How do you decide on a Chinese surname?

[zunlei]

First topic post, newbie here... sorry if this is out of turn/place.

How do I go about choosing a Chinese name, particularly, what "surname" do I use?

My mom has a Chinese name Yin Jiazhi 鄞加知. My dad doesn't have one but his mother's (my grandmother) Chinese surname is Li (don't know the character). My dad's father (my grandfather) isn't Chinese. Do I need to take either of these surnames?

My current English surname is closest to Jiang, Jiong or Ju...

Second, what do you think of this name: 蒋丽里 ... Could this be interpreted as "beautiful within"? My mom wants my Chinese name to have the word beautiful in it (she is my mother after all...) and my given name is quite close to "Li"...

Thank you very much for reading this post. I look forward to learning from everyone :-)

[shibole]

I don't really know the "right" answer to this, if there is one, but it isn't unheard of for someone to take their surname from their mother's side of the family. Sometimes this is because the mother has no brothers or something, and sometimes (from what my wife tells me) it's just because a couple has several kids and after the Nth one the mother just says "hey! how about we name the next one with my surname?"

If I had to hazard a blind guess I'd say that "Li" is probably Lǐ which might be 李 simply because that's the 3rd most common surname, but you should look into that to be sure as there are other surnames that are pronounced with a different tone and written differently.

I guess the answer to this probably depends on how "traditional" you want to be. You could try to track down the surname of your nearest male ancestor that had a Chinese surname (if any), then sort of pretend that you father and his paternal ancestors had all taken that name, then take that name yourself, or you could pretend that your father had been named with his mother's surname. Or you could take your mother's surname. Or you could do what many people do and take their official surname in whatever language and either 1) pick a known Chinese surname with a vaguely similar sound, 2) pick something based on meaning whether it's a "real" surname or not, or try to do both 1 and 2. I personally would probably not just pick a totally random character to use as a surname though but maybe that's just me.

In my case I picked 石 because it's a literal translation of my official surname and it even starts with almost the same consonant. If I had Chinese ancestors I'd probably try to pick a surname from one of them though, but again that might just be me.

Oh yea, list of common surnames:

http://zhongwen.com/x/xingshi.htm

[fireball9261]

I agree with shibole's suggestions.

蒋丽里 is probably fine, but I wouldn't know the more fashionable modern names nowadays in China or Taiwan. Also, it's a woman's name, so it would be OK if you are a woman, and it would not be OK if you are a guy. The name would be a bit tongue twisting when pronouncing it, but not overly so. Those are my concerns for this name.

[muyongshi]

For a surnames since you have relatives that are of Chinese decent I would go with the closet relatives name (male if possible but your mom works fine). I personally never thought that a persons surname has to be picked based on how close it sounds to their english name. That just makes it hard unless you are never going to use your name in which case who gives a rip...

[skylee]

what do you think of this name: 蒋丽里 ... Could this be interpreted as "beautiful within"? My mom wants my Chinese name to have the word beautiful in it (she is my mother after all...) and my given name is quite close to "Li"...

To me, 丽里 means a beautiful neighbourhood/mile, for in simplified chinese the traditional character for inside is simplified to the traditional character for mile/neighbouthood.

Personally I think 里 is raraly used in a name to mean within. It is usually used to mean mile as in 萬里, meaning the guy has a bright future. Perhaps you could also consider the character 涵. Or if you like the sound of "lili", you could consider 莉, 俐 etc.

I think it is a good idea to adopt your mom's surname if hers is the real surname. Otherwise, shibole's suggestions 1 and 2 are worth considering.

[zunlei]

Thank you for your replies shibole, fireball926, muyongshi and skylee! They are very helpful and enlightening.

I might be working in Taiwan early next year so I'll probably get to use the name I pick. I guess I'll take either 鄞 or Li (will find out which character this is. but as far as my dad knows, it was based on the town where his ancestors lived in). My mom claims her Chinese surname is rare... which would also be cool.

Here in the Philippines, the common Chinese dialect used is Minan/Hokkien/Fookien (I can't speak or understand it though)... and they've actually changed those surnames to the Fookien counterparts: Lim (Li) and Kun (for Yin)... it took my mom some time to recall how to write her surname which is only when I found out it is actually Yin.

First name... still not sure how I'll come up with this one but will probably get to it when I settle with a last name

[shibole]

I personally never thought that a persons surname has to be picked based on how close it sounds to their english name.

I didn't say it had to, but it's one way of doing it. After all, if your "English" surname is "Lee" (as in "John Lee" or something) then it wouldn't be totally stupid to use 李 as your Chinese surname.

[muyongshi]

Don't get me wrong Shibole my comment was not about what you wrote! I just know many people who do do that and so that came out in my response. I know you didn't say it and I agree with you if you have a surname that is pretty stinking close (such as a one syllable every thinks it sounds asian surname) then go with it. But I know people that would pick 周 based on the fact that their name is Johnson and so it sounds close. It was more directed at the OP to point out that it is not always best to picked based on what sounds closet.

[thezero2001]

鄞慧中 is a beautiful name, are you think so?

[zunlei]

鄞慧中 is nice! i'll keep this in mind... thank you thezero2001!

[Lu]

changed those surnames to the Fookien counterparts: Lim (Li)

李, the most common form of Li, is also Li in Minnan/Hokkien, so if in Minnan it's spelled Lim then it's not 李. (But my Minnan is not good enough to know what it would be.)

I like that Yin, too, don't recall ever seeing that character, as a surname or otherwise.

As to taking your mother's surname, I hear that that's what many mixed couples here do: kids gets daddy's surname for their English name, mummy's surname in Chinese. I think that's a very elegant solution. You're basically in the same situation, so you could do the same, keep your father's surname as your official one, and your mother's as your Chinese one.

[zunlei]

Hi Lu!

Thanks for your insights! That is my case then... dad's surname in my English name and mom's surname for my Chinese name

I will use the surname 鄞 since it sounds and looks good to me.

As for the first name... I was going to translate my English name to Chinese... it is a Hawaiian name meaning "heavenly flower" but when I combined heaven + flower in Chinese... "天花" it turns out to mean small pox :-( This really made me sad lol.