What is your Chinese name?

钟岳 Zhong Yue

What does your name mean?

My father thought yue sounds good, and my mother decided on the character 岳 (In chinese, the sound “yue” can be written in many different ways and have different meannings), 岳 means mountain, inspired by a verse from Du fu,

“When ascending to the highest peak, It dwarfs all peaks under our feet.” 会当凌绝顶 一览众山小

My mother is a very ambitious careerist and expects the same from her daughter.

What is your English name? (Please write in pinyin if you don’t have one)

Bonnie

Who gave you your English name?

My father, Bonnie means beautiful, my father’s blessing is rather superficial lol. Anyway, my father and my mother each named me a name (English name and Chinese name)

Is there a pronunciation/meaning connection between your English name and Chinese name?

No

Have you ever abandoned your English name? What was the reason?

I already abandoned the name Bonnie since I always prefer my Chinese name more.

Does your name ever give you any funny, embarrassing, or uncomfortable experiences?

When I was a child, many people came and told me that this name doesn’t sound like a girl. However, since I was influenced by my mother’s strong and ambitious personality, I love my name. Later, when I start to write my own novel, I also love to give “muscling” names to my female characters. It is a stereotype that words like “mountain” can only be used for boys’ names anyway.

Do you prefer your Chinese name or your English name? Which name better represents your own identity?

I prefer my Chinese name. After I left the country, I briefly used my English name because foreigners couldn’t pronounce 岳 correctly. but since I abandoned my English name, I got no choice but to teach them tirelessly how to pronounce my name, which became the first topic of conversation with every stranger I met. At first, I also felt that it was very troublesome and awkward, but now I got used to it. If Indians, Middle Easterners, and Japanese people feel comfortable using their real names, why should I feel awkward about it?