boston progress radio

All five of you devoted readers of Boston Progress Radio may have noticed a drop off in our article production. Needless to say, the staff here at BPR has gotten mildly busy as the leaves begin the grow and the weather begins to warm up. For substitutes, as you wait eagerly for our next exciting post, you’ve been reading some Angry Asian Man, some 8Asians, or some Hyphen Magazine articles. I hope that they have satisfied your need for news, thoughts, and musings about Asian American indie art and music.

In due time, I will find some energy and time to discuss and play some awesome new music that I’ve received from artists around the country, but this is not the blog post for that activity. Instead, I am here to consider a very frivolous topic not related to art.

When was the last time you met a non-Asian Eugene? Why is the name Eugene so popular among Asian Americans? I don’t know. What I do know is this: My dad named me Eugene because he went to the University of Oregon which is located in the city of… yes… Eugene, Oregon. He thought he was being very creative. As a UW alum, it pains me to tell this story, but alas, I’m not going to change that part of my name.

In my day, I have met a few Eugene’s. A son of my dad’s college classmate… named Eugene. In college, I met a girl named Eugenia. When I went to Taiwan about a decade or more ago, I roomed with a fine Taiwanese-Canadian named Eugene. Weird. A friend of mine, who works in the same place I do is also named Eugene. Today he told me a story about how he knows six Eugene’s. One time he was playing Ultimate against a dude with the same first and last name. All of these folks were of Chinese, Taiwanese, or Korean descent. What’s up with that?

Okay, I will admit that I do know one white Eugene. But not well. And he’s Irish. But that’s one white Eugene among a sea of Asian Eugene’s. To any rule there are exceptions, so my question still stands. I’m sure not all of those Eugene’s had parents who went to the University of Oregon. Maybe Eugene is a common phonetic representation of an Asian name. It does indeed sound kind of Korean, right? (See Yoo-jin Kim above—she’s what makes this post relevant to music) And if you put the emphasis on the second syllable in Chinese Mandarin, you might find yourself sounding out a character that roughly translates into “intelligent” or “quick-witted.” Who doesn’t want a smart kid?

There are of course a number of other names that are pretty popular among Asian American families: Jennifer, Grace, John, Henry, etc. But those names are widely used by non-Asians. Not so with the name Eugene. Unless they are really old, you won’t meet many non-Asian people named Eugene.

Alas, I have no answers. Only more questions. You should, however, not dwell on this topic of inquiry. I’m sure you have much better things to do with your time. However, if you have thoughts, please share. I’m very interested to hear any theories you might have. (If you care to look, here’s a theory from a white guy from 2003.)

Last 5 posts by eugene

• Yet another post on the supratarsal fold - May 12th, 2008
• Famous Asian Americans I Want to Meet - May 6th, 2008
• As I Am: Asians In America Goes National - May 4th, 2008
• East Meets Words Welcomes Conchita Campos - April 27th, 2008
• Boston Independent Film Festival 2008 - April 21st, 2008

Tags: Commentary.