In Taiwan, and other parts of East Asia, it is customary to give yourself a Western name if you work internationally. It is a tradition rooted in a less restrictive mentality regarding names. As proof of this liberality regarding names, I can cite the fact that it is legal to change your name three times. The procedure is simple and straightforward: if you wake up in the morning and decide you want to be called Salmon to get a discount on sushi, you have the right to do so and can do so. There will be a multitude of amusing articles about this degeneration of customs that leads a multitude of people to legally change their name to Salmon, but it can be done. Apart from these extreme examples, choosing a Western name to deal with Westerners is part of the East Asian tradition of thinking that Westerners cannot handle names that are exotic to them. This may be true, at least in part, perhaps more so in the past, perhaps not so much today, who knows. The fact is that the tradition in Taiwan is alive and well, and most Taiwanese who deal with the West use a Western name when working with Westerners and their normal name when working with Taiwanese. Usually, these are common Western names such as Mark or Susan, but I have also come across people with unusual names such as Snoopy or Bacon.

Westerners who live permanently in Taiwan, conversely, choose a name in Mandarin. Most of the time, they simply transliterate their name into Mandarin. For example, the Mark and Susan mentioned above become 馬克 (Mǎkè) and 蘇珊 (Sūshān). For the surname, they generally use the first syllable of their surname and look for a similar word in Mandarin, since surnames in Taiwan are generally one syllable (while first names are two syllables). Then there are those who give themselves a Mandarin name that has nothing to do with their name, i.e. they choose a normal Mandarin name. I chose the second option.

I do not live in Taiwan. Although I go there often and spend July and August there with my family every year, I am not a permanent resident. However, after visiting Taiwan regularly for about fifteen years, I decided it was time to become localised, so I asked our friends to give a name not only to me, but also to my son and my wife. So, my son’s name is 台生 (Táishēng), which means born in Taiwan or Taiwanese student; this is because he has always enjoyed spending his summers in Taiwan. My wife’s name is 美珠 (Měizhū), which means beautiful pearl, since my wife is objectively a beautiful pearl. My name is 必勝 (Bìshèng, Pi-sheng in Wade-Giles), which means guaranteed victory. However, I was given this name because I once ordered a large pizza from Pizza Hut and ate it all myself, managing to finish it and feeling terrible all night; this episode caused great astonishment among the Taiwanese, as they usually eat two or three slices of pizza. The name of Pizza Hut in Taiwan is 必勝客 (Bìshèngkè), hence the origin of my name.

Now my business card has a normal front and the other side written in Chinese (traditional Taiwanese characters, of course) and my name is proudly displayed. When I give it to people in Taiwan for work, I always see a surprised expression and it’s a really effective way to get off on the right foot. I am very proud of this name and I really consider it my other name.