Chance Jeong

Elective TOK 12

My Name, Chance
How I got my name
There are various reasons why my parents chose this particular quirky name. To begin with, being a Korean born in Japan, I was forced to adopt a name that could be written in my Korean passport and my birth certificate. Furthermore, my father brilliantly predicted that English names would have an advantage later in life. Furthermore, due to some complex family tradition, I was forced to have a suu sound somewhere in my name. These set a few limitations to the names I could get. My parents then scanned through dictionaries day and night to find a good Kanji that would go with the suu sound, and eventually settled for Chan-suu. The chan part represents light, or, more specifically, a bright leader who will pave the way through the darkness, like a beam of light. My mother then cleverly changed my name to Chance since it can be written in English, and is extremely easy to remember. They also hoped that by giving me the name Chance I would get a lot of opportunities (chances) in my life and will be able to grab hold of them. I still sometimes use the name Chan-Ce (pronounced Chan-suu) for official Korean documentation.

How I feel about my name

I have heard so many puns about my name that it feels almost comical. In fact, I sometimes wonder whether people would ever treat my name seriously. However, on the other hand, because this name is uncommon yet effortless to remember, its easy for me to be recalled by teachers or new students. Furthermore, nearly everybody, despite coming from different cultural backgrounds, is able to correctly pronounce my name, which is quite neat.

How other respond

Most students have become pretty nonchalant about the punny-ness about my name, but occasionally when the word chance turns up in my Math or English class, a few students look at me, as if I were to comically respond to the fact that my name was said. Nevertheless, I dont think others respond different way about my name.

If I could choose another name

I would not change my name. I believe that it is quite clever and is also a part of my identity. As a matter of fact, I cannot imagine myself being called something else. However, I would change the pronunciation. Instead of being called chance, where the cacophonous ch sound mars the beauty of the word, I would be called shaunce. Of course, the spelling would be the same but the pronunciation would make my name sound more euphonic, and, personally, more beautiful.

Chance Jeong

Elective TOK 12