What do you mean? It says it right there on the FAQ:
高德纳 is my Chinese name, given to me in 1977 by Frances Yao.
A quick search indicates that Frances Yao is a colleague of Knuth's:
Frances Foong Chu Yao (Chinese: 儲楓; pinyin: Chǔ Fēng) is a Taiwanese-American mathematician and theoretical computer scientist. [1]
As for why someone might assume a Chinese name, consider how many Chinese people in our industry assume Western names for the sake of working with us. Perhaps he's just returning the favor. It might also be compared to linguistic accomodation. [2]
My guess it is partially addressed in the Non-Latin names section of the "Help Wanted" section. ...because I want to celebrate the fact that computer science is a fantastic worldwide enterprise.
Comments
What's with those Chinese names (see both https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/faq.html#asian and https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/vita.pdf)? Why did they become part of his identity?
What do you mean? It says it right there on the FAQ:
A quick search indicates that Frances Yao is a colleague of Knuth's:
As for why someone might assume a Chinese name, consider how many Chinese people in our industry assume Western names for the sake of working with us. Perhaps he's just returning the favor. It might also be compared to linguistic accomodation. [2]
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Yao [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication_accommodation_th...
My guess it is partially addressed in the Non-Latin names section of the "Help Wanted" section. ...because I want to celebrate the fact that computer science is a fantastic worldwide enterprise.
https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/help.html