The Chinese Name Game

The Chinese Name Game
Nov 30, 2009 By Jessica A. Larson-Wang, eCh , eChinacities.com

Just about the minute most of us find out we’re going to become parents, and some even before, we start picking out the perfect name for our future son or daughter. Most of my friends, the woman at least, have had a list of names since high school or middle school. We hear a name, and we file it away for future use, or decide we hate it. Our impressions are shaped by those around us who carry those names – I will never name a daughter of mine Natalie, even though objectively I rather like the name, because my college boyfriend cheated on me with a girl by that name. By the same token, I’m fond of the name Claire due to an elementary school teacher I had by the same name, who was one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met.

However, when you’re living in a second culture, and especially when you’re part of a multicultural relationship, naming becomes more difficult. This is particularly true in China, where naming conventions are complicated and confusing, and there are very few Chinese names which “work” in English. While we might want our children's names to reflect their relationship with China, whether that relationship is due to heritage or due to birth, it can be difficult to choose  a proper Chinese name that will not stand out as being chosen by someone with little idea of how Chinese names work. Anyone who has taught English in China has run into students who have chosen ridiculous English names for themselves, and it is easy enough for the reverse to happen in China. Simply choosing a character you think is cool or nice is not always enough. So how do Chinese people themselves choose a name for their new baby?

There are one hundred common Chinese surnames for the Han Chinese, and almost everyone who is Han will have one of these surnames. In addition, while there are many, many Chinese characters, their number is still, for all intents and purposes, finite, so there is, naturally, a finite number of surname and character combinations to make up a name. Traditionally, Chinese names were almost always composed of three characters – the surname, which would come first, the generational name 字辈 (zibei), which would immediately tell others where a child “fit” in the family, and then a character unique to the child himself. Using my own family as an example, my husband’s last name is 王, his generational name is 家,and his unique character is 坤, which makes his name 王家坤. His two brothers all have names that start with 王家 and end in a different character. The next generation after my husband has a 崇 generational name, which means my son and his male cousins all have names that start off with 王崇 and end in different characters. The generational name makes it easy for me to keep up with who is who when we go back to his hometown and meet with relatives. The oldest 王家__ is in his 70s, so according to Chinese tradition my husband and I should still call him “older brother,” despite the fact that he’s old enough to be our father, because he is of the same generation, with the same generational name as my husband.

However, recently many Chinese have done away with generational names, and it is common to see Chinese people with two character names, a last name and a given name. Generational names are seen as a bit old fashioned in many circles. Our own family’s generational naming tradition is actually dying out. Although a new generation after my son’s 崇 generation has already been born, no new generational name has been chosen for these modern children, their parents instead choosing to name them as they see fit. However, doing away with generational names doesn’t necessarily mean doing away with naming traditions entirely. Names are a tricky business in China. More superstitious families will even consult fortune tellers or naming experts to choose an auspicious name, for a price. One of my old neighbors in Kunming had a child about 2 weeks before my son was born, and I remember her mother telling me proudly that they’d paid 200RMB for the child’s name! The ancient art of ba gua (from the I-Ching) plays an important role in traditional naming, and the number of strokes in a name can determine how suitable it is. Names aren’t always chosen because they sound nice or because the character has a nice meaning, but because certain elements of a character can help a child to overcome potential deficiencies in his or her personality determined by time and date of birth. A character with an element of 木 (wood) might help a child to be more confident. By the same token, people born at certain times or certain dates should avoid using certain characters in their names. While researching names for our as of yet unborn 2nd child, who will be born in the year of the Ox, we discovered that Ox children should avoid names with the character 羊 (ram), since the Ox and the Ram are in opposition. The older generation is more likely to pay close attention to these traditions, but younger Chinese couples will often listen to their elders and bend to their wishes when choosing a name. In fact, in many families it is traditional for the baby’s grandfather to choose the baby’s name, leaving the parents with no say at all. An acquaintance of mine, an American with a Taiwanese husband living in America, was quite upset to hear that she’d have no say in her child’s Chinese name, which would be chosen by the grandfather. “I’ve been looking through Chinese baby names on the internet,” she said. “I should get to have a say!” This friend of mine obviously didn’t realize how complex Chinese naming can be, it is not as easy as choosing Lin or Mei because babynames.com suggests them. Having a well educated older Chinese person choose a name is probably the best way to ensure that your child has a name that Chinese people themselves will respect.

 

Another difference between foreign and Chinese naming culture is that Chinese are not quite as obsessed with finding a “unique” name and it isn’t likely to bother a Chinese person that someone else shares their name. When choosing a name for our son, I was immediately drawn, perhaps because of my own culture’s aversion to common names, to the rather rare and uncommon characters, but I soon learned that these characters are not always desirable. Just as having an English name with a strange spelling can be a hindrance, so can be having a Chinese character in your name that only people with college educations will recognize. More strokes does not always equal better. Further, some characters are common, but not often used in names, which can make them a better choice than a conventional yet rare name character. My husband has frequently suggested using the character 影 should we have a girl. This character is common enough that I learned it in first year Chinese, but it doesn’t often appear in names. Our daughter, should we have one, will have the generational name 翠,which was the unfortunate choice of our ancestors, unfortunate in that there are very few “good” characters which go well with it. I had at first blown off 影 as being far too common, but my husband insists 王翠影 is a very good name, not common at all. That said, some characters are so common that they’ve become cliche. 王翠月 was dismissed immediately as a name every girl in the countryside has. Some names also have certain connotations. While "revolutionary" names might have been popular 40 years ago, it wouldn’t be very cool to give your baby born in 2009 a name with the character 党 “The Party” in it, unless you happen to be a member of the said Party. During the 1950s and 60s you could even find babies called things like “Protect North Korea” or “Defeat America,” which would certainly be out of place today. Similarly, certain names have a “modern” feel, whereas others are very “country.” Nature names – names of flowers and birds for girls in particular, are more rustic and are scorned by some city dwellers as being too old fashioned.

Of course very few foreigners will be able to pick the perfect Chinese name without the help of a native speaker. So if you want to find a Chinese name for your baby (or yourself for that matter!), first do some research on the subject, then consult a native speaker. If your husband or wife is Chinese, leave the final decision on the Chinese name up to him or her, or to your in-laws, and don’t raise too many objections. Consider naming your child in the “traditional” way. Even though generational names are not really in style at the moment, I love the way my child’s name links him to his family, how it shows always that no matter what he looks like or where his mother came from, that he is a part of the Wang clan with the name to prove it. Chinese names, while they might not be as unique or “creative” as some of the modern Western names so popular these days, are picked with a true regard for meaning and with consideration to what the name will bring to the person who carries it. A Chinese name is like a gift, and like any gift, it should be chosen with care.
 

Related Links
Confusion over Confucian Names for Foreigners
Radical Simplification: Should Chinese Characters Be Erased?
The Fabric of History – A Century of Chinese Flags and the Stories Behind Them (Part 2)

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gentlename

Hi, i would like to share with you the project of one my greatest friend from canada. I know that choosing a name can be a hard job, even more if its from another country. https://gentlename.com for english https://gentlename.cn for chinese

May 03, 2019 02:20 Report Abuse