The Quirks of Singaporean Chinese Names

Some of us have switched to hanyu pinyin names, but the appeal of dialects as an identity marker still endures.

- Ho Ai Li

If you are a Chinese Singaporean of a certain vintage, like me, you would have gone through the days of being known by a hanyu pinyin name.

I grew up in the 1980s, the first decade of the Speak Mandarin Campaign when there was much zeal for all things Mandarin.

In primary school, I was He Aili; by secondary school, I became Ho Ai Li and could drop my full pinyin name, though it remains in brackets on my Singapore identity card (IC).

I was reminded of "the comfortable chaos of Singaporean Chinese names", as writer Don Shiau titled it at his recent well-attended talk at the National Library, where he outlined the chequered history of pinyin names in school. While my two names look about the same, Mr Shiau seems to turn into another person when he changes to his pinyin name of Xiao Weixiong.

Singapore's language policy has certainly impacted the names by which many of us are called. But even after so many years, dialect names continue to endure.

Perhaps it's because, in a very Singaporean way, we have embraced the practicality of standardisation, while clinging on to links to our past.

Hanyu pinyin, also called pinyin, or "spelt sounds", was created by Chinese linguists in the 1950s to standardise the pronunciation and romanisation of Mandarin, and started gaining traction widely in China from the late 1970s.

In Singapore, a campaign to promote the use of Mandarin was famously launched in 1979, to get Chinese Singaporeans to switch to using Mandarin instead of dialects.

Among other objectives, this was to improve communication and understanding among Chinese Singaporeans.

In 1981, pinyin names were introduced in pre-primary and Primary 1 classes, and this was later extended to levels up to pre-university.