New Members grimble_cornet Posted February 4, 2011 at 12:23 AM New Members Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 at 12:23 AM Hi, my name Is Mike and I enjoy Chinese Brush Painting. I would like to have a name seal carved to use on my paintings but need help finding a suitable Chinese 'pen name'. Having consulted several 'free name translation' and seal design sites, the usual translation of Mike is mai ke - 麦克 which may be an accurate phonetic translation but does not say anything about ME and does not provide a 4 character name suitable for carving on a seal. I was born in the year of the tiger and enjoy walking in and photographing the rain so I sometimes use 'rain tiger' as an identification mark - maybe this could be made part of the seal name? Any suggestions for an alternative translation or ideas from other Mikes who have solved the problem would be very welcome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wang Yao Posted February 4, 2011 at 06:46 PM Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 at 06:46 PM Well, I think it all depends on how you want to use this name - are you simply going to be using it as a 'pen name' per say or would you be interested in using it as an actual Chinese name for yourself? I think it makes a bit of a difference, as a 'pen name' would allow for a bit more creativity I think. I'm a Mike as well, and I can understand your issue with 迈克／麥克／麦克, so when I was making my Chinese name, I had to think about those kinds of words to describe myself too. Personally, I think 雨虎 sounds good, though it seems to fit more as a 'pen name' than a usable name. Again, it depends what you're going for. What kind of words would you want to use to describe yourself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members grimble_cornet Posted February 4, 2011 at 07:27 PM Author New Members Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 at 07:27 PM Thanks for your reply. Initially I was thinking of simply a 'pen-name' and I do like 雨虎 for that purpose. However, after some discussions with a friend who has lived in China, I have been thinking of trying to go further and create a more acceptable actual Chinese name. Having made little progress with attractive transliterations (?) I decided to consider the meanings of my English Names, my profession and my philosophical views of life and art. Michael is associated with archangel and can be thought of as 'warrior' Garbett (my surname) is made of two roots meaning 'spear' and 'bright' I am a retired teacher so 'scholar' is a possible interpretation which also reflects my personality to some extent. After spending several hours hunting through English-Chinese dictionaries etc. I came up with two names which I like quite a lot. They seem to have the same meaning = 'bright shining retired scholar' but with alternative sounds and characters - xiān liàng chǔ shì 鲜亮处士 or: xiān liàng yì shì 鲜亮逸士 They both look good as seals in either traditional or seal script and I like both of the sounds but think I prefer 鲜亮逸士 I have attached images of the 'seals' from an online 'seal generator' However, I'm not sure if either of these would be 'acceptable' as an actual Chinese name or if the character order is appropriate for this. Any advice would be very welcome Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members grimble_cornet Posted February 5, 2011 at 07:54 PM Author New Members Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 at 07:54 PM Sorry - seem to have attached the xiān liàng chǔ shì seals twice - I'll try again xiān liàng chǔ shì xiān liàng chǔ shì Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lu Posted February 8, 2011 at 09:10 PM Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 at 09:10 PM The name you picked doesn't work as a real Chinese name. Chinese names consist of a family name, usually one character, and a given name, one or two characters. There is a given set of family names that you can choose from, I don't think 鲜亮 is one. The name you pick might work as a pen name though, but I know very little about that, so perhaps others can comment on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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