In a Korean Starbucks, the baristas’ nametags nearly all bear, in bold, chalky, Roman capital letters, names like SALLY or RYAN or ANGIE. It turns out to have come down from corporate: “Starbucks staff are required to have nicknames,” writes the Korea Times‘ Kim Young-jin. “The reason, company officials say, is to create a culture in which all ‘partners’ are equal.”
In this Korea Blog post by Colin Marshall at the LA Review of Books, he looks at the phenomenon of Koreans using “English” names in Seoul – who does it? And why? And what makes a name “English”?