I take your point about the "least things that would bother me in China, and there are definitely more important and serious things to watch out for." However, I've been involved in job fairs and those recruiting for multi-nationals just see the student with an "unnatural" name as immature. One guy working for a telecoms company told me that they are strict in how employees present themselves, particluarly on the phone and in business emails, as these are representations of the company. "Elephant Zhang" and "Stalin Chou" do not seem appropriate in that context, although "Crocodile Chen" may be appealing in certain circles. With the harsh realities of Chinese graduate employment in China, one less thing to worry about would seem to make sense to me.

As for the "more important and serious things", I do spend time on curriculum reform and improved syllabi and it is paying off, although it has meant more work for me. I guess I'm lucky in that I don't have to 'watch out' for getting paid on time; problems with contracts or visas; holiday allowances; poor accommodation and a myriad of other serious distractions, and can get on with the job of teaching - which is why I'm still working and enjoying what I do.

As I said in the previous post, I just don't bother with the recalcitrants for the simple reason that the daft name used to produce howls of laughter in the classroom and the class would always take time to settle again. I suppose you're right in that it's a cultural thing, but I have read so much on this forum about Chinese culture that I'm immune to most of it as described. "Echo" changed her name of her own accord after visiting job fairs for 3 weeks, and I accept that some given names may be a form of translation, but the other examples are just students attempting to stand-out from the mass. Some of the "English" names were given to students by their high-school Chinese teachers. It's plausible that these are where the direct translations come from, without much thought on their part.

I prefer my students to stand-out through their academic work and extra-curricular activities - sport, debating, music,dancing, martial arts, singing and voluntary work etc. Having spent the last few weeks helping current and former students with Personal Statements and Application Letters for postgraduate study, I'm certain that I can determine what's important. I just wonder if I changed my Chinese name to the meaning of my English given name (not surname), would it be acceptable to my Chinese colleagues? I won't go into details here, but it relates to something that could be seen as unpleasant by the Chinese, and I think it would sound unnatural.