On April 30, 1975, the nation of South Vietnam in which my parents lived in falls, leading to the reunification of Vietnam. My mother and father flee to America.
20 years later, I am born in San Jose, a city with the highest Vietnamese population outside of Vietnam. My parents name me "Quốc" which means nation.
Years later, before understanding the meaning of my name, I stumble onto an article that describes a practice called S.E.O. or Search Engine Optimization. It gives tips on how to improve traffic by showing up on top of Google searches.
I look up my middle name "Quốc" and find too many search results. I change the spelling to "Qwook" and find no search results. So I take on the name "Qwook."
In an effort to be found, I corrupted my name.
"Qwook" is a Vietnamese name, born out of longing, changed to be recognized and respected by western technology.