Fun in Hong Kong!

I was in Hong Kong earlier this week, and I'd been looking forward to this trip - if not for the pleasure of visiting a new country, then certainly for the joy of hearing the very unique 'Christian' names that Hongkongers adopt.

My interest in the modern HK name was piqued when I read about the Apple Daily (a noted and oft quoted HK newspaper), and heard names like Ankely Ip and Morrisson Leung. Neither is particularly bizarre, but they caught my attention. So when I got here, one of the first things I did was to pull up my company's staff directory and pore through it. It's conveniently also provided in an Excel format - that made my life easier.

I started through it, and passed over the normal names like Edith, Amy, John, Philip. Then I wandered into the vaguely literary/European flowery - with Grumman, Heymman, Pierre, Byron, Antonio, Portia and Edythe.

Then the truly bizarre - Benniff (inspired by Gigli of Ben Affleck and J Lo fame?), Area (might have been a large person, I don't know), Running (her surname wasn't Away, in case you're wondering), Be (not Bop, but Leung), a few food items - Futtucine, Maize, Water and Milk, weather related names - Wind (and its derivative Windy), Summer and Winter. Two vaguely chemical name popped up - Chloris (I'd hate to have a name which sounds like a toilet bowl cleaner) and Florine (white teeth!).

What about Lambo Wong - couldn't his parents spell the name of their favourite mercenary? We have to give the prize for least imagination to Joseph and Rosamund, who I assume in a fit of inspiration, gave their son the imaginative name of Joemund. I came across Unique, Novel, Example (yes really) and Choice. Valiant, Winsome and Braveheart. Perhaps these were qualities that optimistic parents desired from their offspring.

That certainly can't be said about Zero, who in conjunction with her last name Shum, is my winner for best full name. Decem Wun and Novem Chen were interesting names. If they had put in a"Ber" in between, they'd have been perfect dates. Another nice combination was Sting Yip, which I like to call a cause and effect name. Then there was Sominnie Wong, which reminded me of my Maths teacher's comments on my examination papers.

I'm not going to say anything about Pandora's box. I certainly haven't seen it.