Guess Who

One of the most entertaining aspects of my new job are the names of the children. They obviously have Korean names, but upon beginning class at Chungdahm, they are instructed to choose an “English” name, just as someone named Joe would go by Jose in Spanish class. Because the Korean to English translation is no where near as simple as English to Spanish, the kids can basically choose any name they want. The winner of the best name choice goes to Elvis. On top of that, I started to notice a strange theme within the name choices. I have several Sallys and Harrys, two Dianes, two Glorias, Cindy, Susan, Lucy, to name a few. These names are not uncommon, but they are definitely not the most popular within that generation. I mean really, when was the last time you met a 9 year old named Harry? or Gloria? Other than that...I saw a pattern: does anyone else think that these sound like the names of the characters from the game, Guess Who? I think that every student at my school thought, hmm, what should I name myself? Let me just look at this popular Hasbro game to pick out the appropriate name. Either that or a trendy name book from 1970.