I have definitely noticed, in my brief time studying Esperanto so far, that people like to convert their names into more Esperanto-sounding deals (Kim Henriksen being called "Kimo", for example). Are there any guidelines that should be followed, or do people just go with whatever they think sounds cool? Is it essential or completely voluntary?

1. just go with whatever you think sounds cool
2. completely voluntary

basically the same rules apply for Chinese/Taiwanese who give himself an English name. Like my English name has nothing to do with my Chinese one. I just thought it was cool (past tense. Orz)

It's completely voluntary. Rule number one is that if you tell people what to call you, they'll call you that. Your name is John Smith and you want to be called Zorb? Nice to meet you, Zorb.

One common reason for choosing an Esperanto name is to have it fit in with Esperanto grammar. If your name naturally is pronounced in Esperanto as it is in your native language, and if it ends in a vowel sound (thus making it easy to add Esperanto grammatical endings), then usually you wouldn't choose a new Esperanto name, unless you really felt like it. Therefore, someone named "Anna" is unlikely to choose an Esperanto name.

However there are some common methods of choosing an Esperanto name. You can use one of these or do something else.

[LISTO]
If your name is a common name worldwide, or from the Bible, it might already have a set Esperanto translation. Peter = Petro, John = Johano, Mary = Maria, etc. Looking through a baby naming book can help with this; Jacob and James have the same roots and are both "Jakobo" in Esperanto, for instance.
If it is important to you to preserve the English (or whatever language) sound to your name, you could write your name with Esperanto sounds. Peter = Pitr, John = Ĝon/Ĝan, Mary = Meri, etc.
If it is important to you to preserve the meaning of your name, you could translate the meaning. Melody = Melodio, Claire = Brila
If your name doesn't have a set Esperanto translation and doesn't have a particular meaning, but you want to give it a vowel ending to have it work with Esperanto grammar, you can simplify the sounds to meet Esperanto norms (w => v, th => t, no dipthongs, simplify vowel sounds) and add -o to the end (-o or -a for a woman's name). Some concessions are often made to compromise between spelling and pronunciation. This convention often gets used for 'esperantizing' city names as well. Thus Washington is not 'Ŭaŝington', but Vaŝingtono. Chicago is not "Ŝikago" but "Ĉikago". Using this method, a girl named "Emily" would likely choose "Emilia" (since "Emilio" would be understood as a man's name). "Shelby" might be "Ŝelbio". Name choices become obvious after you've spoken Esperanto for a while, so if you're new and not sure what to do about a name, the best thing to do is to ask an experienced speaker to help you out[/list]Esperanto also has nickname suffixes; just take the first syllable or two of a name and add -ĉjo for a man or -njo (occasionally -nja) for a woman.

It's a general purpose diminutive and we also use it to turn Father into Dad (Patro - Paĉjo) and Mother into Mom/Mum (Patrino - Panjo).

Therefore Davido (David) frequently becomes Daĉjo (Dave), etc. This is another alternative, you could use your English name to make an Esperanto nickname form.

In conclusion - David could choose to call himself David, Dejvid, Davido, Daĉjo, or Zorb, and people would call him that. It's up to you.

As a footnote, surnames are seldom translated but a few people do translate their surnames.

erinja:Esperanto also has nickname suffixes; just take the first syllable or two of a name and add -ĉjo for a man or -njo (occasionally -nja) for a woman.

So, my name is Sonja. First syllable is So-, and I can add -nja onto the end, so my Esperanto nickname is... Sonja?

Mind. Blown.

KetchupSoldier:So, my name is Sonja. First syllable is So-, and I can add -nja onto the end, so my Esperanto nickname is... Sonja?

I laughed.

But, yeah, you are right. More commonly it would be Sonjo, but Sonja is also workable.

KetchupSoldier:

erinja:Esperanto also has nickname suffixes; just take the first syllable or two of a name and add -ĉjo for a man or -njo (occasionally -nja) for a woman.

So, my name is Sonja. First syllable is So-, and I can add -nja onto the end, so my Esperanto nickname is... Sonja?

Mind. Blown.

There's always "snja"

@ ceigered: Hahaha, very funny.

Allrighty, so I used the meaning-translation method for my last name, which is "grove" in a Scandinavian language, so my Esperanto name would be Sonja Bosko.

I like it.

Rare to translate your last name, though. I can't think of any of the classical writers who did.

erinja:Rare to translate your last name, though. I can't think of any of the classical writers who did.

It's for fun, more than anything else.

As for classical writers translating their names, I'm not sure about that, but people have changed their last names before. The father of former prominent Esperanto activist George Soros changed the family name from "Schwartz" to "Soros" when he became an active Esperantist.

KetchupSoldier:As for classical writers translating their names, I'm not sure about that, but people have changed their last names before. The father of former prominent Esperanto activist George Soros changed the family name from "Schwartz" to "Soros" when he became an active Esperantist.

Wikipedia says that the name was changed as a response to the rise in Fascism (that is, to make their Jewish heritage less evident).

It is notable that published copies of "Maskerado ĉirkaŭ la morto", Tivadar Schwarz's book, don't use the Esperanto name "Soros". His name is on the cover as "Teodoro Ŝvarc", as you can see in this picture of an old edition (which happens to be the edition I own myself): http://www.delbarrio.eu/blogo/maskerado.jpg

Therefore he chose the Esperanto variation of his first name, and an Esperanto rendering of the pronunciation of his surname Schwartz. Indeed "Teodoro Schwarz/Ŝvarc" is the name that seems to be on all of his Esperanto-language writings (as far as I have seen, perhaps there were others I haven't seen)