is faithful to God (Allah) and delivers His messages. He is known to Muslims by his Arabic name, Yunus "Arabic: يونس", and also as (The One with the Whale "Arabic: ذو النون").The full story of Prophet Jonah is recounted in Sura 37, verses 139-149.
Jonah is also a name in the Jewish Torah.
The book of Jonah (Yonah יונה) is one of the 12 minor prophets included in the Jewish Bible. According to tradition Jonah was the boy brought back to life by Elijah the prophet, and hence shares many of his characteristics (particularly his desire for 'strict judgment'). The book of Jonah is read every year, in its original Hebrew, on Yom Kippur - the Day of Atonement.
Thus ends the text lifted from Wikipedia.
And also, it is a Greek name and used to be spelled Eunike, which means "good victory" after the goddess Nike.
So yeah, I have a dude's name. But he was a prophet. Or I may have been named after a Greek goddess. It might also interest you to know that my surname is an ancient Chinese character that means "sword". I guess that means I'm a prophet with a sword. Also the previous line sounded like a lyric from an album by the love-child of Meatloaf and Lou Reed. Why would anyone with a name like that want to change it?
.... Unless that line was a Gangsta Boo lyric. And I don't know how I feel about Gangsta Boo....
But this is what really bothers me about the report: on SBS it was "reported" that people with "Asian" or non-Anglo Saxon sounding names could increase their chances of employment by anglicising their names. I have put quotation marks around "reported" because when I heard the report, at the time it seemed more like a "suggestion" than an actual report of... facts, meaning it was suggested that Asians anglicise their names in order to find employment.
Now... because this blog is about writing writing writing, I must remind the reader that female writers in the past have changed their names in order to seem more credible, and the anglicising of Asian names seems to be of the same nature. In the past, female writers changed their names because it allowed them to get the attention of publishers and to have their published work taken seriously by the public. Mary Ann Evans wrote under the pen name George Eliot. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë were published under the names Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell respectively. Even today, Joanne Rowling became J.K. Rowling when the initials J.K. were suggested to her by her publisher.
I suppose you might want to know if 1) I have an anglicised name because I am not white or 2) if I have a pseudonym because I am female.
My first name is not two Chinese syllables tacked together to produce an English phonetic variant of the Chinese name. Similarly, my middle name is not and never was a Chinese name.
Also, although my name might sound masculine, it is actually my name. My first name is a Biblical name, from the New Testament. In Islam it is also the name of a prophet and means "the one with the whale" (this is Jonah, in the Bible). The full story of the prophet Jonah is recounted in the Qur'an in Sura 37, verses 139-149. The following text was lifted from Wikipedia:
Like many important Biblical characters, Jonah is also important in Islam as a prophet who is faithful to God (Allah) and delivers His messages. He is known to Muslims by his Arabic name, Yunus "Arabic: يونس", and also as (The One with the Whale "Arabic: ذو النون").The full story of Prophet Jonah is recounted in Sura 37, verses 139-149.
Jonah is also a name in the Jewish Torah.
The book of Jonah (Yonah יונה) is one of the 12 minor prophets included in the Jewish Bible. According to tradition Jonah was the boy brought back to life by Elijah the prophet, and hence shares many of his characteristics (particularly his desire for 'strict judgment'). The book of Jonah is read every year, in its original Hebrew, on Yom Kippur - the Day of Atonement.
Thus ends the text lifted from Wikipedia.
And also, it is a Greek name and used to be spelled Eunike, which means "good victory" after the goddess Nike.
So yeah, I have a dude's name. But he was a prophet. Or I may have been named after a Greek goddess. It might also interest you to know that my surname is an ancient Chinese character that means "sword". I guess that means I'm a prophet with a sword. Also the previous line sounded like a lyric from an album by the love-child of Meatloaf and Lou Reed. Why would anyone with a name like that want to change it?
.... Unless that line was a Gangsta Boo lyric. And I don't know how I feel about Gangsta Boo....