Thursday, September 24, 2009

My name - Kevin


My name, a bit complicated – pronouncing and figuring out what’s my name means, but meaningful. My name has the meaning “Be brave, friendly and live long”

Every person I met says, “It’s a good name” – but not saying “Best”. Maybe, I agree, because I am really positive about both names – one unique; the other one is common- really common. Honestly speaking, I love Min Jae more than Kevin however I also love to be called “Kevin”.

My Korean name is not taken from any of my family members – or even neighborhoods. However, my name was taken from the “Name Shop” (In Korea, it is not easy to find Name Shops where people make a good meaningful name for new born baby – of course it is paid service, not free of charge.) In the Name Shop, there are mostly old people who learned Chinese, long time ago. They create the unique names by using the finest Chinese characters.

This “Name Shop” has been established a long time ago – about 50 years. My father’s name, Kang Tae Woo (Daniel) also came from this name shop. So does my brother’s name later from the shop!

My English name was obviously not taken from the Korean name shops. However, I took “Kevin” from the film named “ Home Alone”. The main character of this movie is “Kevin”. This “Kevin” was knowledgeable and smart boy who fights with two stupid burglars by using his cleverness. I really loved this boy, and I wanted to be someone like him, who bashes two terrible men without an other’s help. I took his name as my English name. Soon, I came to foreign country, Malaysia – and I was no longer Min Jae Kang. I became Kevin Kang.

Some of you would think that Kevin is not a unique name that has no meanings at all, but I don’t agree. I would like Kevin to be interpreted as “Knowledgeable, brave, friendly, and maybe a bit naughty”.

My both name would be wonderful - if you can remember my name, Kevin, Min Jae Kang!

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