How did you get your name?

It all began when my mother was carrying me in her belly. One night she had a dream: She was climbing up a large mountain, and when she reached the apex, she saw a giraffe, a lion and an antelope playing, and the lion stood out because of its pride and its fierce yet kind characteristics. After she told my father about the dream, they found Leo in a name book, and a couple names down was Leopold. The reason they chose to go with Leopold was because my Korean name, Won Joo, means “pillar,” which symbolizes a pillar that supports the country. Having a Korean name with a political connotation, he liked the fact that Leopold was also the name of a king. Unfortunately, I later found out that the king they were referring to was King Leopold of Belgium, who was responsible for the death of millions of Africans.

 

Your mother really dreamt this?

Being surrounded by friends named after figures from the Bible, I wondered how parents who were born and raised in Korea fabricated such a name. Since the first time I asked, the story has never changed.

 

Did you get made fun of because of your name?

Luckily for me, Leopold was not a name that was easily rhymed with. While other kids were assaulted with ridicules such as “Dan the Wo-man,” “Millimeter Peter” and so on, people were trying to work with “mold.”