Hello there

This question is not about Skritter, but rather about cultures :) I've seen some questions like this before in this forum, but if you think I am asking in the wrong please - please remove the post, it will be completely understood.

So, when laowai get a Chinese name - is it based only on prononciation (like Dawei for David) or there are other rules/options?

And how come that lots of Chinese people have all kinds of Western names (John, Andrew, Sally)? Is there any connection with their original names or they just pick up something that sounds cool?

breakphreak, when you get a residency / workpermit, you are obliged to have a Chinese name. You can choose, whatever you like, even if it has nothing to do with your original name. Most people choose something, which sounds like their given name or family name, but often the outcome is not very impressive to Chinese people. Therefore, I have chosen a bit more free creation. The only thing is, your Chinese "Family" name should be a character, which is really a family name, otherwise looks strange (but legally, you can also do).
A lot of Chinese people like to have a Western name, it's in fashion, especially when they have often contact with Westerners, they believe, it's helpful; but some also reject and stick to their Chinese name. However, when they speak to each other in Chinese, I have almost never heard somebody addressing each other with their Western names.
Roland

Very interesting. Never knew that a trigger to get a Chinese name can be a workpermit.

As about the special "Family" name characters - how can they be distinguished from the rest of the characters (if I've got you right)?

Often, it is mentioned with th vocabulary, e.g. you look up 王, the dictionary will tell you, it's not only king, but also a popular Chinese family name. Mine is 彭, which was a famous general in Chinese history. I assume, that there are also lists existing with these names, but I never searched for it. So might be somebody else can comment on this.

Here is a list of the most common surnames/family names in China at present. I would try and pick one after 20 - people with the top 20 surnames make up around 50 percent of the population.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_Chinese_surnames

Usually people just pick one with some vague resemblance to their Western surname (ie. Johnson -> 钟 Zhōng), but some people also choose based on just liking the character's look or "meaning".

As for given names, I would suggest picking two characters for a given name. You can also pick one, but once again, picking two characters gives a higher likelihood that you won't meet 15 people with the exact same name as yourself, a growing problem in the country.

For men, names commonly include characters relating to strength, bravery, or perseverance such as 力，龙，志，杰, 凯，etc. Some display hope for a bright future, and so characters like 阳，明，展，昕, are also common. I would say the last category of characters would be nature related, such as 山，海，洋，波，松 are common as well. A lot of times you might see them combined, like 海昕，波志.

I hope this gives you some ideas. One way to pick is to take a syllable combo that sounds like you name, and one syllable at a time search for characters with that sound. For example, Matthew -> search "ma", "mo", “mu”, "tao", "du", "dao", "di", etc. -> 穆涛 Mùtāo​, or if you wanted something lighter, maybe 睦滔 Mùtāo​​.

Sorry. I get really enthusiastic about picking names. Also, if you have a Chinese friend or teacher, I would suggest asking them for advice, or at least asking their opinion on whatever name you pick. They can give you a 'sense' about the name, if it is good or not.

I had my Danish name translated to Chinese - and it actually made sense

Thank you, gentlemen. I would call this post very educative.

Roland - it's not required to have a Chinese name for a residency permit. I just checked my old one and they've just printed my English name...

Haha, as you will learn breakphreak, to a Chinese person, I am clearly a lady. But my name's character's aren't the first thing you'd learn, so I understand.

蓓蕾 -> flower bud.

Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_Chinese_surnames for a list of the top 100.

You would be amazed how many Chinese take their name from a dictionary, I know many people with odd names (like Cream or Season) some also directly translate their name (I know a 'Unicorn King', he studied in Australia with that name...) and a lot of people I meet were given a name by an English teacher and stuck with it.

My Chinese name has nothing to do with my English name, it was given to me years ago when I was doing charity work in a small countryside town the first time I came to China, my name is 洪英豪 the translation sounds ridiculous in English as it means hero... but it was given to me by the people I volunteered for and carries a lot of sentimental meaning for me, plus most Chinese people I meet think it is a well thought out and traditional name and not at all self aggrandising (I understand that 英豪 is a popular given name in HK and Taiwan).

I guess their are no hard and fast rules, although there are hundreds of articles on the subject!

I think Roland makes a very important point, all laowai working in China have a Chinese name, but most of the professionals I work with in Shanghai don't even know that they have one or what it is! These are chosen by an HR assistant and usually by phonetics.

I would point out that in my experience Chinese people in multinational, multi cultural companies always use their English name, none of my colleagues know each others full Chinese name, just their English name and Chinese family name... It's plain weird, I have staff who don't speak English but still use English names!!

Please note that all of the above is just from personal experience and others may have a very different but no less valid experience. Just my two cents...

@byzanti
If you have a work permit or residence permit you will have a Chinese name, they don't put it on the resi but in the PSB's system you have one.

How interesting! Don't have anything to add, I am just reading :)

@LinXiong: I beg your pardon. And yes, you are right, I've succeeded to learn not much (yet), but keep pushing forward :)

Oh, another terrible mistake: not LynXiong, but 蓓蕾 :(

You can simply use standard phonetic characters to rewrite your name. Between given name and last name insert a dot, as in 贝拉克·奥巴马.

In many cases, this method could turn out to be less ludicrous and more professional than trying to invent some truly "Chinese name", i.e. 2 or 3 characters in total.

Re: 穆哥

I think the route to take really depends on what you plan on using your Chinese for, why you're going to China, etc. If someone meant to work in a business setting, maybe just traveling to China and not living there, mostly interacting with other mid to high level officials, then yeah, choosing the phonetic route is probably the way to go.

On the other hand, if you want to live in China, travel in areas with fewer people who speak English, work in a local company, etc. I would definitely suggest picking a "Chinese name". Western names transliterated can be somewhat awkward to use all the time, and I don't think choosing a more 'natural'/'local' sounding name is ludicrous at all.

Of course, it's up to the individual.

When I first started learning chinese in university, my chinese professor had asked us to "create" a chinese name, because it was hard for him to remember english names, and also, it seemed nicer to have a chinese name when speaking chinese..

my boyfriend is chinese and he has an english name, because many english speakers have a hard time saying his chinese name. (It annoys him when people say it wrong, and he would rather have people call him by his english name if they can't get the chinese right).

On the other hand, I think the both of us aren't very comfortable in our non-native names...

@ 穆哥、又称乜水：在中国传统文化中，有一句话叫做“大丈夫行不改名坐不改姓”。而中国南方又有一句 “怀鬼书生多别字”。不知您可曾听过？

It should be 坏 instead of 怀.

Our instructors at the intensive program I'm doing assigned us names, although they said we could change them if we wanted to. Mine is 蒋爱丽, which I considered changing because I'm not crazy about the way 爱 looks (so unsymmetrical!), but other Chinese-speaking friends liked it, and I've grown attached to it, so I'm keeping it. I kind of like that 蒋 is the same as Chiang Kai Shek's, as well.

A friend in my class started out with one name but ended up saying he thought he'd switch his to 国庆, since his birthday's on October 1st. It was a half-joke, but the teachers loved the idea and made him a new nametag and everything, so now that's his name.

The funny part is that whenever I hang out with friends from Chinese outside of class, we still all use our Chinese names. Not being remotely Chinese looking, it always cracks me up if I'm at the mall or something and a friend is going, "Hey, Jiang Ai Li!" It's like that Donna Chang episode of Seinfeld.

pts，

盆儿鬼，第一折：
“行不更名，坐不改姓，自家盆罐赵的便是。”

我则不敢苟同。

“欷歔，白发垂户老更癯，空有些浮名虚誉，不能够补衮衮朝班，则落的抱瓮村居。”

Many Westerners tend to go the route of choosing (or having somebody else choose) a Chinese name that sounds somewhat like their original name. I used my (Chinese) wife's surname and asked her to help me choose a first name based on meaning. It doesn't really resemble my name. In the end, it is simply a matter of preference.

However, I got a lot of positive comments from customers and colleagues on the name. Therefore, whether you go the sound or the meaning route, I strongly advice to ask a Chinese native speaker with a good feel of the language to give you some suggestions, to end up with a Character combination that is not only not strange, but even has some positive connotation for your Chinese contacts.

穆哥,

抱瓮村居的叫隐姓埋名。跟改名换姓不同。后者意味着对名誉还是极为重视，冀望耍几下虚招，通过改名来“变脸”， 有朝一日仍可以位列朝班。

哎哟我的妈呀，你这个知识分子还真闻到了阴谋的气味，原来是耍人，够意思啦！
老兄弟，你别多想啊。我这个人啊，改就改，没啥可疑的，你在我这儿找不着阴影。

I have a question for you. I chose the name 尼克 because it sounds much like my English nickname. My English nickname is actually the masculine version of my very feminine name. :D Anyway, my Chinese friend gave me heck because 尼克 is a masculine name but I argued with her that it suited me because my English nickname is ALSO masculine.

Would it be completely inappropriate to have a gender mixed name? What do you guys think?

I'm also not very fond of the character 妮 (as in 妮子). "Feminizing" names is useful to avoid confusion, but I personally associate those flowery or explicitly 女 names white the weak 女权主义 in China - no need to imitate that as a Westerner. Be bold, 反对女性化.

(As an alternative, there are of course some other characters as well.)