university student would like to use a REAL chinese name

[Gotti]

hi there!

I'm studying mandarin at university in Venice and i often go to China ( 香 港 actually) where my first mandarin teacher, not being able to pronounce "Andrea" called me 安 德 利. I kept this name and i'm still using it at school when we practice chinese conversations and replace our italian names with "Similar ones" just like mine. But frankly i would like to replace it with a REAL one,meaning something for real..

So can you guys tell me how can i choose one?Can choose my own characters?Should i ask to my teachers for help?

I know that first names in chinese can be both mono- or bi- sillabic ,but aside from that can i choose a name using 2 characters i like and which,together, sound good form the point of view of tones and meaning?

Thanks again

[Xiao Xu]

Of course you can. Maybe these fit you.

For a boy: an1 rui4 安睿

For a girl: an1 rui4 安蕊

安：平安peaceful,also a chinese family name

睿：睿智clever，wisdom

蕊：花蕊（暗喻花容月貌）pistil（beautiful like a flower)

[Gotti]

thank you very much for the ideas!

being a boy, i guess that 蕊 doesen't fit for me..(what a pity!i like the characther!)..keeping 安 is a good idea though..(it's reminescent of my real name!) but i don't like too much 睿..what could i replace it with?

Thanks so much!

[muyongshi]

德 is commonly used and I like it personally.

[rezaf]

there is another rui4:瑞

[skylee]

Also consider -

安俊 (an1 jun4)

安玨 (an1 jue2)

[Gotti]

good names guys..i just need to ponder about them all..

anyway,do you think 蕤 would fit even for men? Or the meaning is just too "Girly" in chinese?

[mythia]

Hey Andrea, what's wrong with 安德利 anyway？It's a perfectly legit and well-sounding Chinese name, although not "hardcore Chinese" if you know what I mean. 德 means having high moral standards and 利 means a benefit, so it's meaning-wise quite good. With Andrea being your born name, this combination is very true to its originality.

But if you'd really like to choose a Chinese name entirely independent of your real name, then I suggest you read a bit of Tang poets (or whatever dynasty), you will come up with many brilliant pairs~

As for 蕤, I personally, do not remember seeing this character. I don't even know it's pronunciation lol.

针对你的姓，“安”，一个小建议，“安久治”听起来比较特别一些，中国有句老话叫“长治久安”，久治这个名字稍稍有些日本味道，不过还是很传统的。典故有苏轼的策问里的一篇有曰：“汉之与秦，唐之与隋，其治乱安危至相远也，然而卒无所改易，又况于积安久治，其道固不事变也。”

[Xiao Xu]

蕤 is not a good choice. Even most of chinese donnot know this character.It was used only in old ages.

Another good choice: rui4 瑞——祥瑞Luck, auspicious sign

rui4 锐－－锐气,勇往直前的气势 [vigour]

[fireball9261]

How about another last name, like 艾 (ai4)? It's a much more common Han Chinese last name than 安. 安 is just sounded too foreign to me. The people who had 安 last names were mostly coverted into Chinese from foreign countries since imperial times. The ones that supposed to have ancient Chinese lineage were very few. Besides, the worst rebel general in Chinese history also had the last name, 安 (安禄山), and he was supposed to be fat like a pig. This last name gave me the image of a very fat, very cruel and rough man. His son was also pretty bad, too. I don't think it's a good idea to use that last name even if it's close to Andrew. Btw, I am a native speaker and familiar with Chinese history.

How about:

艾德 (ai4 de2) or 艾德瑞 (ai4 de2 rui4) would be nice.

艾 is also mugwort, artemisia or mint, used for cauterization or as counterirritant.

德 de2 - virtue

瑞 rui4 - luck

[muyongshi]

Wow when you give the definition of 艾 it makes it such an appealing name. So for the record, OP do not that 艾 is very commonly used as a name and is good even though the definition sounds bad.

[fireball9261]

Sorry, but for Chinese, 艾 is a very good herb and very useful. I will say Chinese are very practical in this matter.

I think it also has another meaning that I just read from somewhere else. It means "nice".

[muyongshi]

Is that what a mugwort is???? I always thought it was some sort of small insect

It's just the translation of it. It's commonly used and considered a good name but I had no clue what a mugwort really was....

[fireball9261]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mugwort

The picture of it shows that it is actually quite nice looking (as a plant) IMO.

[muyongshi]

Thanks!

[Gotti]

thanks so much guys! actually i do like the name ai4 de2 very much...and yes i couldn't find the very term in my english dictionary as well....pretty rare word mugwort...anyway i like that!