Help with my Chinese Name

[vexed]

Hello, this is my first post so please be kind.

I've been studying Mandarin for a few weeks now before I head off to China to work - where I'll continue to study further. I'm trying to pick a Chinese name because I feel it will help me to integrate more and also my English name is a little difficult for Chinese people to pronounce!

I think I have my surname sorted, since I can use the first syllable 鲍 bào

When it comes to a phonetic version of my given name I get: 柯克 kēkè

or my middle name: 戴维 dàiwéi

To be honest, I'd rather have a name with some meaning behind it. So I thought about using my Korean name (I acquired whilst living there) translated into Chinese of 江山 jiāngshān. I like this because it's reasonably simply to write and pronounce. I think it carries the meaning of rivers and mountains / country (according to nciku.com) Therefore, my full name would be:

鲍江山

What do you think? Is it too unusual? Will Chinese people understand it? Laugh at it?

Any input would be most appreciated,

Cheers

[skylee]

鲍江山

What do you think? Is it too unusual? Will Chinese people understand it? Laugh at it?

Personally I don't think 江山 is a good choice. It is too serious, too heavy IMHO. It often implies more than just country (sovereignty, power, etc).

克 (ke4) is common in names. A friend of mine is called 克勤 (Keqin). And there is a famous singer with this name too. I have also heard of other names with 克 like 克剛 (Kegang), 克勁 (Kejing), 克爽 (Keshuang).

I also think 大維 / 大為 / 大偉 are good names for David.

PS - Single names like 軻 (ke1, name of Mencius, and also that of the famous assasin of the First Emperor of China), 肯 (ken3, as in the translated name of Lincoln 林肯), 懇(ken3) or 墾 (ken3) are all good. 鮑軻 (Bao4 Ke1) and 鮑肯 (Bao4 Ken3) sound good.

Edited March 7, 2010 at 12:03 AM by skylee

[zhxlier]

克 alone is good.

江山 is not too good but ok.

[chrix]

I think it also depends on whether you'd want separate names in Korean and Chinese. (Though I'm not sure if it's common to give foreigners Korean names). You could explain that it's your Korean name if being associated with Korea is a substantial part of your identity, and if that Korean name would be perfectly fine in Korean, then you could justify using that even if it sounded a bit off in Chinese.

[vexed]

Hi, Thanks for the replies

So do some Chinese people have two character names? Sorry for my ignorance - I saw two character names in Korea but wasn't sure if it was the same in China.

I like the sound of 鮑軻 (the link to Mencius is nice) or 鮑克

Or maybe using my middle name too and going for 鮑軻大 or 鮑克大 (and thus using the first syllable of each of my names in English). Again - do these sound ok in Chinese?

I guess the Korean thing was because I liked the meaning that it brought with it. I'm a big fan of hiking, mountains, rivers etc.

[skylee]

So do some Chinese people have two character names?

Yes. Many do.

Or maybe using my middle name too and going for 鮑軻大 or 鮑克大 (and thus using the first syllable of each of my names in English). Again - do these sound ok in Chinese?

I don't like them. And 鮑克大 with three 4th tones could be difficult to pronounced.

If you like a combination of the two names, IMHO 可大 (ke3 da4) or 可達 (ke3 da3) are better. Or 可為 (ke3 wei2) 可偉 (ke3 wei3). 鮑軻 and 鮑克 are also good.

Edited March 9, 2010 at 02:31 PM by skylee
correct typo

[vexed]

Hey,

Thanks for the assistance and ideas.

I think I'll mull it over for a while and test out some ideas when I'm there.

Cheers again skylee