1814 HKSAR Name of the Day

Charanis Chiu Keng-kwong, D090xxx, Notice of Bankruptcy Order in the High Court of the HKSAR Court of First Instance, Hong Kong (26 August 2016)

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation

1813 HKSAR Name of the Day

Savoy Wong Ha-wai, D510xxx, Notice of Bankruptcy Order in the High Court of the HKSAR Court of First Instance, Hong Kong (26 August 2016)

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation

1812 HKSAR Name of the Day

Jackey Cheng Man-lung, Z381xxx, Notice of Bankruptcy Order in the High Court of the HKSAR Court of First Instance, Hong Kong (26 August 2016)

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation; Insertion

1811 HKSAR Name of the Day

Joanes Chan Lai-fung, K571xxx, Notice of Bankruptcy Order in the High Court of the HKSAR Court of First Instance, Hong Kong (26 August 2016)

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Name Category: Creation

1810 HKSAR Name of the Day

William Tsang Wai-lam, Z811xxx, Notice of Bankruptcy Order in the High Court of the HKSAR Court of First Instance, Hong Kong (26 August 2016)

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Common, Phonetic-based

1809 HKSAR Name of the Day

Dragon Lau King-cheung, E957xxx, Notice of Bankruptcy Order in the High Court of the HKSAR Court of First Instance, Hong Kong (26 August 2016)

Note: There is no "Lung" in his Chinese name!

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation; Self-important

1808 HKSAR Name of the Day

Fancy Chan Sinn-ping, D014xxx, Notice of Bankruptcy Order in the High Court of the HKSAR Court of First Instance, Hong Kong (26 August 2016)

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation

1807 HKSAR Name of the Day

Catina Lee So-mai, D431xxx, Notice of Bankruptcy Order in the High Court of the HKSAR Court of First Instance, Hong Kong (26 August 2016)

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation

1806 HKSAR Name of the Day

Kant Lee Kwong-sang, C553xxx, Notice of Bankruptcy Order in the High Court of the HKSAR Court of First Instance, Hong Kong (26 August 2016)

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Name Category: Creation

1805 HKSAR Name of the Day

Nice Kam Li-sze, Z377xxx, Notice of Bankruptcy Order in the High Court of the HKSAR Court of First Instance, Hong Kong (26 August 2016)

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Name Category: Creation

1804 HKSAR Name of the Day

Keisy Lo, relationship manager, IP Global, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation

1803 HKSAR Name of the Day

Vincy Leung, director, TVB Pearl News, Hong Kong

see 1136 HKSAR Name of the Day for other Vinci's, Vincy's, Vincci's and Vinchi's !!!!

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation; somewhat common in Hong Kong

1802 HKSAR Name of the Day

Carlson Tong, chairman, English Schools Foundation, Hong Kong

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Rare; Son-suffix

1801 HKSAR Name of the Day

Karten, 18-month-old son to local parents and godson to journalist Yonden Lhatoo, Hong Kong

Another example of Hong Kong parents giving their child (if not themselves) a unique and novel English name. [Check out the comment at the end of this post]

Karten, as featured in a story about Hong Kong education

About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Creation


Reference (SCMP article)

International or local school for Hong Kong kids: does it really matter?

Yonden Lhatoo highlights the tale of two toddlers in the city and sympathises with their parents who have very different ideas of how best to educate their children

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 18 August, 2016, 6:16pm

Comments: 8 

Yonden Lhatoo

yonden.lhatoo@scmp.com

You only have to look at the daunting, dollar-driven business of sending your children to school in Hong Kong to understand why this city has one of the lowest birth rates in the world.

It’s just way too much hard work, starting from the kindergarten admission process, which can require so much preparation and fortitude from both preschoolers and parents that they might as well be taking entrance exams and interviews for Nasa than securing a nursery seat among a bunch of yet-to-be-toilet-trained toddlers.

Two tiny tots I happen to know personally and the opposite directions their parents are taking will illustrate the age-old, local-versus-international schooling dilemma that education in this city essentially boils down to.

Little George’s dad is an Australian colleague at work and his mum is a Hongkonger. You’d expect his parents to put him in an international school, but they’re not jumping on that bandwagon.

George is going to be educated in a local, government-run school. His dad told me that he’s going to be a “local boy” – the product of Hong Kong’s free primary and secondary education system.

And why not? It’s free, and his parents won’t be pouring their hard-earned money into the bottomless pit of international school fees. The considerable savings will be squirrelled away in his college fund.

It won’t be a breeze, of course. Government schools can be notorious for their traditional, homework-heavy approach to education, and language can be a real issue. But his parents are prepared. His mum will ensure his native fluency in Cantonese and Putonghua, while his dad looks after his English-language skills.

Then there’s my favourite kid in the world – my godson Karten. His parents are both Hongkongers and an international education for their child goes without saying.

Poor Karten has barely turned 1½ and, behold, it has begun. His mum has taken an indefinite sabbatical from work to supervise his preschooling, and he’s already in an insanely competitive environment, diapers and all.

I tell his mum that it doesn’t matter if Karten’s peers can recite the alphabet backwards while doing backflips. At this stage in life, all he should be doing is being the adorable baby that he is.

But she’s already started paying exorbitant playschool fees, staking out kindergartens that are relatively more difficult to get into than medical degree courses, and scrutinising lists of outrageously overpriced, overrated international schools. Karten is years away from learning words like “debenture”, but such money-spinning concepts introduced by our international educators will decide his prospects of getting into the “best” school that his parents can barely afford.

I’m personally convinced he will become a rocket scientist some day, whether he ends up going to Harvard or Hung Hom, but I admit I’m severely biased in this regard.

It does make me think, though. In all my years of vetting job applications and hiring fresh university graduates, I’ve never seen a clear divide between local and international school products in terms of quality and ability.

The only obvious difference, in most cases, is proficiency in Chinese. International schoolers tend to have studied any language – French, German, Italian, even Latin – but not Cantonese or Putonghua. Far be it from me to judge the logic, but if you want your children to live and work in Hong Kong, command of Chinese is a no-brainer.

At the end of the day, I have to say it takes a lot of guts and perseverance to be parents in this city. Respect. However they may decide to educate their children.

Yonden Lhatoo is a senior editor at the Post

Selected Comments

ohyeahar

George and Karten* are lucky in that they’re not growing up in a typical average HK family environment. George is able to pick up English from his parents and Karten obviously has parents with the financial means to put him through international schools. But think of the child whose parents don’t have the financial means to put him through international school and doesn’t have an Australian father. He’ll likely grow up with poor English skills and a miniscule chance of getting into a university.
*HK parents really need to relax on trying to come up with unique English names. It sounds like “carton” as in a “carton of milk”. It’s CARLTON or KARLTON. You need the L there to smooth it out.

HKSAR Blog: what about Karson? Does it need an "L" too?

1800 HKSAR Name of the Day

Isis Ching See-nga, Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong (SCMP letters 30 Sept 2011)

a somewhat unfortunate novel name that is now more likely to be linked with the extremist militant and terrorist group

The name however is from Egyptian mythology where Isis was the goddess of the sky and nature. Isis was the most powerful of all the female goddesses of ancient Egypt; sister to Osiris and mother of Horus.


About Novel HKSAR Names
Name Category: Rare; Self-important