Who knows the story about "Ruth Mary"?

When I was in college, there was a girl named Mary in the Foreign Languages Department. Just because her parents gave her a name that sounded like a foreigner, it spread among boys and quickly became a celebrity on campus at that time. I remember when a girl from the Foreign Languages Department passed by, all the boys scrambled to ask who was Mary. In fact, when boys ask about this Maria, I'm sure they will think of Maria in novels and oil paintings. Soon, the story of Mary was exposed. She came from a small county town rich in wheat and had no western ancestry. But in any case, Mary made a splash on the university campus and provoked many "gentlemen". Interestingly, another girl from the same county married a boy named Dai after graduating from college. Although the boy comes from a peasant family, he completely rewrote his family history after he went to college, vowing that they would have a new generation with no local flavor, so he announced that if he gave birth to a boy, he would be called Charles de Gaulle, and if he gave birth to a girl, he would be called Diana. Later, they had a daughter, who was named Diana. Just like the late Faye Wong in England!

My husband knew a Shanghai girl named Nina before he met me. What an interesting name! I went to a girl's house and felt distorted. I came to Nina's door with twists and turns, and I still remember there was a big water tank at the door. This doesn't look like the place where Nina was born. When asked, it turned out that I tampered with the name given by my parents. There are also some people like Nina who stole the household registration book and went to the police station to change their names without authorization. Later, Mr. Wang said that he felt suspicious as soon as he met a woman with a foreigner's name.

I didn't have a foreign name in my first year in Canada. At that time, I was pregnant and gave birth to a child, and I was at home most of the time. I don't feel the need to adopt a foreign name. However, every time I go to a hospital or a family doctor, the pronunciation of "Yu Xiu" is very difficult for English speakers. Watching them stutter for a long time, I couldn't pronounce "Xiu", and I wasn't sure if they were calling themselves, so I decided to take a foreign name quickly. Most people in China take foreign names that they are familiar with. Syllables are relatively simple, such as Linda, Sydney, Anna, Lisa and so on. It is easy to repeat. There will be several "Sydney" in the English class of a new immigrant, which makes the English teacher have to indicate whether it is "Sydney Zhang" or "Sydney Chen" after "Sydney". "Ruth Mary" has four syllables, so the probability of repetition is relatively small.

Ruth Mary is the result of pragmatism. Of course, it doesn't have the effect of "Mary" in those years, and there is no idea and pursuit behind names such as "Diana" and "Nina". Although I always feel that a Chinese-American face has an obvious accent similar to that of Zhao Benshan or other places, it doesn't always match a foreign name, just like it's a bit funny to have a "Nina" in a big water tank at the door of a house, but I have become accustomed to this kind of funny and awkward over time. But there is always a feeling that if a compatriot from China you know in Vancouver only tells you his or her English name, chatting with him or her is like chatting with a virtual name online. Even if you hold his (her) hand, there will be no kinship, just like holding a rubber glove, the real hand will be pulled away from that glove at any time.