N.Q. Wen, the Namesake by Norman Qining Wen

N.Q. Wen, the Namesake by Norman Qining Wen https://padlet.com/190899/l1k46j47el0p the Namesake en-us 2017-04-05 02:43:41 UTC 2025-11-06 18:42:58 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/File.png Paragraph 190899 https://padlet.com/190899/l1k46j47el0p/wish/166925412 My name is “Norman Qining Wen”, but it seems that it is s. In Mandarin, my name is “Wēn Qí Níng (温骐宁)”. Back in Shanghai, as the particular character for “Qi” is not common used, from time to time people often typed a wrong character with same pronunciation as the correct character is relatively hard to find . Meanwhile, spending childhood in Shanghai, I was often mocked by some of my Shanghainese friends who pronounced the name as “ice-cream”. I was frustrated from time to time, but the real frustration only starts as I moved to Hong Kong. Suddenly, the immigration officers seem to give a new name for me in Cantonese which seems to be “wan1 kei4 ning4”. Fine, but when registering my Hong Kong ID, another name is given. According to the rules, they wanted to stick to simplified version of the characters in the name, for some reason they couldn’t find simplified version of “骐” instead they replaced it with “騏“ in the traditional version. Consequently, there is a weird Chinese name on my ID which is “温騏宁”. The name is neither simplified nor traditional and they could have changed to fully into traditional which they and bothers me from time to time.

Unlike most Chinese who picked their English “nickname”, the name “Norman” was given by my mother. However, I can only be documented as “Qi Ning Wen” instead of “Norman” because there is literally no way to register “Norman” as a name on a Chinese passport. Maybe one day I will figure out how to keep both in Hong Kong. For now, it seems that I have got used to the confusion.

]]> 2017-04-19 04:48:35 UTC https://padlet.com/190899/l1k46j47el0p/wish/166925412 The Name 190899 https://padlet.com/190899/l1k46j47el0p/wish/168000123 The Name

Speaking of names,

I have many,

“Qi Ning Wen”, “Wen Qining”, “Norman Wen”...

Or sometimes,

I can only say “Q-I-N-I-N-G”

Speaking of troubles,

There are many,

Not only “Qining”,

But also “Norman”.

Neither can anyone get it right at once.

Especially “Qining”,

Seldom can anyone pronounce it correctly.

Neither do I want to teach them,

It is simply tiring.

Speaking of meaning,

Seldom anyone cares.

I don’t know why I am named “Norman”

I am not French nor Normandic.

I do know why I am named “Qi Ning”.

Somebody did ask me once,

I am also tired as explaining,

Because they wouldn’t understand the deeper meaning.

If they did want to know,

I would show them dictionary definitions.

Speaking of names,

Sometimes I do wonder the point of having “two” names.

A Chinese side and a western side.

Neither one can fully represent me,

But either can help.

]]> 2017-04-25 02:52:43 UTC https://padlet.com/190899/l1k46j47el0p/wish/168000123