So many movies, books, and people always emphasize the importance of having a meaningful name and calling a person by his/her true name. A name constitutes an important part of one’s identity—being called ‘the’ name often represents a kind of acceptance of identity in literature, as Squeak from the novel The Color Purple did.
Perhaps this is the reason why so many people are surprised when they find out that my father made my ‘official name’ (the name on my official documents such as my birth certificate) on the fly—in just a couple of hours before he had to leave for a business trip. ‘Yerin’ is a name that is quite common; one can quite easily see this from the fact that there are four ‘Yerin’s in our school population of 450. The other three ‘Yerin’ names are based on Chinese characters, and they were names chosen after much careful thought. My name, however, is Korean; in fact, it’s a shortened version of a phrase that means, quite simply, ‘pretty child.’ Most people think I’m joking when they hear this, but I’m not—I am literally the ‘pretty child.’
Simplistic as it is, I do like my name. It’s a name that has given me great opportunities, not to mention how great it is for a conversation starter. When I explain my name to people I meet for the first time, it breaks the ice quite nicely and makes it easier for me to leave an impression. I do have another name that I go by—Sunho—but this is reserved for family and close family friends. I do believe that Sunho may more accurately represent me, and I am considering changing my ‘official name’ to Sunho one day. But for now, I’m happy to be the ‘pretty child.’
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