A western name gave the new upwardly mobile young person a little more individuality . Western companies favored Chinese staff having western names and it is true they are easier for us to remember . I was , however , very hostile to those western employers who insisted on staff adopting new names as it seemed like very colonial behavior .
Some of the names were strange . I had a friend Washington Li . An American teacher had walked into the class on the first day of term and given all the boys the names of American presidents . Given their own choice , the girls almost always chose names ending with open vowels : Lucy , Linda , Debi , Susi , Annie , they sound easy on Chinese ears . Some other names were original and very pretty . I knew an Autumn , an Orchard and an Apple Some , however , would seek my advice and I hated this . I had no problem naming a baby , but naming a thirty-year old university educated professional woman was just too much responsibility . I remember one of our pharmacists insisted that I pick a name for her . We settled on Louise and for weeks I was telling her that if she did not like it we could think of another , but she stuck with it .
In China , at that time , mothers never asked for help in naming their baby . The one-child per family rule meant that almost all babies were going to be an only child and a great deal of thought and planning had gone into the selection of a name involving consultations with the two grandmothers and the fortune-teller . My biggest problem with these births was that the fortune teller could only do his work if the exact time and date of the birth was known . Mothers would come to see me insisting that their baby be born on the 17th between 2am and 4am . After doing my first elective Cesarean at 4am I insisted on a second opinion from my own fortune teller . He was strictly a 9 to 5 , Monday to Friday guy .
Occasionally , I would have to interject myself in the name- choosing process . One morning , in Canada , when I arrived on the floor the nurses asked me to go and discuss the name that an Asian mother had chosen for her son . I thought this was strange and did so very reluctantly . I suggested to her , as gently as I could , that Phuc may not be a really good choice . She accepted my advice graciously , thought for a moment and then said- “ What ’ s your name , Doctor ?” A full circle .
I HAD NO PROBLEM NAMING A BABY , BUT NAMING A THIRTY-YEAR OLD UNIVERSITY EDUCATED PROFESSIONAL WOMAN WAS JUST TOO MUCH RESPONSIBILITY .