Darth Vader image by icantfindone
My real name is Jan Linhart. I'm Czech. Recently, I started to cooperate with Websparkinc.com located in US. It made me realize, that my name sucks for many reasons and so I decided to do something about it. Read the list of reasons and let me know if some first name sucks more than mine.
1. Google Translate thinks I'm January
English is my second language. When I write some important letter in English, I copy-paste it to Google Translate and let it translate the letter back to Czech so I can fix typos and confirm that it makes sense.
But when even mighty Google translates Jan as Leden ( == January ), there is something wrong with this name.
2. People I communicate with via text messages think I'm a woman
I guess you know what I'm talking about. Jan is girl's name in English speaking countries. It's embarrassing to explain you are not a woman. It returns me back in time to my childhood when I was wearing clothes after my older sister.
3. It's often pronounced the way that even I think I'm a woman
English speaking people pronounce Jan like short name for Jennifer. It should be pronounced with soft J. Something like Yaan.
4. Even Czechs don't call me Jan
I already tried to explain this to few foreigners, but their minds were not able to accept it. At Czech, each Jan is called Honza automatically. Honza is short name for Jan even though it's longer. It's just the way it is.
5. Every second Czech is called Jan
I love my parents, but to call a boy Jan is similar to call him just Boy. Jan is the most favorite boy name in Czech. When you shout "Honzo" (see point 4.) at the street, half of the men will turn on you.
When I think about it, I had a turtle called Želva which can be translated as Turtle. I guess my parents had influenced me in this area...
6. Domain johnlinhart.com was free
Domains like janlinhart.com, jlinhart.com, linhartjan.com and all other variations of my name are taken. Surprisingly, johnlinhart.com is not. Well, it is taken now. Bad news for thousands of other Jan / John Linharts around the world.
John from now on
You see? My reasons for renaming myself are big ones. I'm not going to rename myself officially. But if you are English speaking person, call me John.