We just used our regular names!
this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2026
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In all language classes I've been a part of we just used our names lol :3
We never had different names in language classes and the idea is so weird to me. My name is my name, I don't introduce myself with a different name when I go to Italy or Spain.
Steel-manning this: Names are nouns, a grammatical construct. So declinating it in a foregin language might not always be possible.
There are rules to handle foreign names in a language with declinsion. I don't see why you can't use those.
Besides, most inflected languages I know will handle names differently from other nouns. Definitely true in German, but also Italian. E.g. you say "Faccio una foto del duomo." (I'm taking a picture of the dome.) but "Faccio una foto di Mike." (I'm taking a picture of Mike.)
The only language where this doesn't work that I know of would be Latin, which is why people in the past latinized names.
Is this some american thing? I've never heard of anyone having a different name for a language class, that just seems odd to me. Your name is your name, doesn't matter what language you're speaking.
It's definitely a thing in American schools, but i think it's common in some other countries as well.
When learning another language, the options are to: 1) use your real name with the real pronunciation, 2) real name with different pronunciation, 3) equivalent of name in other language (e.g., John to Juan), 4) just pick a name you like in the other language.
1 doesnt flow well in speech, 2 also feels unnatural, and sometimes isnt possible, and 3 doesnt always exist. Kids also generally like the opportunity to pick a name that they think is cool. There's no expectation that you would use that name in a real life discussion with someone in that language.
Looks like it's common in China as well. https://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/article/view/2535
Most people chose their name, sometimes choosing a name similar to their real name, sometimes choosing completely different names. The only time I saw someone assigned a name was when their name conflicted with another student's.
At least in Brazil we use our names, sometimes with the pronunciation in the language we're studying. No need to use a foreign name.
Spanish: we got to choose, most people chose something close to their real name
Mandarin: my teacherβs Taiwanese wife painstakingly came up with names for us that were close-sounding, or at the very least had the same first letters. It was very cool of her to do
That reminds me of my (Scottish) cousin's marriage to his Korean wife. The place settings at the dinner had transliterated versions of our names in to Hangul. I'm sure it was largely done for the non-English speakers present but I thought it was a really nice touch.
It was really interesting to observe how some names could be approximated with a single character whilst others (including myself) had to be brute forced with 4+.
Iβve never heard of someone getting a nickname in their language class. We used our real names (French class).
I was Burrito in Spanish.
I was Bernardo for a few weeks until we got to talking about "things you like". Well, I said "yo soy pollo". Class errupted and I was left with dumbface not understanding why it was funny for awhile. And then I became Pollo for the rest of the year.
Spanish: pick your own name
Japanese: must use the Japanese-ified version of your name, eg Smith -> Sumisu, and people will usually refer to you by last name.
In retrospect, it was kinda strange to pick names in Spanish. It would be really strange / unacceptable to just pick a random Japanese name for yourself, and I've heard that it's really rude to pick a name for yourself in American Sign Language. I wonder why it's so widely accepted to do so for Spanish.
Why would it be rude? Who's gate keeping the names?
You do not invent your own name sign. Name signs may only be given by a person in the Deaf community. Some hearing people (like interpreters and teachers) mistakenly give name signs without realizing they are in violation of Deaf culture traditions. However, a name sign cannot be assigned by a hearing person.
American Sign Language has deep cultural and linguistic significance. Typically, it is not until you are involved in the community that you are given a name sign. In fact, not everyone within the Deaf community has a name sign.
From article
It's like a cultural thing. This still doesn't really answer why it's like that in the first place, but I think in general the reason it feels inappropriate to name yourself in another language is that it feels "cringe" for lack of a better word. Somebody picks a name that has all kinds of cultural and colloquial associations without understanding them at all.
That's kinda my theory of cultural appropriation; it's not wrong because of some deep ethical reason, but rather it's just often uncool. People sending signals that they don't understand themselves.
We got to pick, pending teacher approval.
Spanish speaker here, Franciscas most commonly are called Pancha instead of Paca
That must have been what I meant then, thanks!
In which country? In Spain is always Paca or Quica.
In French class i chose "Guy" from the list because I thought it sounded cool, but then found out they pronounce it like "ghee" which didn't sound as cool. Malheureusement.
I chose Rebeca/Bequi :)
Depends on the teacher. We had both kinds.
In my intigratuon course, we try to pronounce our names with the appropriate accent.
We chose from a list where students with earlier birth dates got to choose first. Perhaps a consequence of small school district combined with less commonly-learned language, but after the 3rd year with the same teacher, we tended to revert to our real names, just pronounced with an accent.
We got to pick, though most people stuck with the closest version to their real name. I did.
But we could pick any name, if qe wanted, which was pretty cool
My name is French, but my initials are close to an English name (and that's my everyday nickname as well).
So it was easy to get an English nickname.
Back like 7 years ago, in my German classes, we were given a list of names to choose from. Don't exactly remember what I chose, but I think it started with an F and was 5 letters long? Liked it quite a bit.
In the Japanese classes I took 2 years ago we were given the choice of picking a Japanese name, but most, including me, rolled with a transliteration of their own name.