Chinese name for me?

[Alleluia]

I need some help with my Chinese name. My first name is Anna and so my Chinese teacher suggested I take the name 安娜. That's good enough for me, because I'd like it to bear at least some resemblance to my real name, and the putonghua pronunciation is very similar to the Finnish one. Anyhow, if I use it just like that, it will probably be interpreted so that 安 is my surname and 娜 is my given name. So I'd like to add a surname to it as well. But I have no idea which...

Does 安娜 look at all like a real Chinese girls' name? I'd like for the name not to appear very foreign. Could you make suggestions of good surnames that you think would fit the first name, so that the result would still sound fairly Chinese?

[skylee]

Some Chinese girls do have 安娜 as given name (there is a HK singer called 雷安娜, and another ex-artist called 上山安娜). Some have 娜 alone as given name (I think there is a celebrity of some sort called 李娜). 安 is not a very common last name.

Tell us your last name and we can find you a suitable last name to put before 安娜 to avoid misunderstanding.

[Quest]

what is your real surname?

[back]

alleluia

n.

哈利路亚(=hallelujah犹太教和基督教的欢呼语, 意为 “赞美上帝”)

路亚 ------------> 路雅 （谐音）

how about “路雅”？

意思：人生之路顺利而雅致/优雅。

hehe，随便说说，供你参考。 : )

[Alleluia]

back, I'm not sure I understand all you've written in your reply, but my real name has nothing to do with Alleluia, that's just my nick, and I don't want my Chinese name to resemble that either. But thanks anyway...

My surname is ***, but I don't really care if the Chinese surname sounds at all like that. I mean, if you take the first syllable, that would be closest to the pinyin 'sa'. First of all I don't know if there are any common surnames that are pronounced sa, and secondly I don't know if "Sa Anna" would sound good at all... Maybe something else beginning with s?!? Or something totally different.

I'd like it if the Chinese surname were recognizable to Chinese people as a surname, so not extremely uncommon, but maybe not 王 or 李 either. So anything goes, really. Suggestions?

(just edited my surname off... don't like it lingering around in old posts.)

[skylee]

I think it is strange that you find it all right to adopt just any irrelevant surname like mine, i.e. 李. Any way, I have checked my dictionary and found an uncommon surname 薩 (萨 in simplified Chinese) (sa4) which might fit -> 薩安娜 (sa4 an1 nuo2/na4)

But be careful when you pronounce 薩. You would become Silly Anna if you pronounce it as sha3 (傻).

You can also consider 邵 (shao4), another surname.

Or you may consider a tranliteration of your surname, such as 安娜.莎麗琦薇 (an1 nuo2/na4 . sha1 li4 qi2 wei1).

Or if Saarikivi has a meaning, you may adopt it. For example, 李 (li3) means plum, so you could call me Sky Plum.

[confucius]

戴 安娜

This surname is pronounced "Dai" so you become Princess Dai Anna.

[Alleluia]

戴 安娜

This surname is pronounced "Dai" so you become Princess Dai Anna.

Yeah, well, maybe not. Good one, confucius...

I think it is strange that you find it all right to adopt just any irrelevant surname like mine, i.e. 李.

It's just because in my ears Sa Anna sounds a bit strange, no matter what tone sa has. Don't you think so? If it sounds ok to Chinese ears, maybe I'll just trust your opinion. 萨 would be good, then.

Or you may consider a tranliteration of your surname, such as 安娜.莎麗琦薇 (an1 nuo2/na4 . sha1 li4 qi2 wei1).

Yeah, but I want a name that sounds Chinese, though. So just one syllable, preferably.

*** means literally Island Stone or Island Rock. So how about 岛安娜? Is that even a surname? Or is there some other character meaning island? I don't want to be 石头安娜 anyway!

(just edited to wipe my real surname away. don't like to have it showing in old posts...)

[skylee]

As far as I know, neither 島 (dao3) nor 嶼 (yu3) (both mean "island") is a surname.

石 (shi2), meaning rock/stone is a common last name. And 石安娜 (shi2 an1 nuo2/na4) sounds good, and is simple to write. And the pinyin of 石 starts with an "S".

[Alleluia]

Thanks for your help, skylee!

I haven't yet decided between 萨 and 石, but I think 石安娜 sounds pretty good. 石 is easy to write, but 萨 is prettier, and it's not terribly difficult either...

Oh, I hate deciding! "Maybe 萨... No, 石 is better... No..."

[pazu]

安娜 in my opinion is a foreign name, 雷安娜 is a Hong Kong singer, but 潘彼得 (Peter) is also a Hong Kong, though Peter (彼得) is a foreign name for sure, it's the same for 安娜. I think you should choose another name if you don't want it to be sounded too "foreign".

This may be something personal, but if I could choose a surname or a name for myself I would use something from the Natural world, it sounds to me more beautiful.

When I first saw your name Saarikivi I thought of 沙 (shā, which means sand), this is a common Chinese surname, but why would you want to be related to the dry sand if you could choose another word. 石 is good as it matches the sound and meaning of your name, but again, 石 is too hard (just IMHO) for a girl's name.

Another common surname with similar sound is 夏 (xià, which means Summer).

No matter which one you choose, I think you should not choose 萨, it's not a common surname, and it looks like a foreign translated name indeed.

I'm now in Vietnam, so I couldn't help but think of your name as "安南" (ānnán, which means peaceful south)... oh then your name can be 夏安南... and people would think you're going to "下安南" (xià ānnán / going to the peaceful south, or Viet Nam...

[skylee]

夏安娜 is also good.

Choose 安南 and you would have the same name as the Secretary General of the UN (I'm not saying it's a bad idea).

[hparade]

yes, saw 安南in the news, maybe mainland or taiwan has a different translation name ...

[Quest]

夏 is indeed a good option.

Saarikivi

夏丽琦 (Xia Li Qi) very Chinese now.

Anna

夏安娜 still somewhat foreign.

[nnt]

Beware of multiple meanings!

Hạ An Nam 下安南 also means overthrow/capture/take the "peaceful" South... Hmmm...

(Btw Vietnamese used to call their country Đại Việt 大越 or Đại Nam 大南 whereas An nam 安南 is how Chinese and French called Vietnam...)

[pazu]

nnt: don't be too sensitive. Xia Annan has no meaning of "attacking" Vietnam to most Chinese ears, Xia4 (下) means "attack" in 連下數城 or 攻下咸陽 etc, but for the single "Xia4", I can't connect the meaning of attack with it unless you try to be witty. Or maybe it's different in Vietnamese?

And 下安南 actually reminds me of the rhythm of 下江南 in Chinese. 下江南 means "Going to the Jiangnan Region", a beautiful area.

[nnt]

Pazu:

Don't worry, I was playing with words (inaccurately, because 下 as "take/seize" applies only to cities, not to countries)

Càn Long hạ Giang Nam 乾隆下江南 is a well known story

[shandongcn]

塞(sai4)安娜 is perfect. I have two reasons.One," 塞"and"赛" have the same pronounciation,"赛"(sai4) means "one is better than another ".The other reason is ,some foreigner's surname is translated 塞 ,for example,Sage,Samuel,Sainsbury,ect

[Quest]

no 塞 is pronounced "suk" in Cantonese. It doesn't sound good in Mandarin either.

夏 is the perfect last name.

[pazu]

And more important, Princess DiAnna wants a Chinese surname, and Sai isn't one.