I had to chime in on the last paragraph and the 
interesting tidbit:  I work for an eye doctor's 
office and many of our asian patients use 
'English' first names.  This is not a problem at 
all, as long as they let us know what their name 
with their insurance company is!  It can be 
frustrating to be insisting to the insurance 
company that 'Mary' is insured with them, to find 
out that she is listed with them under her legal 
name 'Meilin'.

I am one of those people who admires many things 
about the Japanese language and culture.  My 
language skills are still developing and have a 
long way to go.  If I recognize that a patient's 
name is Japanese, and try to pronounce it 
properly, you should see the smiles I get!  I had 
to laugh the time a very nice gentleman who I just 
helped select glasses tossed off a casual "Mata 
ashita!" as he was leaving our office, knowing 
that I would understand.  That completely made my 
day!

One final bit...one of the things I am learning 
about in Japanese is loan words.  I believe these 
are words taken in part or in whole from other 
languages and incorporated into Japanese.  I don't 
have my language books here at work, but doesn't 
the Japanese word for CD player sound just like 
that, but pronounced with Japanese sounds?  
Perhaps, since English is another language that 
likes to 'borrow' interesting words and sounds, 
there are Japanese loan words starting to appear 
in English?  At least among the anime community!