There’s a very interesting observation about naming children in the American culture vs Asian culture which reveals how we operate in our families.
Asian names are generally three characters.
The third character distinguishes us from our siblings and cousins, the second often marks which generation of the family we belong to, and the first is our “family name”.
It’s interesting how our last name is first in Asian nomenclature. That’s because the first identity an individual has is in context to the family they belong to.
American names are first names first and the last names last, indicating the individuality of the person.
But the Asian name reveals our integrated identity with our family. It is this integration where the Asian culture of shame births from. Because the consequences of everything you do does not just fall on you, it falls on your family.
