given name based on "lekzan"

[alxndr]

大家好

So I've grown out of the 中文名字 assigned to me by my Chinese 101 professor. I'm trying to pick a Chinese given name based on "lekzan" (the middle two syllables of "Alexander"). I dug through a bunch of names of historical figures and culled some characters as starting points for each syllable; here's what I have:

"lek": 乐，利，历，励，雷，霖

"kzan": 泽，岑，贤，僧，玄，藏

Any suggestions? (If it helps, the surname I use is 蒯。)

(Bonus points for it sounding similar when pronounced in 广东话！)

谢谢

[skylee]

I think 霖澤 is pretty good, though people seem to tend to use 澤霖 instead. 勵澤 is also not bad.

I would prefer 樂生 though.

[eriol1987]

I think 乐柯瓒 is a good name.根据英文在汉语的音译

[anonymoose]

乐可赞

[Hofmann]

鬲濜

Middle Chinese: /lek zin/

(鬲【廣韻】郞擊切【說文】鼎屬，實五觳，斗二升曰觳。)

[Lu]

I would prefer 樂生 though.

I hate to disagree with Skylee on this topic, but this name reminds me of paradise (of the type you go to after death). Doesn't seem fit for an everyday life. I might be wrong though.

[skylee]

I think that would be 往生. 樂生 sounds very positive to me. Take a look at this -> http://dict.baidu.com/s?wd=%98%B7%C9%FA&f=3

谓以生为乐。

Anyway, the OP has not given any response, so perhaps we are wasting our time here again.

[doraemon]

莱灿 sounds and looks pretty good...

I don't think it means anything though...

[Libra_520]

I personally do not recommend that modern people use in their own names in the classical (ancient Chinese / Middle Chinese) because in the simplified Chinese language in today's practical, no-one in China today will be used in life classical Chinese (the ancient Chinese / Middle Chinese) had.

我个人不建议，现代人在自己的名字中用到文言文（古中文/Middle Chinese）因为在如今汉语在简单化实用化，如今在中国已经没有人会在生活中用到文言文（古中文/Middle Chinese）了。

wo ge ren bu jian yi ,xian zai ren zai zi ji de ming zi zhong yong dao wen yan wen （ge zhong wen /Middle Chinese）yin wei zai ru jin de han yu jian dan hua shi yong hua de jin tian , yi jing mei you zhong guo ren zai sheng huo zhong yong dai wen yan wen （ge zhong wen /Middle Chinese）le.

[skylee]

如今在中国已经没有人会在生活中用到文言文（古中文/Middle Chinese）了

I don't think so. The Premier likes to quote ancient poems, doesn't he? But it is kind of irrelevant to the topic, especially when we are talking about names.

[alxndr]

skylee, 对不起对不起！I got an email notifying me about your first response and assumed I'd get more emails if other people responded, but I didn't, so I hadn't even looked back here until now...

re 霖澤（霖泽）－ I like it, but the two second tones in a row sort of rubs me the wrong way (especially after a third-tone surname)... What do you mean by "people seem to use 澤霖" ?

re 勵澤（励泽）－ Not bad. Doesn't really excite me though. I'm a little put off by the potential for it to mean "encouraging dampness"...

re 乐可赞－ I'm going for a two-character given name, so that all told my 姓名 will be three characters. 乐赞 isn't bad though.

re 鬲濜－ The middle Chinese pronunciation tie is certainly good enough for me, it's not too important that current pronunciation be exactly like my English name. I like 鬲, but it makes me wonder about having a character with more than one 读音 in your name -- how often would people thing it was ge2 rather than li4? (I guess this is an issue with 乐 too, huh)

Hofmann, 那就是解释了鬲有什么意思？

Libra_520, do you mean that it's unreasonable to expect people today to read characters with ancient pronunciation? I certainly wouldn't expect anyone to do that. 我不期望现代人用古老的发音。

re 莱灿－ The second tone after a third tone surname sounds weird to me, but I definitely like 灿。 How about 乐灿 or 利灿 or 励灿 or 鬲灿？

[trien27]

Tarzan is translated as "泰山" in Chinese, which is not really close, but close enough. So "zan" of "Lekzan" could be "山"?

叻, in Cantonese = "Lek".

Possibly 叻山, which would in turn be pronounced "Leksan" in Cantonese, which is still very close to Lekzan? But the problem is if you were to say it in Mandarin, it'd come out as "Leshan", which isn't even close without the k sound in the middle of "Lekzan".

zan = 赞 / 贊 via Mandarin.

Maybe even 叻赞 ["Lek" from Cantonese + "zan" from Mandarin = Lekzan] / 叻贊 ["Lek" from Cantonese + "zan" from Mandarin = Lekzan]? Some foreign names are translated using a mixed format via different dialects.

"叻赞" / "叻贊" or "叻山"???

[alxndr]

山 is used for that same syllable in the conventional transliteration of "Alexander" as well （亚历山大） but that makes me less inclined to use it, as it's less interesting or original...

叻 is interesting though. Hadn't seen that character before; according to a quick Googling it's used for transliteration of foreign terms (an Indonesian noodle soup; provinces in Thailand; a Britain-created currency in southeast Asia in the early 20th century). That seems a little strange to have in a name which is attempting to sound relatively normal among Chinese culture. But MDBG says in 广东话 it can mean smart/clever...so that's kinda fun. I do like the sound of 叻灿， any thoughts on that?

[Hofmann]

it makes me wonder about having a character with more than one 读音 in your name -- how often would people thing it was ge2 rather than li4? (I guess this is an issue with 乐 too, huh)

There are other homophones that don't have multiple readings, many of which I suspect will truncate my post, so I'll just post the more common ones.

靂酈癧轢鎘礫瓅秝櫪櫟歷曆藶瀝磿寥鬲蒚皪躒厤觻擽濼蝷

[skylee]

I do like the sound of 叻灿， any thoughts on that?

You must try this name. You MUST. :lol:

[trien27]

I do like the sound of 叻灿， any thoughts on that?

Well, 灿 = "can" in Pinyin, which should actually be "tsan", which is close to "zan". "zan" in Pinyin sounds like "tzan".

It's possible.

[alxndr]

Any native speakers want to weigh in?

[alxndr]

There are other homophones that don't have multiple readings ... 靂酈癧轢鎘礫瓅秝櫪櫟歷曆藶瀝磿寥鬲蒚皪躒厤觻擽濼蝷

Out of those I like the meanings of 雳 and 栎。How about 雳灿 ？

[Lu]

Any native speakers want to weigh in?

Skylee's a native speaker.

[alxndr]

Aha. skylee, why do you say I "MUST" try that name?