My Chinese name isn't a proper Chinese name. Real Chinese names include word elements but are almost never words. Although I've got a correct family name my personal name isn't a name. There are weirder names to go by than the one I use. Some of my foreign friends have included Copper Tiger, White Snow, Little Mushroom, and Dog's Egg. Dog's Egg is my absolute favorite since depending on what part of China you are from could be a term of endearment for a small child or could mean whoreson bastard.

         I'm called Rose as in "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Though that's not why I'm called that. Nor is it because I'm named Rosenberg. It's because I made a mistake with alliterative sounds my second month in China and ended up, instead "I am American" saying "I am nothing" and then, when I tried to correct myself, said "I am rose."

         Wo shi Meiguoren. 我是美国人.
         Wo shi Meiguanxi. 我是没关系.
         Wo shi Meigui. 我是玫瑰.

         Do you see the similarities?

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         I am rose.

         Yue Meigui.

         Mountain Rose.

         It's a fabulous pun on my English family name and I get to have all sorts of fun with it because a slight shift in pronunciation of my Chinese family name can make me Leaf Rose, Wild Rose, or Moonlit Rose. However, the last two aren't proper family names.

         It also has the advantage, or disadvantage if you will, of showing up in scads of pop songs and being so gosh darn cute that it isn't merely precious, it's presh.

         Which is exactly how cute the driver of the truck was being at me when he didn't so much ask me if I wanted to go but informed me I was going to go on the truck. He even rhymed.

         Yue Meigui, mei meigui, ni shibushi lei meigui?

         岳玫瑰,美玫瑰,你是不是累玫瑰?

         Mountain Flower, beautiful flower, are you a tired flower?

         I don't mind being on the truck too much, the people in the truck are also my friends and it's kind of nice handing bananas and cookies and the like out the window to my other friends.