Her Chinese name, 杨沁悦, or Yáng Qìn Yuè, was “too hard for the English tongue to pronounce,” Young explains in “What’s in a Name,” her entry for NPR’s College Podcast Challenge.
In the podcast, Young, now a sophomore at New York University, tries to coach her English-speaking friends through pronouncing her Chinese name correctly.
As one of Young’s old high school teachers explains in the podcast, “The students from Spain and the students from Italy kept their names.
Four years into her life in the U.S., Young has realized she wants more balance between the two halves of herself — Yáng Qìn Yuè from Shanghai and Aria of New York City.
For a long time, her Americanized name, Aria, didn’t feel as meaningful to her.
Young says that her relationship with her dad is strained and that she was primarily raised by “two very, very strong and resilient women” — her mom and her grandmother.
Now we want to introduce you to a college student with two names, including the one she chose when she came to the United States from China.
When I sat down with her in New York, she told me that changing her name wasn’t quite enough to fit in at her new Catholic school – in the middle of Pennsylvania Dutch country.
YOUNG: Most Asian international students wouldn’t, like, go out of their way to make friends with American students, but I did because I really was trying to fit in.
So when she sat down with a list of English baby names to choose from, she wanted to find one that was just as meaningful.
YOUNG: My new life is going to be melodic and, like, musical.
I was like, I don’t want my name to be pronounced that way.
CARRILLO: Now, four years into her new identity, Young is a sophomore at NYU.
She says she’s always been interested in journalism, and the radio station helped her gain more confidence.
CARRILLO: Aria’s relationship with her dad is strained, and even though she was raised by her mom and grandma, there’s no trace of that on paper.
YOUNG: I would say that my mom is the only, like, parent I have.