They can go by their nn. I've had a lot of Asian friends who've does this with no problem. I have a korean whose name is Sam ____ Last name. He just went by, "Sam" at school and as an adult, but his documents all have his Sam-____ Last name. DH is korean and unfortunately, his name looks like a girl name in English. He has dealt with some discrimination when applying for jobs (they assume he's female, and yes, he works in a profession that is sexist, so being female is a big disadvantage and/or, "foreign" and non-english speaking), and he's often lamented that his parents didn't just switch his name to an, "American" name by switching one letter in his name. Thy immigrated to the US when he was only in 2nd grade. Ppl mispronounce and misspell his name all of the time, even though it is very straightforward, it's the American way. I've had the flip experience, I have a very, "white" name and I grew up with ppl asking me what my, "real" name was, b/c I am asian... but I think the attitude now is better and ppl don't question asians for having anglo names. DH is used to it, but the part that really bothers him the most is that it has affected him negatively when applying for jobs, as ppl look at his name and make incorrect and prejudiced assumptions. The few call backs he's gotten from job applications have been due to situations where he was able to speak to the dept mgr via phone and the person on the other end quickly realized that, a) dh is not a woman and b) he does not have an accent and is, "American," and that my dh comes off like a, "normal" kind of guy.