Yes, that's my name

When I was about 11 years old, my parents confronted me with a dilemma which I had to live with for the rest of my life. I had two months to choose a name… an English / American name that would be registered on my U.S. Citizenship papers. Immigrating to the US, meant transitioning to our new way of life….which included choosing names that did not sound “Asian”. Taking suggestions from family friends, my older sister Sonya was named after Sonja Henie, three-time Olympic champion in skating, while my younger sister Grace, is named after Grace Kelly – movie actress and princess on Monaco. Meanwhile for my name, a friend of the family, suggested Greg, named after Gregory Peck, the black and white war movie actor… so in essence, my name would have been Gregory Pak, sounding very similar, if not identical to the black and white war movie actor himself. I couldn’t take the name…it didn’t fit me. It wasn’t the fact that I didn’t like Gregory Peck, but there was another reason. Around that time, my sisters and I were addicted to watching the Brandy Bunch – Marsha, Jan, Cindy, GREG, Peter, Bobby. The true reason I didn’t take the name was because I would be referenced with Greg Brady…or I would reference myself to Greg Brady. Even today, if I hear the name Marsha, I think of Marsha Brady. Sure, I could have taken other names Asians favored – David, James, John, Peter, Paul, Michael – but I didn’t. My father even suggested Rusty…Rusty?? When the day came, when I had to announce my chosen name, I told my parents that I was keeping my original Korean name. They seemed a bit surprised but didn’t make too much of a fuss.

I’m glad I kept my name, because… it’s my given name. Of course having an Asian name has its moments, such as, always having to explain to everyone how to spell or pronounce it. On the phone, I would tell my name and have to repeat it about four times and spell it out. Once, calling a sophomore I wanted to ask out on a date, the girl’s mother answered the phone. She took a message and told her daughter that Tom called. The girl didn’t know any Toms so she just assumed it was me. How do you get Tom from Sung??…odd…we never did go out on a date.

Many years later, when my wife was pregnant with our first child, we plowed through a zillion names to pick one for our son. In the process, I realized I hated any names that conjured up any references to faces I was not fond of - Marsha, Jan, Cindy, GREG, Peter, Bobby…oh, I think I would add Ginger and Maryann to the list.