Hailey Huang

1.27.2015

My Name 

I have been in America for five years, and I have used the name Hailey for the last two years since I became a U.S. citizen. My Chinese name is Qinger which is hard for people to pronounce in America. Qinger sounds nice in Chinese and nobody has the same name around me because it is not common in China. In China most of the sisters and brothers have the same word in their names, just like my sister’s is Pinger and my name is Qinger. We both have “ER” in our names, and so do my cousins sisters. “ER” means son in Chinese. I think my grandparents really wanted a grandson because of the Chinese tradition. Qinger has another meaning which is “Qing”is the salutation of government officials in ancient in China, so I think my grandparents hoped I could be an officer.

I changed my name to Hailey because it sounds similar as Qinger in Cantonese. I believe that Hailey also means natural, capable, smart and helpful because Hailey has a meaning of hay field. It has the image of laying on natural endless golden hay field under the blue sky with pieces of white as snow cloud. Do you have a feeling of peace and comfort? You could also put all the annoyance away so that you could make a better choice.

Since I started using this name, it was easier for my classmates to remember me and easier to make friends. The most important thing is teachers and classmates don’t need to ask me how to pronounce every time they wanted to call me while it always happened in Qinger. I am also more confident when I introduced myself to others.