My Drag Queen Name is Ella Montgomery

Two blog posts in one day? However did you get so lucky?

Well, folks, I'll tell you. It's raining in Hong Kong. Monsoon season has finally descended upon us and the city is continually enveloped in a thick layer of fog, mist and/or rain. Humidity is now 100%. I read somewhere that it rains 5 times as much in Hong Kong than it does in Seattle but only during the rainy season, and I'm starting to believe it. So, yours truly is holed up in our apartment, contemplating the meaning of life, or more accurately the Hong Kong way of life.

I was told by a very good source that Local women get to choose their "Western" name when they are in high school. See, when Asians are borne, they are given an Asian name that we Westerners cannot pronounce lest we sound like we are trying to cough up a loogie. So, in order to make our lives easier, natch, they get to choose a much easier to pronounce name during adolescence. Usually, it is whatever names are popular during that era. In fact, sometimes you can tell the age of a woman by her choice of name even before you meet her. Women who were adolescents during the 80's for example have names like Jennifer, Tiffany or Michelle.

My manicurist today was probably in school in the 60's, but I didn't have to look farther than her nametag to figure that out: Gogo.

Some women try to pick a name based on the literal translation of her Chinese name like Rain or a name that sounds most like her Chinese name. And then some women just go nuts and pick what they think is a pretty name, like Cinderella or Candy. Not joking. Mind you, this name is not legally recorded anywhere but it follows them for The Rest Of Their Lives.

I'm not sure what the procedure is for men but, for the most part, they all have normal sounding names like Michael or John, although we have run into 2 different guys named Dragon. Sometimes they are given Western names at birth. In any case, I get the sense it's not such a big deal for them as it is for the women.

So, I thought to myself, what name would I have picked if I were to pick a new name for myself in High School. Back then, I used to like Breanna which I'm not so sure I would like now. I think if it were up to me now, I would go for something stately and Spanish like Isabella or Esmeralda.

Now it's your turn, audience, what name would you pick for yourself if you had been given the choice?