Asians should simplify their names, GOP lawmaker says

[MiaCulpa]

Source: Raw Story

In a puzzling move which she insisted isn't about race, a Republican state lawmaker in Texas said in House testimony Wednesday that Asian Americans should change their names to ones that are “easier for Americans to deal with.”

Democrats jumped on the comments by state Rep. Betty Brown. Her remarks came during a Texas House Elections Committee hearing, who'd invited a Chinese American representative to testify about ballot accessibility.

“Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?” Brown remarked.

Brown later told Ko: “Can’t you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with?”

Read more: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Asians_should_simplify_their_names_GOP_0409.html

---

Full story at link...

-Diane

[babylonsister]

1. The nerve! I think 'betty brown' is just jealous! nt

[HowHasItComeToThis]

60. SOME POLL WORKERS GET CONFUSED BY ALL THE "BROWNS"

AND THEY ALL LOOK ALIKE TOO

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. Funny, I should think that if they are voting, they ARE Americans.

They don't seem to have a problem with it.

Ergo, Americans are not having a problem with it.

Except stupid republican racist shitbags who use the Bible as their weapon of hate.

[WillParkinson]

3. Let's just do it like in the old days...

When people came to Ellis Island and were just given names willy-nilly because it was easier than using their real names.

(I do not know if this is true, it's just something I had heard forever while growing up.)

[flor de jasmim]

5. It's true.

[monmouth]

11. It is true, my grandmother's family from Ireland were McHugh, Ellis

re-named them McCue...Go figure.

[OnyxCollie]

15. I saw my grandma's immigration papers once.

She came over in 1913, IIRC. Her last name had about five consonants in a row (including a "z.") The immigration officials took the first couple letters, stuck "ski" at the end, and that was her new name.

[No Elephants]

42. It's true, especially if the immigrant's native language used a different alphabet than English.

[sarge43]

75. I've seen my husband's Ukrainian grandparent's marriage certificate.

No way anyone not versed in Ukrainian could have figured it out and how many Ukrainian linguists were there at Ellis Island circa early 1900's.

Yes, there was bigotry. The officials were also dealing with the greatest human migration in history - one year a million people went through Ellis Island alone; that's very roughly 2500 people a day. With the exception of those with medical problems such as infectious diseases, these was no housing at Ellis. People had to be processed quickly. Simply no time or way many of the Eastern or Southern European names could be translated or spelled into English.

All things considered a name change may have been a small price to pay to get out from under centuries of poverty and oppression. I believe my grandparents-in-law would have thought so.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

61. I HAVE A FIEND THAT HAD HIS NAME CHANGED IN THIS VERY WAY

[Aristus]

80. And rightly so. All fiends should have their names changed, so that we, you know, can tell that

they're fiends! :P

[Gormy Cuss]

72. The consensus is that Ellis Island (and American ports of entry) weren't where the change happened.

It was usually after that and either initiated by the immigrant to simplify the name or was a transliteration error made by some other government clerk or an employer.

Ellis Island had many staff members with native fluency in the languages of the immigrants (necessary for the customs inquiries) and the intake of the immigrants was based on how the name appeared on the ship's manifest. Those manifests were another source of the name changes because illiterate immigrants and those whose port of departure was in a country where a different language was spoken may have had the name changed by the person filling out the manifest. I've seen manifest errors many times in my genealogical research.

[TwilightGardener]

4. They used to do that at Ellis Island. Back when we were less enlightened

and more bigoted against immigrants. Oops, guess we still are.

[skooooo]

26. I don't think all of it was because of bigottry..

Sometimes the Ellis Island workers just had to transcribe what they thought they heard. With so many people coming from so many different places, I can see how things could get mixed up, miscommunicated ,etc.

[TwilightGardener]

30. Maybe not every case, but certainly not taking the time to get someone's NAME right

can often be a sign of disregard--and actively changing it to something more "American" is bigotry. Often all these immigrants HAD were their names and not much else (and my family came through Ellis Island, where they got my grandfather's age wrong--I found the document online).

[No Elephants]

43. Exactly. Plenty of disrespect and dismissiveness existed. I cannot imagine what culture

shock those immigrants were going through and how fearful they were of these people, who could turn them away.

[skooooo]

64. They were moved through like cattle...

Not surprising this happened on a mass scale.

[Sal Minella]

40. The names "Doysher" and "Doyshner" are common in Minnesota --

Makes me wonder if the person coming through Ellis Island was trying to say "I'm from Germany" and the Ellis Island worker wrote that as a name.....

[Tansy_Gold]

47. Many immigrants could not read or write even their own names

when they came through Ellis Island, and workers had to do their best under the circumstances. "Their best" may have been mitigated by laziness, of course, or ignorance or bigotry.

My ancestors who came through Ellis in the 1880s from Germany could read and write and were adamant in having their names spelled correctly. Others who were fleeing discrimination in "the old country" had never had the benefit of education. Thus two brothers who came through at different times received two different names: One got Morse and one got Moss, and in fact the correct name was probably Morris. But the Schmidts didn't get converted to Smiths and the Muellers didn't become Millers.

As a country, we've pretty much managed to absorb the Isikoffs and Brzezinskis, the Shinsekis and Salazars, the Guptas and even the (gasp!) Obamas. I think most of us can handle just about anything that comes our way, given a little practice and patience.

Well, some of those Thai names are a bit challenging, I'll admit, but when did a red-blooded American back away from a challenge?


Pukes are just wimps. Maybe they'r afraid THEY can't pronounce "those" names and will embarrass themselves. They need to listen to the BBC news more often.



TG

[Art_from_Ark]

100. I would think that some of the immigrants would have wanted

to have their names changed, or at least the spelling.

For example, Walter Cronkite's ancestors probably wouldn't have minded anglicizing the spelling of their family name from the original German, Krankheit, which means "sickness".

There are family names in every language that carry a negative connotation, and people who are saddled with them might jump at the opportunity to get a new name.

[No Elephants]

49. A la the Pennsylvania "Dutch."

[Pool Hall Ace]

57. That's interesting

I've lived in the Washington D.C. area (home to many transplants) and points south and I've never even heard of that name.

[Blue_Tires]

85. I know American schools in Puerto Rico anglicized kids' names

well into the middle of the 20th century

[BR_Parkway]

6. "You and your citizens" - we let Chinese citizens vote in TX?

[Solly Mack]

7. Please tell me someone smacked that woman

[no_hypocrisy]

8. Do they mean like the call centers in India where you encounter Buffys and Skips with each call?

[TheCowsCameHome]

13. Isn't that the truth. Last guy I got was Mike.

Yeah, right.

[Critters2]

95. I talked to an "Arnold". I considered telling him that no one

in this country is naming their kids "Arnold" these days. But then I thought maybe he wanted me to think he was Austrian. Or Austrian American.

[tabbycat31]

62. I've talked to "Tom Smith"

with a very thick Indian accent. Tom Smith my ass.

[DrDan]

9. the rep where she directed the question was named "Ko"

yep - perhaps if he changed his name to "K", it would help her a bit . . . . or "O".

Beyond that, not sure much simplification is possible.

[grace0418]

69. That's what I was wondering. How much of an idiot do you have to be to have trouble with Ko?

Of course, Betty is a Republican so I guess that answers my question.

[uppityperson]

94. Read the story to find the name and laughed. Also the issue addressed is because they HAVE taken

because they HAVE taken an "english" name.

The problem is their legal and "english" names are different, so they should....take an english name because it would be easier? Clueless.

A spokesman for the Texas Republican legislator told the Houston Chronicle her comments weren't about race -- she was only attempting to "overcome problems" with identifying Asian names "for voting purposes." Brown made the comment after the Chinese American representative, Ramey Ko, said people of Chinese, Japanese and Korean descent had trouble voting because their legal name may differ from the English name they use on their driver's licenses.

[havocmom]

10. xenophobic idiots should stop trying to make the world fit their narrow minds

and maybe stop bullying others.

What a beautiful world, so much diversity. Fuck the bigots making lame ass excuses for their laziness and delusional attitudes.

[madaboutharry]

12. Small minded woman

and ignorant as well.

[Octafish]

14. Betty Brown? The porn star?

Oh, Bettie.

[nyc 4 Biden]

16. I hope this story makes it into the MSNBC lineup tonight. nt

[izquierdista]

17. Brown, Betty

What a dish! Was this story originally from the Onion?

[pipi_k]

18. What a fucking twit

What about people from other countries who aren't Asian?


My son's wife is second generation Polish. She had a last name that was virtually unpronounceable, never mind trying to spell it.


Unpronounceable names come from many places other than just Asia.



PS...my married name now is Scottish. Two syllables. Not hard to figure out if you look at how it's spelled, but so many times people pronounce it like there's an "o" in the middle of it instead of a "u".

Americans who don't like foreign sounding names can piss off.

[bowens43]

19. Are all conservatives idiots? nt

[1monster]

68. Is that a rhetorical question?

I have a dear friend who is a Repubican, but, being disgused with them after eight years of Bush, et als, is now more Libertarian.

She is a very compassionate person, who is quite often reasonable. BUT at the slightest hint of politics, she has a Pavlovian response and starts parroting right-wing garbage, very passionately. All reason and compassion fly out the door... she becomes almost rabid.

I've learned when to stop a conversation cold and how to sneak ideas and thought-provoking questions in so she doesn't notice right away what I've done. She will think about them and respond in a very positive way.

However, once that bell rings, the raging conservative comes out salivating, barking, and growling.

I think it is a conditioned response and they can't help themselves.


edit: typo

[fascisthunter]

20. GOP=the party of narrowminded ignorance

[BlueGirlRedState]

21. Another Texan who makes us proud...

Gee, it's getting harder and harder to live in my beloved Texas with all the stupid Republicans.

I wrote an email to Ms. Brown asking her to apologise. I feel like I have a stake in this because my two daughters are born in China and we chose to incorporate their Chinese names as part of their legal name when they were adopted. It really isn't that hard to learn to pronounce Chinese names. To add to the irony, my maiden name is Brown -- I told Ms. Brown that she makes me ashamed.

[kentauros]

39. If she replies, give her the following info to chew on:

http://www.babynamespedia.com/meaning/Betty
http://www.ancestry.com/facts/Brown-family-history.ashx

She sounds like the typical isolated suburban type, probably used to living in a gated community.

I'm also tired of the stupid Texans getting a voice in the news. When are the smart ones going to get some limelight? What's Jim Hightower up to these days? :)

[14thColony]

22. This from a woman with the a name as boring as wallpaper paste

[cali]

23. wow. this is michelle bachman type stupid.

[Rabrrrrrr]

41. LOL! Bachman was my first assumption of who had this idiotic idea.

:rofl:

[Pacifist Patriot]

58. Add me to the list.

[cloudbase]

24. The Lee family has deep Southern roots.

Maybe the fundies are right. Evolution seems to have skipped past members of the Texas legislature and school board.

[RonHack]

25. Hey, Brown......

... I have an even better idea.

Instead of people simplifying their names, why don't you spend a few minutes LEARNING HOW TO PRONOUNCE THEM?

Sheesh, what a lazy idiot!

Oh wait, you need BRAIN CELLS to learn new things.

(leaves her out)

[No Elephants]

53. Isn't she talking about poll workers? They don't even need to pronounce.

[harmonicon]

27. ah.... Republicans.... Texas....

The lulz never end.

[LiberalFighter]

28. Which Asians is she talking about?

Aren't many of the Asian names already very simple? Don't many of the Asians have pretty much the same last name? Don't many of the Asians have last names that consist of just a few letters?

How much simpler does she want?


I doubt the idea of adopting a name for identification purposes would sit well with law enforcement. It would make their job more difficult as it is. How about employers and government agencies? Wouldn't they have to modify their databases so they could have all of their names? Wouldn't having a name for identification purposes create more fraud issues?

[AlbertCat]

29. And when you visit China, Ms Brown...

....you shall be referred to as Cow Dung. Easier for them to remember.

Lordy...what she gonna do when the East Indians come a callin'?

[sarge43]

31. It's spring; the assholes are in bloom.

I'd pay good money to hear Ms Brown take a crack at pronouncing these British names:

Allwyne Arthur Compton Farquaharson of Invercauld

Reginald Aylmer Ranfulry Plunkett-Ernel-Erle-Drax

Leone Sextus Denys Oswolf Fraduati Tollemache-Tollemache-de Orellana-Plantagenet-Tollemache-Tollemache

And my favorites: MacGillesheatheanaich and Hesmondhalgh.

British pronounciation vis-a-vis personal names can dwell in Bizarro World. Wriotheseley, depending upon who is speaking, can be "rottsly", "rittsly", "rissli", "rithly" or "wriotheslee".

[dgibby]

66. Interesting.

The name "Aylmer" became Elmore when those families migrated to America.

[KamaAina]

81. And St. John, Cholmondeley, Taliaferro, etc., etc.

:eyes:

[sarge43]

87. "Sinjin", "Chumlee" and I don't know what they do to Taliaferro

Something that has little to do with the spelling, I'm sure.

We Yanks are no better. The state capital of NH is Concord, pronounced by those in the know as "Cehk-URD".

[KamaAina]

89. "Tolliver"

is what they do to it.

Meanwhile, down in CT, "Norwich" is "NARR-itch"; over in RI, "Warwick" is "WAHR-ick".

[sarge43]

90. Ah. Thank you, KamaAina.

I knew it had to be off the wall.

[underpants]

32. WOw and here I thought they couldn't screw up worse than they did with the Latino population

they continue to find new and interesting ways to make things worse for themselves

[LynnTheDem]

33. Just when you really think they simply cannot drag themselves any lower...

...they do.

[sarcasmo]

34. Talk about showing your true colors, WOW.

[Harry Monroe]

35. Ron White is right, "You can't fix stupid"

or ignorance

[Harry Monroe]

36. Did they ever stop to think that "furreners" may have difficulties pronouncing our names?

"You can't fix stupid". I think that'll be my tag line from now on in regards to the Republicans. It fits like a glove.

[benld74]

37. MY DAUGHTER with her,,,

American First Name
Her Given Chinese Middle Name
And her French Surname

AND is only 7 years old, has more sense in her little pinkie that this douche bag will EVER hope to have!

[baldguy]

38. Because names like "Schwarzenegger" are so easy in comparison to names like "Wong".

[eppur_se_muova]

91. !! nt

[redqueen]

44. Texas Republicans, ladies and gentlemen!

People in Texas actually VOTE for them.

[yy4me]

45. Will we ever learn that we as a country cannot dictate to the

citizens of the world? We have no right but we try and do it anyway. This must be offensive to anyone whose name sounds slightly foreign.

I don't know folks, as a country we're getting to be pains in the backside.

[No Elephants]

48. Betty Brown does not speak for the country right now, thank you. Only Barack Hussein Obama does.

[Fire1]

63. 'getting to be?' You are SO late.

[No Elephants]

46. You and "your" citizens? Ko has his own citizens? Didn't she mean our citizens? In other

words, what a jerk Emma Lazarus must be in the eyes of Betty Brown.




Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles.

From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame,


"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

by Emma Lazarus, New York City, 1883

P.S. Please change your names to something less "foreign" ahd more therefore more "acceptable." Love, Emma L.

[Akoto]

50. I know whose complex names won't be on a ballot for Rep. Brown! n/t

[nichomachus]

51. You need to cut this woman some slack

when you're functionally illiterate, which seems to be a requirement for holding office in Texas, these things can be really really hard.

[mikeytherat]

52. And the "hard-to-pronounce" name of the Asian-American she was addressing? Ramey Ko

To be honest, that is seven (7!) letters she has to get right.

Dear Betty:

Since learning to pronounce someone's name is just too much for you, I suggest you learn to pronounce the following word: assclown. I suspect you'll be hearing it a lot.

mikey_the_rat

[DeepBlueC]

54. I wish they would pick one name and stick with it

One thing I have come across in dealing with corporate searches is that Chinese and Vietnamese tend to have what amounts to multiple identities that makes it easy to obscure the identities of principals in what are supposed to be public filings. I have had occasion to try to track down exactly who is involved in the numbered companies involved in some local real estate transactions and the name that someone goes by on the street is pretty much never the name I find on legal documents. You may know them by an Anglicized first name and a Chinese last name but in corporate documents they will use only Vietnamese forms of the name. But all of the names are used. The lawyers in my building each had a Vietnamese name a Chinese name and a North American name and I saw mail for all of them. When you are compiling a voting list I can imagine what hell that might be.

[bdamomma]

55. oh frig, repigs just never stop.

what total BS!!!

[Deep13]

56. “easier for Americans to deal with.”

Especially thick-deaded, provincial, racist, ego-centric, ignoramus Americans.

[eppur_se_muova]

92. I'm sure that's what she meant, she was just being concise. nt

[barbtries]

59. the person's name was

Ko? Two letters? wtf?

eta the hell it wasn't racist. jeez

[proud2BlibKansan]

65. Cause 'Ko' is so hard to pronounce!!

:crazy:

[MadHound]

67. Sheesh Betty, you think Chinese surnames are bad,

Go take a look around at some of the German and Polish names that populate this country. They're much worse, so your claim about this not being about racism, well, it, like you, are full of shit.

[sarge43]

71. Hell, some Irish, Scottish and Welsh surnames can be mind blowers if you're not

Irish, Scot or Welsh. Brown is a standard, garden variety bi-got.

[grace0418]

70. God I hate willfully stupid people.

AKA Republicans. :evilgrin:

[Canuckistanian]

73. I imagine Rep. Brown now has a "simplified name" in the Asian community

Something short and easy to remember.

[struggle4progress]

74. "Boob" has some of the right letters in it and is simple to pronounce

[Overseas]

76. I wonder what Rod Blagojevich would say about this. //nt

[NorthernSpy]

77. Ko, Li, Fan, Park, Chin -- clearly WAY too complex for us 'Murricans...

:dunce:

[Warren DeMontague]

78. "Betty Brown" sounds like a slang term for poop.

Well, it does.

[opihimoimoi]

79. Most GOP are BULLY TYPES...they usually need "Targets"...someone to pick on

They do this in the classroom/office/wherever....they pick on one or more of THEM...

Some are Serial Bullies...from Target to Target they flit about making troubles

[JuniperLea]

82. Those idiots would have a much harder time...

With Welsh and Irish names. At least Asian names can be written phonetically because we don't share an alphabet.

What a load of tripe.

[omega minimo]

83. Holy Moly, that's for REAL?

:wow:

[KamaAina]

84. Rep. Brown(shirt) may have a point...

Any number of people in the Texas Lege have complicated names. Take Sen. Bob Deuell, for instance. Or Reps. Bill Callegari, Tim Kleinschmidt, Edmund Kuempel, and John Zerwas. WAY too complicated for a guy like me who barely squeaked by to make cum laude at Yale!

All the above are white repukes, of course. :eyes:

edit: me

[opihimoimoi]

97. Ya tellum Kama...that lady is Ignorant beyond rehab.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

86. She should shorten her name to "Duh".

[426HemiGuy]

88. How typical

How typical of a Republican, change to suit us and racist to boot.

[eppur_se_muova]

93. OK, the next "Top Ten Conservative Idiots" list is 10% done ... nt

[opihimoimoi]

96. and these GOPers wonder why they have lost favor with the Voters...

How did she get elected?

Who Voted for her?

Where are the smart voters to prevent this moot shit?

She is the result of dumb voting....only dumb voters would send HER ....did they not have a clue as to her dumbness? She is embarrassing her district

When added to Vitter, Larry, Michele Bachmann, etc., she helps to set a trend/pattern of DUMBNESS....something that was REJECTED last Nov.

Why they keep doing this? Most likely a habit and also ....ignorance....big time...

[Odin2005]

98. Names like Ko, Lee, Pak, Sung, and Kim are hard to pronounce? What a moran!

Why isn't she complaining about Polish or Czech names? Oh wait, I know why, it's because Poles and Czechs are white. :eyes:

[Kablooie]

99. I don't know. She may have a point.

长周小川 is not that easy to pronounce.

[RagAss]

101. Texas...Say no fucking more !!!!!

[Djinn]

102. if Americans really have that much difficulty

listening to someone pronounce their name and then repeating it then perhaps better education is the answer

[eridani]

103. Simplify? What's simpler than two or three characters? n/t