More on last names

A distinctly different approach to dealing with last names. This time, in the US, and not in restricting names (there are 6000 currently in use in the US), but in helping people pronouce it properly. Isnt that a funny constrast of how China works vs. the US? - see previous blog on Chinese government restricting last names to 8000 commonly-used characters. Guess US has taken "let a thousand flower blossom" to heart more so than China!

There are several sites in US that help people pronounce tough-to-read last names. One is called http://www.howtosaythatname.com/ where the creator invites people/friends to record pronunication of first/last names and puts them on the site. She has 11,000 entries so far. Another person, Mumbai-based engineer, started http://www.pronouncenames.com/ after she moved to San Jose and mispronounced the "J" in "San Jose," not giving it the "H" sound used in Spanish words. She now has more than 75,000 entries, including 38,000 audio filessince the site launched in 2006. She manages the site with six other volunteers. Apparently, on Facebook, there's a group called "Nobody Can Pronounce My Last Name," (only one of several!) where a Mr. Chaipattanawanich joined (understandably).

In today's Wall St Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123930927836606215.html#

Shown here: Xu Bing's Square Word Calligraphy, with Japanese last names written in his created characters