Korean and Western names are different. I’m aware of this
but yesterday’s visit to the bank really emphasized the point. I went to the
bank to open a new account. My old account is at a small bank that can’t easily
wire money to the US. Since I often do this, I needed a more convenient bank.
Anyway, as the teller was setting up my bank account, she
realized she couldn’t fit my name on my debit card. As she put it “The system
allows 20 characters and spaces and your name has 23.” I told her to eliminate my
middle name and she looked confused. This dilemma led to me explaining Western
names to the teller.
Korean names, like Western names, have three parts to them.
The difference is that they are much shorter and the first name is a double
name while there is no middle name. Also, the last name (family name) is first and
the first name (given name) is last. For example, the president of Korea is Moon
Jae-In. Moon is his last name and Jae-In is his first name. If he were in the
US, his name would be Jae-In Moon.
To explain my name, I had to write down the teller’s name
and then write my name under hers so she could see how the parts compared. This
convinced her that it wasn’t really necessary for my middle name to go on my
debit card.
Over the years, I’ve had debit cards with an interesting
array of names. Some have had just my first name, some my first and middle
name. One had my first and middle name but only the first two letters of my
last name. Despite this, I never had a problem using the cards. Either no one
noticed or they simply didn’t care.
Korean names and Western names are fairly similar. It’s just
that Western names are often too long to fit properly in Korean systems.
What's your name Korean name?
__________
What do Korean people do with names that are common and duplicated? How are these differentiated? Is this an issue or do they have many different given names?
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