Favourite Chinese Names

[doraemon]

I know Chinese doesn't have any designated names for people unlike English and most other languages, but I'm just interested in seeing what Chinese names people like to be called or would give to someone else(male and female).

Thanks!!!

[skylee]

50 most popular names in mainland China -> http://news.sina.com.cn/s/2007-07-25/144113525318.shtml

[doraemon]

Thanks for the article, skylee. It's kinda weird but understandable that the large majority of the 50 most popular names have only 2 characters in them(including the surname). It just makes me wonder that is it because don't parents put enough thought into giving their children names because they can't be bothered, or do they deliberately make it simple and common so people can remember it? For example, I know a girl who's called 刘宁, and when her younger male cousin was born, his parents didn't know what name to give him, so in the end they decided on 刘宇(simply by adding one stroke to his older cousin's name). But it's still kinda clever though. If they realise there are so many people called a certain name, wouldn't they try and avoid giving it to their children?

I actually wouldn't mind having a 2 character name though, provided it's not that common. However, every member of my family (including distant relatives) have 3 character names, and refuse to give their children 2 character names, which is a bit unusual.

[renzhe]

I believe that single-character given names are much more common on the mainland than they are in Taiwan or overseas communities.

Then there is the issue of generational names, which don't really play a role in the PRC anymore due to the one-child policy.

[doraemon]

Yeah, you're right. Now that you've mentioned it, I've never actually met anyone from HK or Taiwan with 3 character names(including surname). My family's from mainland China though, but it's probably because we're too traditional...

[analgesia]

well

towards low-educated parents,esp in rural place. they may making children name just a sign as serial-number,for differ each child they have .

but for those high-educated parents ,making a children name meaningful and thoughtful is a serious task ,which is vital to one family.so if one name is thoughtful even abstruse and unusual ,it should be a nice name generally

e.g 林艳红 （given by low-educated parents usually）

周万江

刘正芳

李翀 （ given by high -educated parents usually）翀chong :bravely flying high

刘龑 龑yan flying dragon

雍圆一梦 (4characters-making name are rare,but once they make it,always excellent)

（They re real names of some people ,we see all of them re graceful names,maybe abstruse and unusual while unique and thoughtful）

so we see ，quatity of characters does not make sense to the quality of a name .

[analgesia]

plus：Recently,one of my students is a girl named 萧萧雨朵，isn‘t it a nice name?

[Outofin]

I like Doyle Christopher's Chinese name: 杜可风

Some other names I came across on web are:

赵无眠, which obviously comes from Su Shi's famous poem 转朱阁，低绮户，照无眠。

胡不归, again, obviously from Tao Yuanming's 田园将芜胡不归.

Wuxia novels usually have awesome names in an almost surreal sense.

[Outofin]

I'm so bored today that I decide to give someones teasing nicknames.

skylee 思改·李 (a phonetic translation)

roddy 罗迪 (almost a standard translation.)

gato 葛头儿 (somehow it sounds like a manager's nickname.)

[roddy]

You must have been very bored, 呕吐烦.

[renzhe]

Wuxia novels usually have awesome names in an almost surreal sense.

I have to agree.

For example, I've been watching The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre, and ran into 張無忌, 楊不悔, and then of course, there's the Grand Abbess 滅絕師太. Guess what she does best?

And skylee was mentioning 何足道 in the episode thread too.

Edited February 8, 2010 at 02:40 PM by renzhe

[Outofin]

Names from different ages give people very different feelings.

Names from mythological ages to pre-Qin sound so ancient and totally otherworldly to me.

After that in the first millennium, names were plain yet stylish.

In the second millennium, many names reflected Confucian teaching, while many were influenced by poetry.

The first half of the 20 century had a lot of good names.

Today's children's names all sound too sweet to me. I figure people's taste is too sweet nowadays.

(And to reiterate, names in wuxia novels are surreal.)

[skylee]

skylee is having trouble stop throwing up. maybe skylee should be called 嘔吐煩.

[Outofin]

Ok, ok, due to popular votes, I 呕吐烦 appologize. I'm so cheered-up.

[skylee]

Outofin, I really keep vomiting and am having a fever at the moment. A bad cold I think.

Yes you should cheer up.

[Outofin]

Oh, what can I say. Hope you feel better soon. Take good care of yourself, my friend.

[Hofmann]

Wow...I've never even heard of most of those names in 2F's post. I take it that is "What not to name your child."

[trisha2766]

Are the names on the page - 50 most popular names in mainland China - for males or females? Or better yet - does anyone know of a site with good girl's names? When I've searched so far I've only been able to find sites that do stupid things like list names in pinyin only or worse - pinyin with no tones marks.

[chrix]

I think given the uniqueness of Chinese given names looking at the 50th most popular names won't be of much help, as parents try to find characters best suited to their child.

[Hofmann]

Is there such a list for Taiwan or Hong Kong? Just thinking people would be more literate.

Edit: Nevermind. This looks like one.