For All the Joko’s I’ve Loved Before
In the Autumn of 2007, I decided to change my name. When I moved to Washington, I decided to use my Indonesian name, the one I was given while living there as an exchange student as my full time identity. It wasn’t that hard of a transition as I had been using “Joko” as my internet pseudonym for a decade at that point.
Now, as much as I call it easy, there is something rather profound about having people call and know you by an entirely new name. I recommend everyone change their first name at least once in their life.
The name “Joko” is a bit unusual in Western Americanized culture. I’ve had to put up with people pronouncing it “Jock-o”, that being a not entirely unfamiliar American name. No, it’s pronounced “Joe Coe”…
In any case, I am but one of many Internetly known Joko’s throughout the world, and I am probably only more talented than the MOST famous Joko, the one from Germany, a celebrity on MTV of Germany and an emcee/DJ/producer of EuroDance techno. If one were to enter simply “Joko” in Google images, I’m the first, but 9 of the next 10 images are of Matt Joko of Hamburg.
I dunno. When I see and hear Germans trying to sound tough even under the guise of hiphop music, I think of the world wars and NAZIS. I present to you the most famous Joko in the world, Joko of Germany:
Sounds scarily Hitleresque don’t it?
Joko in South Africa isn’t a person; it‘s a brand of tea. They made one of the best commercials ever in this little gem for Joko Gold Tea.
The most important Joko, and she went by her middle name, in North America was Charlotte Joko Beck, a Zen Buddhism guru who unfortunately passed last year. Ironically, we lived in the same city, San Diego, for a decade and I didn’t even know about her whilst we shared that locality on the time space continuum.
No blog about Joko’s would be complete without Joko of Martinique. Like me, this Caribbean Joko is very much involved in politics and well, hi songs are awesome. Perhaps the most famous Marquesian musician today, this Joko’s songs will stick with you… Anyone speak French can translate this for everyone?
As I mentioned, Joko is only a strange name in American culture. In Indonesian culture, it’s like “John”. Just a couple years back , both the vice-president and minister of defence, 2 of the 3 most powerful men in country, shared the first name “Joko”.
Probably the most famous Joko in Indonesia, however, is the film director Joko Anwar. The Martin Scorsese of Indonesian film.
That said, while looking into clips for this blog, I found out about Ki Joko Goro Goro. I won’t say anything about Mas Ki Joko Goro Goro, except ask you to watch his singing with an open mind and ear.
I have often wondered if you really slipped that one time I heard you introduce yourself then quickly realize and finish the sentence with Joko. I see nothing wrong with your birth name. I like it.
Joko is okay too.
Thank you for this PSA. 😉
I had no idea.
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Yesss…I have been pronouncing your name right along!
You have very interesting name. I became curios after reading your blog about my childhood name when on farm in summers. Sooo looked it up…
1. geechee
Geechee commonly refers to a person of white descent whose family has long roots in the South Carolina lowcountry, mostly between Beaufort and Georgetown; centered around Charleston. They speak “Geechee” which is a heavily accented dialect of English with Gullah(African American)influences.
Beanyeah (Been here) = is the Geechee term for someone who has lived here all of their life and their family is also from here.
Cumyeah (Come hear)= is the Geechee term for someone who moved here recently (as in any time after they were born.)
Boat in Geechee is pronounced boe-at with two syllables.
Now I know why they also called me City…I hardly could understand them half time when they talked, nor did I talk like them…. 😯 ..lol!
This was way cool Mr. Joko!
The first guy and the last guy….and Rush Limbahh can lick my tail J…there is only one Joko and it is you….fuck em all…I am not in the mood.
Signed
One pissed off Lemur.
Refreshing Joko… 😀
Joe.
Oddly enough, I actually have something relevant to contribute to this topic. You see, my fiancee doesn’t much care for my first name (its the same as her loser biological father’s, apparently), so I’m thinking of suggesting she might prefer to call me by my middle name ie., “Riley,” instead. If she goes for that, then I may just switch to “Riley” altogether. After all, I still hardly know anyone here in South Dakota (and I like to think that will change over time), so its not like there are all these people I’d have to tell that I have a new name. I will just start signing things “K. Riley O’Keeffe.”
I think I actually like “Riley” better than “Kevin” anyway. “Kevin” reminds me too much of my childhood; to me, it will always sound like a boy’s name. Whereas “Riley” sounds more like a man (although ironically, its being used as a first name for girls these days, but in another 10-20 years, I’m quite sure “Kevin” will also be getting deployed as a name for girls).