Would you mistaken these names as other names?

A very good illustration, thanks emjan! I like that idea of sending in a piece of paper

If Mandarin is your first language, I would steer clear of names with an "l" sound, like Alan, as to many Mandarin speakers, there is no difference between that and the "r" sound.

But, do you really need a "western" name? I know British people born here, but whose ancestors were from China who have only Chinese names. (When I say ancestors, I mean their grandparents may have been Malay Chinese, for example, which would mean that the original immigration from China itself was even longer ago.)

There are a few Western names that sound a bit like East Asian surnames.

For example, Lee and Kim are both used as forenames in the UK, and can be either male or female. Lee is a surname here too.

I think I would choose something short, just one syllable, maybe a shortening of a name.
Easier to pronounce and remember, and somehow a shortening of a longer name seems a bit less incongruous than a full "Western" name, more like a nickname.

Something like Joe, Jay, Dan, Max, Ed, Tim, or Tom. Maybe something that begins with the same sound as your Chinese name.

I always mix up names, OP, but some of us are just like that.

Anglo names means names that are culturally and linguistically English.

For instance, Edward, James, and Peter are Anglo names.
Maxim, Roman and Pavel are not, even though they can easily be pronounced by English speakers.

Conchubar and Lasairfhiona are Irish names, and while they are therefore western they are not Anglo or easily pronounceable by people who do not speak or read Irish.

As BadHenry's post indicates, there are class-related aspects to choosing Anglo names that may not be immediately obvious to non-British people too.

There is more to it than just getting the age range right and ensuring the name is not mistaken for another name.

Younger than 40...

I know one Jason under 30 from the UK, Ireland and the US, and the OP is 33. The Jason I know stands out because it is so unusual for anyone younger than 4.

It is easy for people with standard western names (or more accurately, standard Anglo names) to dismiss the concerns of people whose names mark them as 'different'. Try living your life even in Britain with a name like Conchubar or Lasairfhiona and see how long it takes you to get really tired of people 'having a stab' at your name, forgetting your name instantly, having to be reminded of how to spell it, hearing the name and looking at the nametag and asking to hear it again and looking at the nametag again, making remarks about how unusual it is, asking where it comes from, etc.

A lot of doing business involves establishing rapport, and that is difficult when a name presents a hurdle.

Footle, I'm aware of that. This isn't my real name. The OP may already be using his real name.

It was only a question, in case it helps him to know whether his name is easily pronouncable by people - he isn't obliged to answer it.

I may be slightly stupid but I'm not completely stupid

I used to work with a Chinese man and he chose James for his Western name.

Honestly, I would prefer it if you used your real name - anything else feels patronising and dishonest.

Unless it's like 60 letters long and impossible to pronounce.

Something like Jeevan for example does not sound better as Jimmy, which is a horrible old man name over here.

Stuff like that puts me off talking to someone businesswise, whoever they are.

Keep your own name and be proud of it. What is your actual name?

"A Jason .... would be about 50"

Not true. Jason first became popular in the 1970s, possibly after a TV character called Jason King. It continued to be popular through to the late 80s, no doubt partly due to the actor and singer Jason Donovan. So while there are Jasons who are pushing 50, there are plenty of younger ones too.

I know a Jason at work. He was away when I joined the team so I heard his name before meeting him. I imagined him as an early 30s white guy with blonde spikey hair, maybe an earing, essex accent...a bit of a "white van man".

Turns out he is a quiet, sweet, suit-wearing British Asian. No earing in sight. Very un "white van". I got the age right though.

Still not keen on the name..

A Jason or an Alan/Allen would be about 50. The Alans/Allens might even be older too.

There is no guide to names unless you want to look up names from different decades on google.
However, people here have a variety of different ages and are familiar with the names of their classmates from school and their friends at university and colleagues at work, and they know how old these people are. They also have children of different ages, and are familiar with the names of their children's classmates.

Names come and go according to fashion in the west, so a person's age can sometimes be guessed when you see or hear their name.

I am quite often struck by the incongruous choices many Asian people make when picking a 'western business' name -- young women choosing names like Sandra or Cheryl, young men choosing names like Floyd or Herbert..

If your target audience is the US, I would pick something like
James (Jim or Jimmy for a nickname/short version),
Matthew (Matt for a nickname/short version),
Daniel (Dan or Danny for a nickname/short version),
Christopher (Chris for a nickname/short version),
Michael (Mike for a nickname/short version)
Peter (Pete for a nickname/short version),
Joshua (Josh for a nickname/short version)
Jacob (Jake for a nickname/short version),
Ryan
Joseph (Joe for a nickname/short version),
Justin
Alexander (Alex for a nickname/short version),
Marshall
Eric
Kyle
or Scott.
Most of these would work well in the UK too -- maybe not Scott or Kyle though.

Yes, I think you do want to choose a name that fits your age group (unlike the 20 year old Elvis I met recently).

No real pronunciation confusion with those names for me, but it might also depend how strongly accented you are (if you can't hear a difference when you say them then I might not be able to either).

Paul, Stephen, Phillip, ray, joe

My friend took a uk name for school- he went for Sherlock.

My Alan is over 50.
I did used to work with people from Hong Kong who took western names and Alex was very popular. Its also a fairly timeless name

I agree that Dan/Daniel would work well.

I work with an Alan for his birthday one of our colleagues gave him a card saying " to Ken"

Obviously we now all call him Ken

a few comments, but Jason and Alan are male names and Ellen female.

R and L are difficult for chinese speakers, so Ellen is heard/pronounced as Erren.

How about using something which is connected to your own name? So my Taiwanese friend I-Tan became Ian.

Dan would be my suggestion.