Do S’poreans still give their kids Chinese names, such as Tan Shi Hui, instead of appending an English name to it, like Natalie Tan Shi Hui? AURORATOTO GROUP

SINGAPORE: Once upon a time in Singapore classrooms, the roll call sounded like a script straight out of a Channel 8 drama: Tan Shi Hui, Lim Wei Jie, Lee Jia Min. Fast-forward a decade or two — now, it’s “Natalie Tan Shi Hui”, “Justin Lim Wei Jie”, or even just “Skyler Neo”.

A Reddit post in r/askSingapore recently sparked a surprisingly spirited (and hilarious) conversation about names, identity, and… well, Megatron!

“I spent my teenage years in Singapore, where my peers often had Chinese names (Tan Shi Hui, Lim Wei Jie, etc). I have not been back in over a decade and am curious to know if primary school kids/children have Chinese names or if they’re now mostly in English,” the Singaporean wrote.

Do people still give their kids Chinese names?
byu/iwillstealyourdog inaskSingapore

Cue the avalanche of responses from Redditors.

🧒🏼 “More and more are giving their kids Ang Mo names. Weird spelling ones esp lol!”

One teacher chimed in with a peek behind the attendance sheet:

“More and more are giving their kids Ang Mo names. Weird spelling ones esp lol! Ask any teacher and you’ll know the challenges even pronouncing them, haha.”

Case in point: Danyl (pronounced “Daniel”), LLisa (yes, with two Ls), and Babetricia (no explanation needed).

But nothing quite tops: “Brockleigh 🥦” and “Cauleighflower”.

Another Redditor dropped a sentient robot Decepticon bombshell: “I worked with a Megatron before. Got to admire the guy’s self-confidence when introducing himself.”

Well, Megatron probably doesn’t even need a name card now.

🈶️ “Chinese names nowadays… many parents like to make it difficult…”

The Reddit thread reveals a silent cultural shift. While many Singaporean Chinese kids do still receive Chinese names, these are now mostly tucked away in their birth certificates.

“Only Chinese pinyin name and no Western names? Yes, they still exist, but rather uncommon now,” said one commenter who’s also a teacher. “What I noticed about the Chinese names nowadays… many parents like to make it difficult.”

And by “difficult”, they mean choosing obscure or ancient characters for aesthetic or fortune-telling purposes. Why write 凯 when you can write 铠, 愷, or 楷?

“Kids also struggle immensely with writing their names even at upper primary, and it’s just so sad to see,” she added.

🧧 “I give my kids [name that] holds meaning to the aspirations I have for them…”

The discussion got philosophical quite fast!

One parent said, “The name I give my kids holds meaning to the aspirations I have for them, not because I want to make it easier in the future for people to remember their names.”

Another commenter put it more bluntly: “In another country, it would have been considered cultural colonialism. But in Singapore it’s in vogue.”

Even the Speak Mandarin Campaign of the 1980s–90s made a cameo, with Redditors noting how it replaced dialect surnames like Lim, Tay, or Goh with their hanyu pinyin counterparts — Lin, Zheng, Wu.

👶  “We chose a ‘normal’ English name for our daughter…”

Some modern parents, however, are flipping the script entirely: “I gave my 2 kids Chinese names without any English name, so they can choose whatever English name they fancy later on.”

One couple even confessed: “We chose a ‘normal’ English name for our daughter so that she wouldn’t grow up and choose some stupid name for herself.”

🤯 Is this the end of Tan Shi Hui?

Well, not quite. As it seems, some are still holding on, while others have no problem letting it all go. And many are just trying to find the balance between cultural identity and practical spelling.

As one Redditor eloquently put it: “We don’t ask people of other races or ethnicities what their English name is. Also, for people who like to say ‘I’m bad at remembering names’ — I don’t buy that. It’s decent human respect to at least try.”

Still, another commenter summed up the situation with a pinch of salt: “I have a few friends who are damn proud that they cannot speak Chinese and have no Chinese name (intentionally dropped it legally). In my opinion, this is really embarrassing and is nothing to be proud of.”

The takeaway is that whether you’re Tan Shi Hui or Natalie Tan Shi Hui… just have enough pity for your child not to name them, Cauleighflower or Brockleigh 🥦 please.

Read more hilarious Singapore thingy over here: ‘The gym is not your personal toilet!’ — S’porean asks all gym bros to stop their ‘guttural, vein-popping grunts’ because ‘nobody is impressed’