Chinese Names ?

[Jovey]

Is it customary to say or write the surname, (last name), first ?

For example ; when tell or writing your name as an introduction to someone you may be writing to.

Like Wang Lee, . . Lee being the first name.

[aerazon]

If you're in China, then the surname is always said or written first.

[skylee]

If it is written in Chinese, yes. But if a Chinese name is transliterated, then there is not a fixed rule.

The actress Gong Li's surname is Gong, her given name is Li. In Chinese her name is written as 鞏俐, pronounced Gong Li. But in the west sometimes she is called Li Gong, and sometimes people call her Gong Li, thinking that her surname is Li.

And some Chinese have western names, so there is more confusion. The Chief Executive of Hong Kong is called Donald Tsang, which is his real name, though not the full name. His full name is Tsang Yam-kuen Donald, Tsang being his surname. When he uses the name Donald, he is called Donald Tsang. When he uses his Chinese name, he is Tsang Yam-kuen. So in Hong Kong there is a peculiar way of writing such names. Take a look at his homepage.

PS - In China there are many ethnic minorities and their names might be longer and written differently.

[imron]

write the surname, (last name)...........Lee being the first name.

And just to avoid confusion, it's probably better to refer to them as surname and given name, rather than first name and last name.

[trien27]

skylee & imron are both correct:

last name/ surname, given name is the convention used in Chinese. But because English is used worldwide, a Chinese name could now be: chosen English name, last name/ surname, Chinese given name, an example: 梁朝偉, Tony Leung chiu-wai, where Tony is his English name, 梁 Leung is his last name, and 朝偉 Chiu-wai is his Chinese given name[according to Cantonese:He's from Hong Kong] in romanized form.

First name/Given name, second name/2nd given name, middle name, last name[plus suffix, like Sr., Jr., I,II, III, etc...] is the original convention used in English. African names uses the same convention as English somewhat, at least, when there's an English name. Some Chinese given names have one character only, but mostly are two characters.

*Tony Leung's name popped up in my head because I was reading an online article about 汤唯 Rebecca Tang Wei [Her name is in Simplified Chinese: she's from Beijing, China], the girl who starred in 色戒 Lust, Caution with him. She's being blacklisted in China for performing in Lust, Caution. Rebecca is her English name. Tang 汤 is her last name/ surname, Wei 唯 is her Chinese given name.

I did find that Wang can be in some ways, interpreted, translated or otherwise, possibly spelled or spoken as, Wong.

Wang as a last name, in Mandarin, could be two different last names 王 or 汪 pronounced Wong in Cantonese. In Cantonese, the surname Wong could be 王, 汪, 黃[traditional Chinese] (黄) [simplified Chinese], or 皇, which are pronounced either Huang or Wang in Mandarin.

[Jovey]

I thank you all, I was pretty sure that was it, but, I thought I might check, .

Just to be certain, . . .

I did find that Wang can be in some ways, interpreted, translated or otherwise, possibly spelled or spoken as, Wong.

This could be confusing, especially when the simpl. translation you depend on would be used to translate a name, that you might be using on a letter that would go into the postal service !

[imron]

and sometimes people call her Gong Li, thinking that her surname is Li.

With regards to this, more and more I'm starting to see people adopt the custom of writing surnames in capitals (regardless of the nationality of person whose name is being written). So whether it is then written as GONG Li or Li GONG, John SMITH or SMITH John, you still know which one is the surname. I think this is quite a good idea.

[Lu]

In Cantonese, 王 is pronounced 'wong', so people from Cantonese-speaking places (like Hong Kong) often write this surname Wong instead of Wang. This goes for people in HK, but also for people in other countries who originally came from Cantonese-speaking areas.

[liuzhou]

the custom of writing surnames in capitals

I've been encouraging my Chinese friends (in particular) do this for years. It really makes things less confusing.

As to being confusing, please don't talk about "first" or "last" names.

"Does the last name come first?" really doesn't help.

"Family" and "given" names works much better.

[cdn_in_bj]

In Cantonese, 王 is pronounced 'wong'

To an English speaker, it is also sounds like 'wong' in Mandarin, however since the mainland uses pinyin representation it often gets written with an 'a'. Which then gets pronounced by English speakers with a hard 'a' sound, which isn't what it sounds like in Mandarin.