johny yu

    My name is Jonathan, but it was almost Christian. My grandparents suggested "Christian" when my Mom was pregnant, but my parents said as soon as I was born, Christian was taken off the table. I didn't look like I could be named Christian. I personally can't imagine being named Christian either. I think I definitely would have went by "Chris" whether I liked it or not, which makes me feel weird inside. It feels too Caucasian. When I was younger I thought Jonathan was a Caucasian name as well, but right now I can name 6 Asian Jonathan's that I've met in my life, but no white ones. As much as I believe in the fact that I define my name more than my name defines me, I don't think I could deal with being Christian Yu.

    All of my grandparents are adequate English speakers, but with their accents "Jonathan" comes out more like "조나단", which sounds something like "jo-na-dan." the Korean "d" sound is the closest sound to the English "th," and the short "i" sound of the "than" part of my name doesn't have much of an equivalent, so it turns into an "a" sound, like in the spelling. In Japanese my name is spelled ジョナサン, pronounced something like "jo-na-san." This pronounciation led to some confusion in Japanese class when forced to use the honorific "san" (the equivalent of "Mr." or "Ms.") after a name, adding up to "jo-na-san san."

    Mr. Beesley was the first to call me "Johnny Yu" in a Subbie year Uni Period study hall. He remarked that the "U" made it sound like a University, and the whole classroom helped brainstorm a mascot: a flaming pigeon. In fact, I made a website for Johnny U in Computer Literacy, and it still survives today. A lot of my friends started to call me Johnny Yu around this time, which eventually shortened to "Johnny." It's a nice, quick nickname, I'm just lucky that nobody else at Uni goes by the name, since there seem to be Johnny's everywhere else I go. It makes me I wonder if I'll be able to keep using it when I leave the school.

    The first time I used "johny yu" was as a display name for my League of Legends account during Freshman year. It's still pronounced like "Johnny," except now it looks like it was written by a child. I think it's pretty funny, and it still has the nice sound. I then started using this name as my username on Discord, and almost any game I played that required a username. When I started entering tournaments for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, I used "johny yu" as my tag as well. The character I play in the game is Link. One of the best Link players in the game goes to U of I, and when I met him he told me to change my tag because apparently using your name is lame. But I told him he was wack. And that I define the name more than the name defines me. For the record, he is still worlds better than me in this game.

    I keep saying I define my name because the most important part about a name is that it refers to you, so the name itself shouldn't really matter. But this really isn't completely true, as if you don't have a common American name people tend to assume all sorts of things about you. I have a friend that goes by "Hammy," but his real name is Hamin. He once told me that I was living his dream since my name is "a white man's name" and is easy for everyone to spell and pronounce. So I admit it's easy for me to say that I am not defined by my name when I have a name that everyone has seen before. There's a lot more to talk about on that subject but I have run out of personal anecdotes, so I will end my blog here.

    Thank you for reading. Let me know your top 5 favorite Johnny's in the comments below.