My Chinese Name
Adalia Colter
Thank you! My Chinese professor gives us names based on how our own names are pronounced. Funny enough, he thought I was a girl during our first class, so after I told him, he renamed me 郝国男 to remind himself, haha!
Thank you so much for your comment. It is so impressive that you read 诗经 (詩經)! We suggest that you stick with the surname 楚and 楚尔德 (楚爾德) is a very cool name. For instance Oscar Wilde is translated 奥斯卡王尔德 in Chinese.
Hi! Do you know if 信心 can be used as a girls name? Is 李信心 an acceptable name or should I use different characters? I really like the xinxin pronounciation so I would like to have that as my name.
Hi Ella! The name 李信心 would sound a little unusual so we would instead recommend one of the following names: 李鑫 李欣 李馨, if you really like the sound of xinxin for all these names you can repeat the xin for example 李欣欣.
Hi,
my name is Tapio H., and about 10 years ago, I chose with locals in Beijing together following name 郝泰博 (Hǎo Taì Bǒ). I like the translation, and I thought it fits my name.
However, always and where ever I went in China, this name made the people laugh and smile, and yet they always said, its a good name, when I asked why they are laughing.
Therefore, I am unsure about the name, due to all the laughing about my name.
What do you think, is it a good name?
And now, I live in Taiwan, can I use it here?
All the best, Tapio
Chinese names are personal names used by individuals from Greater China and other parts of the Sinophone world. Sometimes the same set of Chinese characters could be chosen as a Chinese name, a Hong Kong name, a Japanese name, a Korean name, or a Vietnamese name, but they would be spelled differently due to their varying historical pronunciation of Chinese characters.
Many modern Chinese names consist of a mono-symbolic (single-symbol) surname (xìngshì; 姓氏), which comes first, followed by a given name (míng; 名), which is almost always disyllabic, consisting of two characters. Prior to the 21st century, most educated Chinese men also used a "courtesy name" or "style name" (zì; 字) by which they were known among those outside their family and closest friends. Respected artists or poets will sometimes also use a professional "art name" (hào; 號; 号) among their social peers.
Commoners possessed only a personal name (ming), and the modern concept of a "surname" or "family name" did not yet exist at any level of society.[1] The old lineage (shi) and clan names (xing) began to become "family names" in the modern sense and trickle down to commoners around 500 BC, during the late Spring and Autumn period, but the process took several centuries to complete, and it was not until the late Han dynasty (1st and 2nd centuries AD) that all Chinese commoners had surnames.[2]
Traditionally, a married woman keeps her name unchanged, without adopting her husband's surname.[7] A child would inherit his or her father's surname. This is still the norm in mainland China, though the marriage law explicitly states that a child may use either parent's surname. It is also possible, though far less common, for a child to combine both parents' surnames. Due to Western influence, the tradition of a woman changing her last name, or prepending her husband's to her own, is reflected in some Hong Kong names and Macao names.
Given names show much greater diversity than the surnames, while still being restricted almost universally to one or two syllables. Including variant forms, there are at least 106,000 individual Chinese characters,[8] but as of 2006, in the People's Republic of China Public Security Bureau only approximately 32,000 are supported for computer input[9] and even fewer are in common use. Given names are chosen based on a range of factors, including possession of pleasing sound and tonal qualities, as well as bearing positive associations or a beautiful shape. Two-character ming may be chosen for each character's separate meaning and qualities, but the name remains a single unit which is almost always said together even when the combination no longer 'means' anything.
Today, two-character names are more common and make up more than 80% of Chinese names.[10] However, this custom has been consistent only since the Ming dynasty. About 70% of all names were only one character long during the early Han and that rose beyond 98% after the usurping Wang Mang banned all two-character names outright. Although his Xin dynasty was short-lived, the law was not repealed until 400 years later, when northern invasions and interest in establishing lineages revived interest in such longer names.[10] The Tang and Song saw populations with a majority of two-character names for the first time, but the Liao between them and the Yuan afterward both preferred single character names. The restoration of Han dominance under the Ming, promotion of Han culture under the Qing, and development of generation names established the current traditions.[10]
It is also considered bad form to name a child after a famous person, although tens of thousands might happen to share a common name such as "Liu Xiang".[11] Similarly, owing to the traditional naming taboos, it is very uncommon in China to name a child directly after a relative, since such children would permit junior family members to inappropriately use the personal names of senior ones. Ancestors can leave a different kind of mark: Chinese naming schemes often employ a generation name. Every child recorded into the family records in each generation would share an identical character in their names. Sixteen, thirty-two, or more generations would be worked out in advance to form a generation poem. For example, the one selected in 1737 for the family of Mao Zedong read:[12]
This scheme was in its fourteenth generation when Mao rejected it for the naming of his own children, preferring to give his sons the generational name An (岸, lit. "Lofty", "Proud") instead.[citation needed] A similar practice was observed regarding the stage names of Chinese opera performers: all the students entering a training academy in the same year would adopt the same first character in their new "given name". For example, as part of the class entering the National Drama School in 1933, Li Yuru adopted a name with the central character "jade" (玉).[13]
Depending on the region and particular family, daughters were not entered into the family records and thus did not share the boys' generation name, although they may have borne a separate one among themselves. Even where generation names are not used, sibling names are frequently related. For example, a boy named Song (松; 'pine tree') might have a sister named Mei (梅; 'plum'). In some families, the siblings' names have the same radical. For example, in the Jia (賈) clan in Dream of the Red Chamber, a novel mirroring the rise and decline of the Qing dynasty, there is Zheng (政), She (赦), and Min (敏) in the first generation, Lian (璉), Zhen (珍), and Huan (環) in the second, and Yun (芸), Qin (芹), and Lan (蘭) in the third.
For example, English spelling of the Chinese first name Ming has many different associated Chinese characters, all of which have different meanings. Therefore, when the name is written in Chinese, a person called Ming can have a completely different name from another person who is also called Ming.
From their earliest recorded history, the Chinese observed a number of naming taboos, avoiding the names of their elders, ancestors, and rulers out of respect and fear. As a result, the upper classes of traditional Chinese culture typically employed a variety of names over the course of their lives, and the emperors and sanctified deceased had still others.
English is taught throughout China's secondary schools and the English language section is a required component of the Gaokao, China's college entrance examination. Many Chinese teenagers thus acquire Western names, commonly of English origin, which they may keep and use as nicknames even in Chinese-language contexts. Chinese may adopt English names for a variety of reasons, including foreigners' difficulty with Chinese tones and better integration of people working in foreign enterprises. Established English names chosen by Chinese may also be those rarely used by native English speakers.[citation needed]
In Malaysia and Singapore, it is equally acceptable for Western names to appear before or after the Chinese given name, in Latin characters. Thus, the Singaporean President Tony Tan might see his name written as "Tony Tan Keng Yam" or "Tan Keng Yam Tony".[citation needed] Individuals are free to register their legal names in either format on their identity cards. In general use, the English name first version is typically preferred as it keeps the correct order for both systems; however, for administrative purposes, the government agencies tend to place the English name last to organize lists of names and databases more easily, similar to the Western practice of organizing names with the last name first followed by a comma ("Smith, John"). In Singapore, there is an option to include the Chinese characters on one's National Registration Identity Card.
In Indonesia, one of the countries with the largest Chinese diaspora population, the Indonesian Chinese in Indonesia and in diaspora has mostly adopted Indonesian-sounding variations of Chinese names due to decades of regulation and acculturation. Conversely, the usage of these Indonesian-sounding Chinese names are not restricted for surnames, and many are used liberally between other surnames since many Indonesian Chinese did not keep track their Chinese (sur)names anymore, and even used by non-Chinese people (with some names being borrowing from regional languages and names).
Among Chinese diaspora residing in Western countries, it is becoming common practice for parents to give their children a Western name as their official first name, with the Chinese given name being officially recorded as a middle name.
dafc88bca6