I have over 700 students. There's no way in hell I'm remembering ANYTHING.

I'd just give them all obscure and difficult names, like Isembard, Countenance, Caoibhin, M-m-m-my Sharona, Tikva, Hypatia, Myfanwy, Dafydd, Majnoon, and Bort. But in my head they'd always be "little sh*t".

I'd be a terrible teacher.

I never make students choose an English name, but sometimes they'll choose one for themselves and they'll insist I call them that. I'll oblige as long as it's not something offensive or sexual. I'll also revert back to calling them their given names if they can't even be bothered to remember their English names themselves, lol. Had one boy almost throw a whole-ass fit over me calling him by his Korean name, but he'd never respond if I called him by his chosen English name because he kept forgetting that he'd given it to himself. This is middle school.

I make all my students use an English name.  And I pick them.  I just tell them this is English class and if you want me to ever call on you I require an English name.  The science teacher here used to teach English with me and she now names each student based on the periodic table of the elements.  She agreed with me that, although some are nice sounding, there are just not enough variety in names in Korean.  And clearly some parents have agreed for quite sometime.  My new co-teacher is named Spoon (in Korean natch).

I do not, but most of my students have them anyway. They have fun picking them out and exploring variations with them.

Honestly, we really need to move past even encouraging English names. In 2023, I think we need to make it clear to kids that they should feel ZERO pressure or incentive to adopt an English name and that moving forward, people in English-speaking countries believe that no one should have to change their name to make anyone feel more comfortable and that "ethnic" names are fine.

All the Grade one students I meet in the playground have English names and they are VERY proud of them. They make a special point of telling me daily what their English names are.

Colonial mindset indoctrinated at a young age.

So, to those getting all bent out of shape on this matter, the kids love having English names and are proud of them.

I love their creativity in naming themselves, just awesome.

I agree there. I do get it from a play-fantasy-"I'm Tony. I'm Batman. I'm Shang Chi. I'm Zeus. I'm Worf." kids mindset of make-believe and I think that's great.

But yeah, more and more ethnic minorities are saying "F that" to having to adopt names just to make certain people feel more comfortable.

. I never heard anyone in Korea, China and Taiwan being traumatised by having an English name.

To be blunt and this needs to be said- What East Asian people say to your face and what they talk about amongst themselves is not always the same thing. And if you don't realize that, you're living with blinders on.

This is something that East Asians talk about and opinion is all over the place, but one thing it is not, is uniform. And again, this isn't a conversation limited to East Asians either. It was a conversation immigrants from all over Europe had and its a conversation immigrants from South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and so on have. It's a conversation within the African-American community. It has been an ongoing racial issue since Cassius Clay/Muhammed Ali Malcolm Little/Malcolm X and Lew Alcindor/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and into the tone certain people take when they say names like D'Shawn or Laronte or Shamika and the discrimination faced by individuals with names that do not conform.

Anyways, I'm not full radical and I don't get the sense that you're trying to impose names on them. But I'd really ask you to think long and hard about this name thing and understand that moving forward, it's a thing that really needs to go away (again, outside of creativity/role-play/imagination/general kid fun type stuff). East Asians/Middle Easterners (think 'Sam' and 'Moe' are real Arabic names?) Tony/Antonio and whether someone is American or 'European' or John/Juan and whether that gets them searched at the border or not or Rayshawn not getting hired or getting his car searched for no reason, all of that. It just needs to go.

I'm the one that needs to learn how to say their name in Mandarin or Korean or Arabic and remember it, they don't have to change sh*t and we shouldn't be encouraging that.

Honestly, we really need to move past even encouraging English names. In 2023, I think we need to make it clear to kids that they should feel ZERO pressure or incentive to adopt an English name and that moving forward, people in English-speaking countries believe that no one should have to change their name to make anyone feel more comfortable and that "ethnic" names are fine.

Colonial mindset indoctrinated at a young age.

As learning another language (properly) affects the way one thinks and even the way one identifies, surely, by extension, teaching English is a form of colonialization of the mind. You're personally facilitating cultural colonization. You're basically like Columbus or something.

To be blunt and this needs to be said- What East Asian people say to your face and what they talk about amongst themselves is not always the same thing. And if you don't realize that, you're living with blinders on.

You wouldn't happen to be making a blanket statement saying that all "East Asian" people are two-faced there, would you?

I tell them to write their actual real Korean names on their worksheets, and have them pratice transliteralting those names into the Roman alphabet,

Oh, man.  Sorry, but this is contraindicated.  Transliterating English and Korean is a terrible terrible idea.  That's why we have jebras roaming the sabahnna and hu-ried chicken in the hope.   

My class...my preferences, Marti. Not talking about outside the classroom.

I understand. But I'd ask you to really think about this one and what it means in terms of respecting your students and who they are as human beings. I think one of the most basic forms of human respect is to learn someone's name and call them by it and accept that as their name. Respect is a two-way street and if you aren't going to respect them and where they're coming from, it's really hard to ask the same towards you in return.

How would you want to be treated if the situation were reversed? I do agree to some extent of "You need to get with the program" at the same time if my teacher showed complete contempt towards my culture and identity, I wouldn't have much respect for them and who knows? Maybe in fact, actively start to despise them and what they represented, especially if I were a youth. And perhaps if I was fine with it at the time, when older I might look back at it with a different eye and much more negatively.

I did 8 years in public schools at elementary (3years)  middle (3 years) and High (2 years)  and never once came across anyone who used their English name.  After being in a hagwon now for 6 years, they are all give / allowed to pick an English name.  It helps them get comfortable with male / female names as well as learn some new pronunciation.  I dont force them to take an english name, but I usually get to pick it for them. Its a tremendous amount of pressure because some of them might end up keeping it forever.   I name them after my friends who have left Korea. But there is still a few times when the korean teacher gets to them before me,  which explains the abundance of Anna, Hannah, Amy, and Esther's walking around.  Gonna try to get 4 girls in one class to go as Blanche, Sophia, Dorothy and Rose.  Blanche will be the only hard sell.