Well, I know phouka’s name! Well, part of it. White wave is a very common name. As far as I know it does not translate into Spanish because my Spanish teacher called all white waves “Juana” which is the feminine of the English John or Jane, not white wave. I think I would just say my name the way I say it since it doesn’t translate well into other languages. Would that be rude?
Well, I never bothered to change my name when I was in Greece, but I was usually called “Varvara” by the Greeks, which is a direct transliteration of my real name. Then there was my friend’s aunt, who insisted upon calling me “Varvouli” for some reason. It probably translates to “little freeloader” or some such thing.
My name in Danish (it’s origin, in my case) is Carl
In German: Karl
In Polish: Karol
In Spanish: Carlos
Do you know others?
I’d like to see a list of common names translated, such as John=Hans(German)=Ivan(Russian)=etc.
Translate your name into as many languages as you can.
Zymurgist
My name in Danish (it’s origin, in my case) is Carl
In German: Karl
In Polish: Karol
In Spanish: Carlos
Do you know others?
I’d like to see a list of common names translated, such as John=Hans(German)=Ivan(Russian)=etc.
Translate your name into as many languages as you can.
Zymurgist
I used to know a white wave in Spain who went by “Ginebra,” which also happens to be the Spanish word for gin. We all thought it was pretty cool; of course, we were American college kids studying abroud, and therefore chronically drunk.
One of the other girls in my program was named April, and insisted on introducing herself to Spanish people as “Abril-como-el-mes” (i. e., “April-like-the-month”.) And then there was a guy named Jason, who usually went by his initials, J. T. Trouble is, that translates into Spanish as jota te, while the word for “fuck you” is jodete. Suffice to say that he usually went by Jason.
Me, I just went by Nora, but I never did learn to trill my r’s properly, so Spanish people tended to hear it as “Noah.” Arrghh.
Depends on how much fun your name is in the language. My name in Hawaiian is Puluke. I definately can see myself getting used to that. Look here if you want to see your name in Hawaiian.
Let’s See What’s Out There … Engage
When you’re studying a language in school it helps to translate your name while you’re in class because it helps you to get into character and really learn the language, but personal experience is that your name in English is your name period, unless someone actuall gives you a foreign name.
When I took Russian in high school, my teacher as a joke one day translated my name as “Ivan Grozniy” which is Russian for Ivan the Terrible. I thought it was cool because Grozniy sounds a lot like my English name. Anyway, I go to Russia for a few weeks during my senior year in high school and while everyone there wanted to call me jon’, I couldn’t understand why they would just fall down laughing when I called myself Ivan Grozniy.
Looking back, I can see why - my behavior was the equivalent of some Russian kid coming over here and he goes off and tells people to call him “George Washington” or “Thomas Jefferson” or something. That sounds ludicrous to me as I am now sure my self-chosen name sounded ludicrous to them.
So to answer your inquiry, no, I do not translate my name when overseas, thankyouverymuch.
Acutually “James” in Spanish is usually either Jaime or Santiago. Diego actually means “Didacus”, which is not a popular name.
Thanks for the responses. Very interesting.
I’m lucky in that my given name is known and understood pretty much worldwide. (There are many advantages to having the same name as the British queen.) I expect that if I was in China or something, though, I would adopt a nickname to make things easier for everyone.
Many of my students come from foreign countries and have hard-to-pronounce names, and I do appreciate it when they have chosen an American nickname. Some of those Eastern European names are real buggers!
My name is Megan, not Mégane or Morgan, or Welsh or whatever that postcard said. If somebody French calls me Mégane, that’s fine, but if they’re going to write it down for whatever reason, they’d better spell it Megan or I’ll be kickin some Frenchy Butt.
If they assume it’s spelt the same way as the car, that’s no big deal. It’s if they do it on purpose to make it into the way they say it, RAAR!
“Mega the Roo - Patron Saint of Marsupials and Shampoo”
-Ms Riddles
I worked with a guy Jon. It was pronounced Yawn, not John, so that’s what I called him. CAUSE IT WAS HIS NAME!!
Okay, I think I’m done this time.
“Mega the Roo - Patron Saint of Marsupials and Shampoo”
-Ms Riddles
No idea what the origin of that is, but in some cases, it would need to be translated. For instance, take the name David, which is historically a Hebrew name. However, in English, it is pronounced differently, and Israelis spell the English phonetically in Hebrew. (Does that make sense?) So there is a spelling for DAY-vid, and a different spelling for da-VEED, which is the Hebrew pronunciation. I know a Canadian David in Israel who hated the English-Hebrew spelling and pronunciation (it looks very awkward) and was always telling people to call him and spell his name the Hebrew way.
By the way, I was thinking, and I realized that the two people I know who chose to go by their Hebrew names in Israel are both called Jennifer in English. And that makes a lot of sense, because there is no J sound in Hebrew, and it would just be a lot easier to call oneself Tamar or Yael (their Hebrew names).
I like to be a chameleon. When I’m among the Irish, I’ve a bitta the brogue. When down South in Nawlins, I twang. When in Brooklyn, I’m a regula joe, donchya know.
And when among foreign speaking people, I immediately translate my first name into their language. Being a biblical name, it is has a common cognate in just about every human tongue (and gesture) on earth. I go with that.
Peace, Paz, Shalom, Pax.
Still trying to figure this one out, I’m assuming it’s one of the Chinese dialects?
Speaking of translating European names into Asian languages, I once found a book called “Name Yourself in Japanese” or some such… gave a huge list of common European names and possible kanji translations. My favorite was ji fu rei, which loosely translated as “chases beautiful women”. It worked for me! 
All I wanna do is to thank you, even though I don’t know who you are…
My name is Glenn, and I lived in Japan for a few months during my Navy years. “Glenn” is pretty hard for Japanese to say; “Go-REN-a” is usually as good as the locals I met could manage. So in due course that’s how I introduced myself: Go-Ren.
I’d guess anyone whose name starts with a “J” has similar trouble in Germany and Austria: Chude, Chenny, Chill, Chack…
On On
My brother (surname Greene) used his first name as usual but translated his LAST name. When he was in the Yucatan (Mexico) everyone (Americans and locals) called him Senor Verde. When he spent a year in Hungary he would sometimes give his last name as the Hungarian word for “Green” (“Zold,” I think, or something like that.) But I think this was more for amusement than for the goal of being linguistically correct. 
What car are you talking about? I am not familar with any car with a name similar to Megan.
Let’s See What’s Out There … Engage
The world’s loneliest doper.
In the Republic of Ireland, it’s legal to use either the Irish version of your name or its English equivalent. It’s fairly common for people to use the former in Ireland and the latter outside it.
Your interpretation, however interesting, does not seem widely accepted. Every baby book I’ve seen that contains translations of baby names lists Diego as the spanish form of Jacques or James.
You can also confirm what I say at the link below.