A Chinese immigrant from Hong Kong has legally changed his name to Andy Kwok because everyone laughed saying his real name -- Fuk King Kwok.

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Kwok said that in China, his name translates to "a very good meaning" and nothing at all like the vulgar English pronunciation. The first name is pronounced in Cantonese with a long "o" sound, rather than a short "u," the Chicago Sun-Times said.

"And my middle name is terrible, too," Kwok acknowledged. "That combination becomes very terrible."

Monica Pinas, 21, made the same decision as Kwok. She tired of hearing her name pronounced like "penis" instead of the Spanish "peen-yas," and paid $328 in Chicago to have her name changed to Monica Star.

Similarly, April Showers became Denise Moore last year, the newspaper said.