I took a Vietnamese name long ago, I am Cao Thiên. My last name is Fox, con cáo*, so I dropped the tone mark and left it as Cao, which is a proper Vietnamese surname (there was a Republican congressman from Louisiana named Cao), which also means high, noble, or tall. Thiên means sky or heaven, so my name is "high heaven," as in "stinks to," a joke nobody here gets.

Most people call me Anh Thiên, brother Thiên. They would have trouble pronouncing my English name. I only use my English name on official documents.

*Con is a pseudo-pronoun (measure-word) for children or animals and every type of animal is called con. A cat is con mèo, a kitten is mèo con. Con cáo is a fox, and the word has a suggestion of deviousness.