How important is it to have a Chinese name?
Important. If your trying to learn the language, really really important. Make sure you get a real Chinese name, dont just translate your English name into Chinese. Thats what I did for the first 6 months I was here. People would hear me say my name was I4-luen2 in Chinese, then they thought my English name was Alen, so everybody ended up saying “elen”, regardless of how many times I tried to correct them
Mabey its just all in my head, but I hate it when people dont use the name I ask them to call me
I later decided to just get a “real” Chinese name, something totaly diffrent from “Aaron”.
chen2 de2 way
Anyway point is, If your gonna be here a while, get a Chinese name. If your just here for a few months on business, I would say dont bother unless you really want a name-chop souvenier
I wanted to take a chinese name, and asked my Taipei inlaws for help, but they seemed reluctant to do so. I think they would if I asked again,but their initial response was my name was fine as it is. I did take a chinese last name however. I didn’t want the commen name of Miller any more, but the funny thing is I traded it for a name just as common “Wang.”
I would be interested to find out what other people have done. If you did take a chinese name did it change anything for you? My new name has three syllables so maybe it is easy say dionne wang. Has anyone had to adopt a new name, because no one could pronounce it? Just curious!
oops, spelled some words wrong. commen/common. Oh well it is a disease that plagues these forums anyway.
Next time you notice that you’ve made some typos, just click on “edit” and you’ll be able to change them without fessing up. You can also use this feature in another way. Make some really inappropriate, troll-like remark. After the first indignant response, go back and edit your original post so people think the person who responded is off his/her rocker.
Obviously, I don’t have better things to do.
hey man dont worry about the spelling, mine aint so good either.
When I took my Chinese name陳德威, I picked a really common 陳surname (chen2), then, since Im from Texas德州, I picked 德, then a friend suggested 威. I took a poll around my office, though, and presented my coworkers with several choices, and this one was the most popular.
I find people afford me a little more respect for my Chinese ability when they hear a “Taiwanese sounding”. Especially if I happen to talk to them over the phone, or send my resume somewhere before I meet them. They actually think Im ABC. When they see me though, the fun’s all over for this IBA (Irish born American—hey if you asians can get away with the it, so can I by golly )
My feeling is this:
if you speak Chinese reasonably well (or expect to), then take a “real” Chinese name. If you don’t, then just transliterate your foreign name. I think this helps people categorize us a bit more easily and makes them feel more comfortable adopting one language or the other.
Also – if you take a Chinese name – get one with 3 characters! It makes life easier. My Chinese name has only 2 characters, and it’s difficult to tell when I should switch and call a close friend by their given name without the surname, because I can’t use the normal dodge of listening for when they do it to me first, because with 2 characters they can’t.
People have suggested that I add a character, and I suppose I could, but my name came from my 1st year Chinese teacher at Georgetown and I’ve been using it for 20 years now, so it just doesn’t seem like the thing to do.
Terry 蔡琳
I asked for my officemates’ help in getting my Chinese name. It was just a direct translation, using the simplest equivalent characters.
Three other guys have come on board, and I was hard pressed to come up with a practical reason for them to adopt a Chinese name.
I though dealing with banks would require one. But they got their accounts with out Chinese names – so I’m at a loss for another argument.
And we’re all gonna be here a while.
I think it helps having a Chinese name. Sometimes of you’re ordering a pizza or whatever and they ask for a name it saves hassle. Also I’ve had problems with registering at hospitals or whatever and they take my first name or even my middle nme and take the first 4 or 5 letters (because that’s all the computer will take) so my official name is THOMA then once I had to argue 15 minutes with an officious nurse who wouldn’t let me use my health insurance card because my name there was BRIA.
Also there are a few legal procedures and stuff that you need to have a Chinese name and chop for. To make your Chinese name official, when you get your ARC removed they wiill add it to the back with an official police stamp that makes it official.
Bri
If you go to this site
and Select Chinese Culture - Get a chinese name, you can get a three charcter chinese name derived from your name.
Mine was given to me by my wife and her family.
However when I tried out the site, out of curiosity, the name it offered was very close to what I already had. (two same character and other same sound)
In my experience, it makes life a lot easier here if you have a Chinese name and a chop.
I also agree with a previous posting that your Chinese name should have three characters.
Related to this is the story of my brother-in-law, and his term of service in the US Air Force. When my sister originally met him, we thought his name was Charles Kettleman. It turns out that his parents had not used the name “Charles” when registering his birth, they had used the name “Charlie”. Not only that, but he had no middle name. So, his official name was “Charlie Kettleman,” pure and simple.
However, on all the documents and certificates he received in the US Air Force, his name is indicated as “Charlie NMI Kettleman”.
You can guess what NMI stands for: No Middle Initial.
I thought it rather stupid at the time, but having lived here in Taiwan for over two decades and found myself continually confused by local people who only have two character names, I would be happy to see the Taiwanese government put similar procedures into effect.
I would suggest using the “wu” character, inside parentheses, for the missing character in a two character name. That is ﹝無﹞
Chen, Zhang, etc. are rather overloaded. With my Ji1 I say I am the
Ji1 of Tai2ji1dian4, the trillionare electronics company… it feels
good, like they are blinded by the sparkles of my gold teeth, like
LLCoolJ. Plus I am the only one with that surname in the country:
“Taizhong County phone book, surnamed Ji” “check it, holmes”. I have
not lied phonologically, as it is the best match to my USA name across
all dialects, too. My given name part, Dan1ni2, doesn’t lie either,
being a frank transcription of my given name, however lacking in
creativity. Perhaps I wanted the foreign transcription flavor more
obvious – anyway the name on the whole transmits that they are
dealing with something out of the ordinary. Indeed, spotting the
golden hair, there is no delay in locating the prize winner to step up
onto the stage.
I originally used a Chinese name that was given to me by my first Chinese teacher. It was a transliteration of my English name(芮大衛). Unfortunately the surname was an uncommon one and many people in Taiwan cannot read it. Also there is the problem that it was written differently in traditional and simplified characters so when I went to China not only could people not read the surname they could only read one character of the other name!!! There was also the problem that any one who saw my original Chinese name would instantly know I was a foreigner and not Chinese/Taiwanese.
I chose another name myself that avoids all the above problems (魏明智).
Chinese people like to discuss names, so another good reason to get a Chinese name, and a good one, is that it’s a great ice-breaker in almost any situation, whether two or three characters.
Let me add that I don’t understand the aversion to two-character names in some of the previous posts. It’s quite common among Chinese people outside of Taiwan. I actually prefer it, and so I have a two-character-name chosen by myself, finding two characters with good connotations in Chinese.
I have lived in both China and Taiwan for almost ten years and have never once had a Chinese OR Taiwanese person telling my that I should add a third character. On the contrary, I am often told that it’s a very good and Chinese name.
Yeah,
I’m trying to acquire a Chinese name myself. Translating your English name directly into chinese sounds is not the best way to go.
For example, my last name Darcy, roughly translated phonetically sounds like DA SEE in Chinese which means BIG SHIT!!!
LOL…so right now, I’m just trying to find a popular Chinese name that is more appropriate.
Any help? My full name is Regan Darcy.
Thanks…
I mean shei shei
If you’re new to Mandarin, you might want to avoid acquiring a name with third-tone syllables. Third tone is often a real pain in the ass for beginners, and you don’t want to be mispronouncing your own name, do you? (I speak from experience.)
Try to get a group of cultured, educated people to help you with your name. But don’t get your name from someone – or something – that isn’t a native speaker. I showed my wife the Chinese name page at MandarinTools.com; she laughed so hard at some of the names that it recommended tears ran down her face.
–Shi Weifan 史偉凡
quote:
Originally posted by regan: For example, my last name Darcy, roughly translated phonetically sounds like DA SEE
Hey Regan,
I’d say Dai (or Tai) would be a possible Chinese surname for you. It’s more or less the first syllable in Darcy, keeping some connection between your original and your Chinese name, and there are 4 or 5 characters pronounced Dai to choose from that also serve as family name, all in the fourth tone. You could always ask some Taiwanese friends which character they think is better.
Thanks P-man
Now all I have to do is work on a first name.
I say what would you feel about Taiwan immigrants to the USA who take the name Homer M. Simpson to feel like that’s how to fit in?
Open up the phone book. Don’t you see lots of uncommon surnames? Perhaps they are all wai4sheng3ren2 from China. So, being more wai4sheng3 than they are, what is to stop you from picking a common character that matches the sound of your English surname, but isn’t a wimp-out choice of a character to fit in to a crowd…
Why, it was probably thinking like that that filled the world up with Smiths. Do you want to be another David Smith? What good is that? Is that a good choice for an identifier that leaves an impression?
As far a 2 char. names, I say “deal with it”.
I’m not saying there’s anything intrinsically wrong with a 2-character name. But as the user of a 2-character name for 20 years now, I can say that it causes one type of inconvenience – the fact that you can’t tell when to switch to a more intimate (linguistically speaking) form of address. If you have 3 chars, you can listen for the other person to address you using only the last 2 characters, and you know that it is appropriate for you to do the same, as long as you are peers.
Terry