Your Chinese name

myfirst Chinese name was 郭乐克，given by a friend originally from 上海，who immigrated quite young to Europe - transliteration of Goulnik, embedding some personal characteristics…
more recently, a more literate colleague also from 上海 offered 郭力毅 (my first name is Yves) which is what I now use, easier to say 毅力的力，毅力的毅 :-)

For anyone interested in more on Smacker, check out the "Ask Smacker" segments of Sexy Beijing.  And while you're at it, check out some of my favorite Sexy Beijing episodes like, "Looking for Double Happiness" and "Weddings Gone Wild."

http://www.sexybeijing.tv/new/sexybeijing/

My surname is 史 since that's my wife's surname.  My given name is 度, provided by my father-in-law, which comes from 道家.

I think it's really unfortunate that Chinese and Western people often aren't as close as they could be.  I think that having an unpronounceable and difficult-to-remember name is a major contributor to this problem, so I think it's crucial that we choose a real Chinese name, and vice-versa.

I think 苏菲's sexy Beijing was a copy of Sex and the City!

大家好! funny video! I went to Xi'an last summer and had two Chinese friends with the American names Atlas and Shire which I thought were both pretty cool...My Chinese name is 何舒 He2Shu1 which my teacher gave me and I always thought sounded a bit like a sneeze, but I love it for some reason and don't think I would want a different one!

bazza and Joachimm,

to tell you something interesting, 小强remind me cockroach蟑螂zhang1lang2(no offensive, but just tell the truth.) Once there is a very famous movie by周星驰， he named the cockroach 小强in the movie, so the cockroach named小强became famous since the movie was famous at that time.

The movie is唐伯虎点秋香，it is very famous and you will find 巩俐in this movie. That me show you the link.

Yeah it's good is that video. Smacker is a brilliant name hehe.

buckaroo, I really enjoyed that video....很好笑！谢谢！

Such a nice name, Sarah!

I personally do not like transliterations of foreign names, they can be a good help if you want a Chinese person to pronounce your name properly, but they aren't real personal names. I would recommend picking one you like (but not the name of a famous person!) for your first name and use an approximation of the pronunciation of your surname. Always ask several people about their thoughts on the name you fashioned yourself.

My English name is Jasmine, which is simply a translation of 莉花 (li4hua1). It's easier for foreigner to pronounce, so I won't end up as a plum flower (li3hua1) or worse, vitrification (li hua4)! ;-)

@rash

Yes, this is common because the Cantonese reading is completely different and the sound might bear unpleasant connotations or simply seem like gibberish/be unpronounceable.

A funny piece about Beijingren with English names.

My Chinese name is 鄭安雪 (Zheng4 an1 xue3)

鄭 is my friends' surname and with her help, which was whether the name was femine/masculine I choose 安雪 She translates it as pure and clean. 安 means safe, peaceful, calm. And 雪 means snow. So a nice phrase, peaceful snow. I like to think of it as fresh fallen snow, when nothing else was imprinted themselves in to the snow.

My English name is (of course) Sarah, I didn't really like the transliterations I found on the internet. So i'm quite happy with my Chinese name. easy to say, easy to write. (although I have to say the radical parts of 鄭 to write it properly. It's 郑 in simp chinese. radicals: eight, winejug, big, city)

Nice plug by Ken for his school ;)

My first Mandarin instructor did not give me a Chinese name, but the my second instructor called me 叶摄 （ye1she1).  Sounds a little bit like "Rash" if you say it quickly, which is my family name.  Also because 叶 is a real surname commonly used in China, and finally 摄 because I am a photographer and this 摄 is  摄影的摄.

I think it's not bad, but I have no idea how it sounds to Chinese ears.  However, my Canonese speaking in-laws suggest that it sounds absurd in Cantonese.  Guess this might happen a lot right?  Is it common for well crafted Mandarin names to sound bad to Cantonese speakers, or am I just a victim of hasty transliteration?

I grew up in Manila, Philippines but am of Chinese ancestry. My dad gave me the Chinese name 王思恩, which apparently is a reminder for me to always think (思) of the blessings/grace (恩) that I have been given.  Pretty neat, I think.

I am now living in SF Bay Area and have a daughter of my own.  I hope I could conjure up a good Chinese name for my 4 year old daughter too. 

Anyone have any good ideas on where to start? I have heard a bunch of girls names from the podcasts - what do you guys think about those?

My english name doesn't have any Chinese elements...even the last name:( My dad, who's last name was 陳（Chan；canto） gave me  王龍碩。

bowen: 我中文的名字跟英文的名字也沒有關系。

bump...

我姓赵，我叫赵泉英。  这个名字跟我英文的名字没有关系。 你们呢？

Someone at CPOD (I don't know who) helped me find the name 付大卫 (fù dà wèi) for "David Furstenau". It's a neat choice on several levels. Very easy to write. Simple tone-scheme. "dà wèi" is a common choice to represent "David". The words themselves evoke the image of a stalwart and trusted defender (an image I'll never live up to). I recall bribing them by promising to enroll for a year at the Premium level.

First post ever on Chinese Pod!

First Chinese name was 李安(lǐ'ān). Got it in China when I first started at the school I was teaching at. Ended up learning that it was also the name of a famous director.

Then before I moved to Taiwan, I gave myself the name: 孔来安(kōnglai'ān) but apparently 'kong' and 'an' mean something not so good.

So finally my lovely Chinese teacher gae me the name: 欧瑞恩(ōuruì'ēn)

So my english name Ryan O'Connor in Chinese is 欧瑞恩！

My English name 'Aaron' is usually traanslitterated to 艾伦，阿论，or something similar. But funny story, about year ago I was at the house of a couple of good friends of mine, they had a young girl staying with them (one of the type that is never allowed away from their family and also protected from any hard work, and contact with males). I had been talking to this girl for about an hour when her mother calls, she then said something along the lines of, "我刚跟新的澳大利亚朋友说话，他叫爱人。“ This was then proceeded by a paniced recanting to consol her mother that she had not 'turned to the dark side'. Ahh, China :)

After I started studying Chinese I found out that co-workers call be 老马, but also told me that it wasn't really a name, just a 叫号. I've also used 马克, but I haven't figured out what to do with my last name. I tried 画家马克. It seemed to me like a fairly good translation of my name, but a few Chinese friends thought it wasn't a good name.

My chinese name is 田野. I got it when I first came to China because my language school needed a name to register me with the local police station. I like it because its meaning comes from my english last name but it doesn't sound like it. I have been told by some friends that it is a regular name and not to flashy which I like.

Has anyone gone back to the old English, or Teutonic meaning of their name for a Chinese name. Mine would be Shan Lang "Hill Wolf". I think that would be correct, but like Danjo said sometimes it is really strange to see what happens when we try to pick our own names in another language.

The Chinese name given to me was Xiao Xiao it was given to me by my Chinese teacher at my school she said it ment "Autumn Wind" or something like that.

小强 （Xiao Qiang） small and powerful? ;)

Mine is Xiao Qiang, given to me by a colleague of mine. Forgot the meaning though, maybe somebody can help refresh my memory:)

Mine is 冬阳 (dong1yang2), given to me by a Chinese friend. It means "sunshine in winter" and Chinese people generally seem to love it (after I explain that it doesn't mean "east" and it has nothing to do with Japan). Of course, people in America generally responded with "hm... all right" when I explained it back home.

I'm an English teacher and students in China are renowned for picking bizarre names, some of my favorites being Accident, Bamboo, Lamboor, Lemon, Circle, Eleven, and Rabbit.

Mine is 允翰 (yun3han4). I use it in my Chinese classes and domain name, but not much else. I choose it out of a list my wife prepared of "acceptable" names. I don't really need one, but I really don't like the transliterations of James that some want me to accept.

I recall in one of the Danwei videos, they asked people on the Beijing streets if they had English names. One guy picked Frog as his English name.

I was given 布兰登 by my local teacher.

The scope for mischief here is wild, from what I can see. When I pointed this out to my local teacher she gave an example: If you're not a great fan of the current US administration, you could transliterate its chief's name (somewhat aspirationally) as 不是.

Who is it that decides the Chinese names of famous Occidentals? Is there some committee that gives approved transliterations?

A high school friend of mine transliterated my name as 蒙娜. I used it in my email signature for a while, which prompted a friend of mine (who had no idea what it might mean) used AltaVista Babelfish to translate it into English and then asked me why I would have an email signature that reads "Mongolia is elegant"! :D

Courtesy of a Chinese teacher I once had, my chinese name is 艾杰生 (ai4 jie2sheng1) - the 杰生 is meant to be a transliteration for "Jason" and the 艾 ... well, I never really questioned it--though it was somehow derived from my last name, "Evans."

Admittedly, it feels a bit awkward explaining my name as "艾，艾滋病的艾，“ ("ai," the "ai" from "AIDS") so maybe someday I'll come across something more fitting. :)

Hi everyone, this is the first time I come in because the Chinese name issue makes me restless. I understand that it would be better if I followed the transliteration tradition, but then I presume it should not exceed the traditional two characters. I could well do with Du4 as a last name but my first name is as much a nightmare as Joachim's, I reckon, since François yields a standard 弗朗索瓦 - fu2 lang2 suo3 wa3. What if I shorten it to fu2 lang2, meaning, "unclear"? I should leave it to Chinese people's feeling of how my name fits into their language, but I'm going to Xi'an next year to study, and I'd rather not be doomed to being obscure :[

Please let me know if you ever encountered such trivial dilemmas...

Lester,

I think 老师 woukdl be a good name. Why not? People use the term '老师' here in many ways, often to people who are not actually teachers - just to show respect, I guess.

KennyK,

I know how influential fortune tellers are inTaiwan. The Taiwanese are still very traditional with regard to superstitions. You don't get many fortune tellers on the Mainland, certainly not in big offices!

I have a great Chinese name, and it came to me character-by-character. 我性范, cause my last name starts Fa ...; 名字叫晓嫣. I'm a beautiful dawn ... haha. My name is Emily, and originally i was called Meili, gahh, it's like naming your daughter "Pretty."

I haven't got one yet. I wonder if a good transliteration of lester might be 老师. (just kidding ;)

You can probably guess my english name by looking at my picture. It is Mao Wang (Cat King) of course. My girl friend always kids me that my famiy name is cat.

I make a point of calling my Chinese friends by their chinese name. I always feel in Rome you should do as the Romans. But I was actually envious of my Chinese friends that they could pick their own english name. Some of them have changed it a few times until they get one everyone likes.

My Chinese name 米勒 is basically a transliteration of my German last name as my first name is a pronunciation nightmare for most Chinese.

My Chinese name was given to me by the Chinese authorities/ my employer when I was working as a foreign expert in China.

Interestingly enough, I just heard that Baruch Spinoza, the philosopher, latinized his first name to Benedictus at some stage. It seems this was as he became part of a circle of intellectuals debating in latin etc.

Thus, although names are quite arbitrary, the use of a certain language hints to cultural hegemonies at work or at least shifts in it.

My Chinese name was chosen by a fortune teller. Don't laugh... :P I don't know about the Mainland, but fortune tellers are big business in Taiwan. Most are very professional and even have business-like offices. Taiwanese people usually consult these fortune tellers for finding direction in life, especially the "right"/"lucky" dates for weddings or starting a business or moving. I can't say I particularly believe in that, but I think it's very interesting and my friend asked me to go with them. Anyway, my name was chosen because he said it will bring me luck. It was chosen based on my birthday, personality, horoscope, etc... So far, I have yet to see much luck, but my friend said it is because most people don't call me by my Chinese name.

文博 (wen bo). It was given me by my tutor after she consulted her dad. It means 'language scholar', but after a long time, someone pointed out that it's phonetically very close to Ron Burr, my given name. Pretty obvious, but I hadn't realized it before.

What's funny to me is that while Chinese often ask my Chinese name, Japanese never me about a Japanese name (I don't have one) or offer to give me one. It's not rude; just a cultural thing.

白锐 (Bairui), given to me by Jenny. :) I used Bairui as my Mahjong username, and I attach the characters after 'Bazza' on myspace and flickr.

-my last name begins with an 'f' and my given name is ruthie so my first Chinese instructor gave me the name 費德如. months later when i bought my first dictionary, i decided to dub myself 费如意。i didn't realize i wasn't supposed to just pick a name out of the dictionary...

-when speaking chinese, i always use my chinese name because the 'th' sound (and sometimes the 'r') give Chinese trouble. i get something sounding like 'loosie.'

-i think, given the pronunciation/culture barriers, it makes sense to have different names for different contexts. i know one girl in hk whose name i can easily pronounce but actually sounds more like anatomy than a name.

-whether parents should choose the name at birth? can't say. i know a lot of students who have a nice time choosing their English names. but if a person's other-culture name is not legally given as a sub-name, then people can have trouble finding them (as in a people search); maybe they ought to be established at birth.

It's a good question why they use English names. In some cases it's probably just clearer, or maybe they want to encourage the kids to learn more English.

At what point does having a Chinese name become beneficial? And how do you choose one? And why would my English name not be acceptable?

I have met some HK people with very dodgy English names, and people would have been happy to use their Cantonese names. In fact, at least in Australia, most people use their real names unless they are from HK.

yes,the parents who refused their kids to use english names thought it was the way to forget their origine you are the chinese ,you need to use chinese name.......lol,i am kidding.