Taiwan? That's my brother's name!

Average Joes and Janes on Taiwan: blank stares, knit brows

Jonathan AdamsJuly 5, 2009 11:30Updated May 30, 2010 12:00

People take photographs during the 2009 Taipei Lantern Festival outside the City Hall in Taipei, Feb. 6, 2009. (Nicky Loh/Reuters)

TAIPEI — What does the average American know about Taiwan?

Not much — at least if my conversations on a recent trip back to the U.S. are anything to go by.

What I did get was lots of confusion, wrinkled brows and blank stares.

A sign of things to come came at a Starbucks in Washington, D.C., where I talked to the staff at 6:30 in the morning while working off jetlag.

"Taiwan?" said one employee, after I'd told him where I live. "They still spanking people over there?"

It took me a moment to realize he was talking about Singapore, where an American man famously received four lashes with a rattan cane for vandalism in 1994.

"Taiwan — is that in the Middle East?" the other employee said.

"No, Far East," I said.

"I had a friend who lived in the Middle East," he replied, undeterred. "Iran, I think. He had to leave, he said it was too hot."

Later, at an airport bookstore, a clerk was pushing a frequent buyer card on me. After several no's, I finally said, "Look, I can't use the card — I live in Taiwan."

"Taiwan?" she said with surprise. "That's my brother's name!"

"Really?" I said, surprised. Then, after a moment, "Did your parents realize that's also the name of a country?"

"I don't know," she said. "I don't think so."

Actually, it wasn't the first time I'd heard of Americans named Taiwan. California produced a star football player named "Taiwan Jones," and there are listings for the same name on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Apparently, it's a variant of similar names like "Taevion," "Travone," or "Tyronne."

But the best response had to come from a woman at Plimoth Plantation's "1627 English Village." She was an actress, firmly in character as a 17th century settler in one of the earliest American colonies.