Tom Cruise

This is Tom.

But for the first couple weeks I taught him, his name was Robbie. One day he told me he wanted to change his name to "Cruise." I tried to think of what sort of English name he was talking about (I have another student named Bradley who pronounced his name "Preberly" when I first met him; sometimes it's a stretch.). When another student chimed in "Tom Cruise," I realized who Robbie had in mind. I explained to Robbie that in Korea, your family name is first, followed by your given name, but in America it's the opposite. Given name, then family name. Once Robbie understood this, he quickly decided he wanted to be "Tom" instead of "Cruise."

He looks more like a "Robbie" than a "Tom" to me, but who am I to get in the way of a middle schooler creating an identity for himself in English class?