English names

I was reading through a blog post by Roboseyo last week and came across something that I thought was funny, yet interesting: a list of overused English names for Koreans.

After reading it, I realized that many of my students names are on the list, and that he was correct in his presumption. For the sake of analysis, I'm going to put an * next to the names which I've come across at my school.

Here is what he submitted:

List one: overused boys names.
Try to avoid choosing these names for boys: they are either too common, so they will be easy to forget, or much, much less common in English than in ESL classrooms.

Alex*
Andy
Brian**
David*
Eric
Harry*
Jack***
Jake*
Jim/Jimmy/James***
Joe/Joey
John*
Kevin*
Michael*
Ryan
Sam
Tom***
Tony*

The extra * represent how many students share that name. As you can see, more than half the list is tagged. Here is the list for girls:

Amy****
Angie
Annie/Anna*
Emily
Jane
Jennifer
Jenny**
Jessie/Jessica**
Jina*
Julia*
Julie*
Lisa**
Mary*
Meg
Sally**
Sarah**
Sunny*

Roboseyo goes on to argue that teachers should chose names for their students, and in deciding, take into consideration names that are harder to pronounce, thereby getting students to enunciate more and improve their English speaking skills in the process. I agree with him.

While most public school teachers have so many students they don't even bother to learn their names, and if they do, it's usually their Korean name, at hagwons, we're more likely to have an English name system in effect. Having an English name can be incredibly beneficial when it comes to international experience and communication.

Though some may argue that teachers should learn their students Korean names, and while that does help to improve your relationship with them, it doesn't help prepare them for any future English foreigner encounters; most foreigners probably won't be able to pronounce their names correctly, and so having an English name can help avoid some confusion.

I also believe that if Korean students should have an English name, that their teachers should also be open to the idea of having a Korean one. I've yet to decided upon anything yet, but am open to any suggestions.