Wanko - wwyd?

[MangosteenSoda]

Not actually a baby (thankfully)!

I work in higher education in Asia and it's typical for students to choose an 'English name' to go by. Sometimes their parents give them one when they are little, but it's more usual for them to choose their own name later on. Many keep the name to use in their professional lives.

I say 'English name' because the names are often not English and/or actual names, but are always referred to as English names eg. Cantona, Makino, Wire, Hamster, Yo, McWing.

I've heard so many that I don't really notice how strange they sound any more and I always take the position that it's just a bit of fun and the student can always change the name or just use their real name in the future.

I had previously thought that I'd only tactfully say something if the name was offensive and I have never come across that before, until I met Wanko. Now, tbf, there is a well known high street shop here called Wanko, so I know where she got it from and it's not as bizarre a pick as it may seem. I asked if she really loved the shop, but the answer was that it's just the most beautiful sounding word she had ever heard. I left it at that.

After mentioning this to DH, he thinks I have an obligation to discreetly let the girl know that it's not a good choice. I think it's none of my business and that it probably won't hold her back at all here so I'm not going to say anything that might embarrass her. If it wasn't the name of a famous shop, I'd probably say something.

I'm not having a big dilemma or anything, but thought I'd canvass for wwyd opinions because I've seen a lot of strong opinions (both ways) recently about names which really don't work in English. I'm interested to know what people think about this.

I would tell her

Tell her, for her own good as much as anything else. She'll always be the butt of the joke otherwise, like my friend 'Porn' from Vietnam! That's her actual name though. She didn't choose it!

What about Wanda? I know it's not the most glamorous name generally speaking but it's close to Wanko (and a girls name too - bonus!).

One of my Indian colleagues was a beautiful girl called Dikshitta. I was mortified by explaining how her name came across in English (especially as I was later advised it was a very common and regarded to be a 'pretty' name)
However, she was very relieved to know and amended it to 'Dee' for work purposes

Thanks for the input. Yes, I will tell her but will put it off until the end of the semester.

The shop Wanko has a sister store called Veeko, so there's an option. I'll mention the W names suggested in this thread as well.

I would definitely want to know if my name meant something laughable/offensive in another place, but I don't get the impression that people here care that much about it. My name is a male name in Italy and I usually use another form of it when I travel there as most Italians find it hilarious, but it's not that funny after explaining for the thousandth time...

Ryooki, I met a Suppaporn in Thailand. That made me smile.