This is an All Ears English podcast episode 1956.
Fresh name, fresh identity.
How to choose your English name.
Welcome to the All Ears English podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times.
Are you feeling stuck with your English?
We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection, with your American hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl coming to you from Colorado and New York City, USA.
And to get your transcripts delivered by email Every week, go to allearsenglishcom forward slash subscribe.
Today we get a great listener question from someone who will be working in the US and wants an English name.
What can you think about if you choose your own English name?
Find out today.
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Hey, Michelle, how's it going today?
Hey, good.
Lindsay, how are you?
I'm great.
I'm feeling fresh coming off the weekend and feeling ready to be on the mic.
So all good.
Same here.
Same here.
Lindsay, do you ever have people ask you like clarify your name, or they're not sure what your name is, or
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Sometimes people will say, oh, is it Lizzie?
I'm like, oh, it's not Lizzie.
It's not.
I don't.
And I'll correct them.
You know, it's important to correct people when they get the name wrong.
But yeah, so there are sometimes there's issues with names.
What about you, Michelle?
Have you had that happen to you?
I remember that in middle school, there was a substitute teacher who kept on calling me Michael.
Michael?
Yeah.
Interesting.
Okay.
Yeah, I don't know.
I guess she didn't, I don't know, but she was mispronouncing my name and you know she was.
You know, like I should have said no, it's Michelle.
But
That's the thing is, I think sometimes when people mispronounce someone's name, the other person is just kind of like whatever, especially if it's not going to be like a long term deep relationship.
So but yeah.
What do you think about that?
Have you ever heard of people kind of just saying, eh, whatever, whatever way you say my name?
Yeah, I don't like that.
That kind of bothers me too, Michelle, because it is a sign of confidence when you correct someone and you say, no, it's, you know, it's Lindsay.
It's not Lizzie.
I'm not a huge fan of the name Lizzie. like just my personal opinion.
Names are very opinion based, right?
And so I don't want people calling me Lizzie, it's Lindsay.
And so I think it does show real confidence and assertiveness when you do take the time to correct someone.
For sure yeah, absolutely.
Um so, and we're going to talk about this a lot today.
Today guys, this episode is all about names.
Yes, we have something important to do.
First michelle, what is something?
We have something really exciting to share with you guys?
Um, we have a, a trophy because amazing, we have passed 100 000 subscribers on the all ears english youtube channel and we received this wonderful trophy, and we just wanted to share this with you guys, because you guys are the reason this happened.
I know we want to say thank you to you guys for believing in connection, not perfection, for being right here with us.
Now, YouTube is a really great way to consume this podcast because you get to see us on videos.
You know our smiles, our expressions.
Of course, if you love just listening on the podcast which personally Michelle, I'm more of a podcast listener than a video watcher myself
So nothing is ever going to change over there, guys.
You can always listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts.
YouTube is a really good option, right, Michelle?
And you'll have more than 100000 other fans of All Ears English over there listening.
Uh, love it.
Yeah guys, really thank you so much.
When lindsay told me that we hit 100 000 subscribers, i was like wow, i felt really proud.
I felt really good about all ears english, about our team and the hard work that we put in.
But we put in this hard work because we love doing it, we love doing it for you guys and just thank you for sticking with us.
All these some of you have you been listening almost 10 years.
So it's amazing.
Our longtime listeners, we love you guys.
And we're going to keep going for as long as we possibly can here at All Ears English.
So hit follow, whether it's on YouTube or on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and keep listening to All Ears English.
Good stuff.
Excellent.
Thanks, guys.
All right, Michelle.
So I loved when I got this question from our listener because I thought it was a unique question.
It was different.
It was fun.
You know, it's something special.
So should I go ahead and read the question from our listener?
Yes.
Okay.
All right, here we go.
So, you know, this is a shout out to our listener.
I don't have.
OK, this is May from China.
All right.
This is the first time I've ever reviewed a podcast.
Normally, I'm just a quiet listener, but I really want to say thank you to your team.
I've been following it for five years, learning many useful English expressions that I have no chance to get from the textbook.
So it's such a fruitful experience.
Five stars.
Love the word fruitful, Michelle.
Fantastic.
This is great.
Oh, actually, this is not a student who asked the question, is it?
It's a different student.
Yeah.
Um...
Because we don't have the question here.
Oh, that's weird.
No, the question is below.
The question is below.
Here we go.
I'm not sure if it was the same student or if we're just calling out a reviewer.
But anyways, here's the actual question.
Here we go, Michelle.
So I'm working at a company in Korea and I'm 41 years old and I have two children, and I have a plan to work and live in the US in the near future with my husband and my children.
Currently I have no English name in my company and my counterpart has difficulty pronouncing my first name.
But I'm not sure what English name is suitable for my age.
I would like to have my own name, but when I search the internet then only the common names are listing, like Olivia Mia, Emma and so on.
So could you please recommend some english name for me when you have a chance, because i have native friends.
So i can't imagine what kind of name will be suitable.
I'm a career woman and i'm very passionate in any task i undertake and very easy going and extroverted.
If you suggest a female name for me, then it will be very motivating to learn my english studying, because this time I'll be able to invest every day with All Ears English.
It's one of my biggest pleasures and you are my role models.
Wow, amazing.
I love that.
Thank you, it's so good and i actually think this is such an interesting question.
And it's true michelle, if you went ahead and you know as a 41 year old this listener and i are the same age, by the way, and so i totally get where she's coming from as a 41 year old if you go and google common names, you're going to get names of kids now right right right, right right, because you're looking at the popular names from now.
So, like she said olivia mia, emma those are like alleles meet a lot of like little girls, babies with those names.
Yes exactly, so we have a really good episode planned for today.
Mm hmm,
Well, so I mean, before we jump into the, you know our ideas.
The question is do people have to feel like they have to change their name?
I mean, like, part of it is, is fun, right?
So I mean, this isn't the same thing.
But I remember in high school in French class, like they would have us choose names, was your name in french?
Wait, did you take french or spanish?
She said i took, i took french.
Okay okay, what was your name?
So my name was michelle, because you know.
But but then i remember the next year i was like i don't want it to be michelle, i want to have like a different identity, a different feel in class.
So i was brigitte.
Oh, interesting.
Yeah.
Then I loved the name Brigitte.
And yeah, so I was Brigitte.
And what about you?
Did you have like a name?
Well, we didn't we didn't have choices.
We didn't get to choose our name.
We were assigned.
I think my French teacher was pretty strict and I was assigned the name.
Oh, you did French, too.
Yes, I did.
We have so many parallels, Michelle, in our lives.
It's so funny.
This was fourth grade, fourth grade French.
And I think my name was Francesco or no, that's an Italian name, isn't it?
Francoise.
Francoise is what it was.
I didn't love my name.
But I didn't have an option to change it.
It was just Francoise all the time.
Oh, interesting.
Yeah.
So we got to we got to choose it.
And that was always exciting.
And so, you know, in some ways it's fun.
But I just want to, before we talk about tips for choosing the name, say that you don't have to change your name.
Yeah.
Lindsay, what do you think about that?
I totally agree with you, Michelle.
It's a really good take and a good way to start, because part of learning a new language is bringing our own identity, our sense of humor, our personality, into this new language.
And so we don't need to bend ourselves and become a completely new person when we speak english.
So that's the that is an option to you is just going with the name and coming up with tricks to help people learn to pronounce your name right and and and you know don't, don't hold back like, don't say oh, this is my name, but i know it's hard to say, so don't worry about it.
Like, make sure You know, give people a chance to learn it.
They will.
Right.
Yeah.
But so so I just wanted to say that, like, your name is part of your identity.
Yes.
But yeah, sorry.
And it shows confidence when you have your name.
Maybe it's hard to pronounce, but it's OK because you're going to help people with it.
Right?
Exactly.
And then they'll get it.
And then when they get it, they'll get it.
However, our listener is asking and I'm sure a lot of people have thought about this like how to choose another name?
Maybe it's... exciting or fun for you to kind of change things up a little bit.
I know, I mean, you know, if I were moving to another place, maybe I would for, you know, to just...
I would.
I would change it if it was for, you know fun, like I felt, like it was for a fun new identity, but I wouldn't want to change it to you know, feel like I was accommodating everybody else.
Does that make sense?
I completely agree.
So in today's episode, you know, that's the first thing we want you to think about for our listener here.
Uh, you have the option to not do this, to opt out of it right, but we're going to give you a good framework of, if you do decide you want to, things that you could think about in today's episode, right?
Michelle, Absolutely.
We will give you some tips on choosing your name.
So things that you can think about when deciding on this name.
So guys, before we do that, we want to let you know about All Ears English episode 1472, which is.
This episode is calling your name, personification in English.
So that's something fun to listen to.
Very fun.
Actually, that was a really interesting episode.
We talked about how we can in English, we could talk about how our computer has an attitude or becomes a person in the language.
Very unique and different.
So check that one out.
Yes.
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This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. okay michelle where should we start today for our listeners who do want to change their name where can we start okay so i've we've come up with about six things to consider um and so we're gonna try and get through most of them if not all um and here we go so the first one we will say is the year and i think lindsay you really uh picked up on that with this this question so you know the question the listener mentioned names like mia and emma and you told me that you actually emailed the listener back right lindsay yeah i i loved this question so much that i personally responded to this listener and sometimes i do that guys sometimes when you do send in your question you'll get a personal response from me Not every question, but the really good ones do get a personal response.
And so I did.
I immediately went to a website and found baby names from 1981 because it's the same age that I am.
And I was curious, too.
What are those names?
So that would be the first thing.
And we will put a link in the blog post.
This is a blog post to that.
But just go to Google, right, Michelle?
And just type in baby names 1981 USA, right, if you're going to be working in the U.S.
Mm-hmm. right so there are there are sites like babysender.com that's the one that you that you had so take a look like for example on this list were jessica right we know the name jessica um lisa heather you know so so names like that whereas if you're If you're 41.
Well, I mean, listen, names can be popular at any age.
I mean, they can.
Yes.
I think Emma's pretty.
Emma is pretty classic.
I mean, but sure it is.
One of my closest friends in high school was named Emma and she was my age.
Yeah.
So there you go.
But something to consider.
Maybe that is also on the 1981 list, but you don't have to if you feel like.
Oh, I want to kind of have a cool, new trendy name.
But something to consider is like, when were you born and what names were popular in this year?
Yeah, I've become kind of disappointed that I've found that a lot of millennials have my name.
I'm kind of a Gen Xer cusper, right, between Gen X and millennial.
And so many millennials have the name Lindsay, but not very many Gen Xers.
So my parents, they thought they were, you know, on the cutting edge of a trend.
But it turns out now all these people I know who are millennials have the name Lindsay.
Yeah.
I don't know.
Yeah, maybe it doesn't make sense to play the trends.
Just go with something, you know, if you're naming a baby, for example, that you that you like.
Right.
But that's a different story.
Different question.
Yeah right, because some people might want their child to have like a trendier name, um something that a lot of people have, and some like more unique names.
So it's just personal preference, exactly.
And that kind of leads us into the second one, which is just how does it sound to you?
Do you like it, right?
I mean that's, i mean, that is something to talk about.
Do you like this name?
Um yeah, do you like the name?
You have to like it when you say this name Yeah, exactly.
I mean, I think people have names, are so opinion based and often it's based on someone else.
We knew at one point that we liked or didn't like that had that name.
And that just colors the name for us in our minds.
Right.
Right.
Right, right, right.
That's true.
So if you like the name, the way it sounds, or maybe there's a celebrity you like with that name.
Maybe there's a friend or a person that you've met who has a name that you like as well.
So just think, do you like it?
I mean, it's pretty simple.
Yeah, exactly exactly.
I would add one thing to this before we go into the others is think about how your last name and the first name go together.
If you're going to use them that way like i'm not sure if our listener would do that, if she would take her new adopted name and put her last name after that, but if, in general, you would want to think about that, how does it sound as one full name, Right?
Does it flow?
Right.
Does it have a nice a nice flow together?
Something to think about.
And then what's the third thing?
So the third thing would be, do you identify with it?
Right.
Oh, no.
Was that the thing we just said?
OK.
No, no, no.
No, you're right.
You're right.
The meaning.
Right.
OK.
Yeah.
Maybe I actually remember.
Oh, wow.
Okay, I think it was in middle school.
And in my English class, I don't know why.
But there was a thing where, like we um, it was kind of like not a secret Santa, but it was a secret who you got assigned to and you had to rename this person.
And based on like what you observe about them.
And I was renamed.
Do you mind if I look up the meaning of this name now?
Sure.
Go for it.
Okay.
I was renamed Ruth.
Okay interesting interesting yeah yeah, and i wonder what does it mean?
Okay, it says uh, this is from uh, verywellfamilycom.
Friend friendship, compassionate friend.
Yeah okay, so that's a nice meaning.
So like, maybe maybe this isn't important to you what it means, maybe you'd more care about the sound, but maybe when you look up the meaning it i like, maybe you you could even google like um, names meaning strength or names mean you know good um, that that you can.
You can go that way and see oh wow, i really like the meaning of this name and yeah, that means something to me.
I like that.
That is one angle you could take if you're looking for a way to make the decision.
You could do that.
You know, keep in mind, a lot of people don't necessarily know what their name means.
I don't even know what my name means uh, my first name, like i've never taken the time to look it up.
So it's not like it's going to disqualify you if you don't like the meaning.
It doesn't mean you can't use that name.
That's an important point.
Yeah, that is an important point.
But maybe, if you're the type of person who is interested in that, that could be a a cool way to do it.
Or maybe you could think what's the name of your, of your name, your original name, in your first language, and maybe then you could find a similar meaning in an english name.
So that could be a way to like tie it together for you.
Very cool idea.
So, thinking about the meaning, you know that if you're wondering how to go about this, that could be one strategy.
Think about spelling as a fourth thing right, michelle?
I mean, are there a lot of ways to spell it?
Some names you know, for example, the name sarah.
Sometimes it has an h, sometimes it doesn't.
Is that going to be complicated or are you always going to be explaining it's sarah with an h, Right?
Well, there's a lot of names like that.
We could do a whole episode on that.
I mean, Lindsay.
I mean, there's sometimes A-Y and E-Y.
Yeah.
But I will say this is actually an opportunity for connection.
Oh, sorry, Michelle, I didn't mean to cut you off there.
No, it's okay.
Well, I was gonna say Michelle, some people spell it with two L's and some people one.
So always when I say my name, oh, is it two L's or one?
And whenever I meet another Michelle, they say, oh, two L's or one.
And it's always like, oh, me too, or oh.
I've won.
That's what I was about to say.
It's a connection moment.
So every time I meet another Lindsay, they say A-Y-E-Y.
And sometimes, like baristas, will say this to me really quick just in passing, but it's a moment of laughter and connection or it's a little competitive.
It's, oh, it's the right way, the wrong.
It's just fun.
You know, it's a way you can connect with people.
So this is what you get if you choose a name that has a few different spellings.
I think about that.
Maybe we'll do another episode about that.
Like, you know, that connection moment goes into it.
OK.
And so then the we have two more.
Lindsay, what's the next one?
Okay, popularity, so do you want a common or unique name?
That's just a personal preference.
Do you wanna stand out?
I once knew someone named September, I thought that was really cool.
Like someone named September, a woman my age that I studied abroad with in Paris, but that's a very unique name.
You wanted a name that's that unique, right?
Right, right, right.
Yes.
So something to think about as well.
And then this last one is, does it sound at all like your name if you want it to?
Right.
Maybe you want it to have, you know, a similar sound like Lindsay.
I don't know.
Like, let's think of um any random name of maybe a listener or a student you've had.
I was trying to think well, one of our favorite listeners massimo, from italy.
We love massimo our, you know from our live event, urban adventure.
Yeah, Yes.
Max Matthew, you know maybe, maybe names like that, like you know that names that have a similar sound.
So that might be another way to consider it.
So yes, that would be something else.
But again, so mostly think about do you want to change it?
Do you feel that you have to?
Why?
Like we said, people can learn your name.
It may take some time.
But, you know, people, if you want to use your name, you should use your name.
But we also wanted to give you the tools in case you want to have a little bit of fun with it.
Choose a different name.
Yeah, I mean, when I first saw this question, I thought, wow, how are we going to answer this?
But we came up with a lot of good angles that you can take, guys.
You know, think about connection moments.
Think about spelling.
Think about how it works with the last name.
So many things we could think about to get a name we want.
So good, Michelle.
I love it.
Exactly.
Oh, well, this was this was really fun.
I think, you know, we can talk more about this.
And there's just there's so much to say on this topic.
But names are really important.
It's your identity.
And, you know, choose something to something that you really enjoy.
Yes, and a huge thank you to our listener from South Korea for sending in this awesome question.
Guys, send your questions to Lindsay at AllEarsEnglishcom and we'll make a great episode based on your question.
Michelle, thanks for hanging out today.
And guys, hit follow either on YouTube.
Go and check us out on YouTube, Allers English Podcast, or right here, wherever you're listening on this podcast.
Good stuff.
Perfect.
Okay, well, this was fun.
Thank you for that great question.
And guys, thanks again for subscribing to our YouTube channel.
100,000 subscribers.
Love it.
So good, Michelle.
All right.
I'll see you very back here very soon.
Have a good one.
All right.
Bye.
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