Chinese name

[RustyMuFFins]

I'm trying to come up with a Chinese name for a short story I'm writing, but a few days worth of reading still doesn't give me a good grasp of how the naming process works. (Or maybe I do get it, but it just seems too simple; I don't know.) I want to come up with Chinese name meaning "shining tomorrow" as in, I will make a brighter tomorrow. I believe the pinyin character was ming4 as far as what I was trying to convey with it. the best I could come up with was this 亮明天, but it doesn't look right to me. (Not as though I'm taking classes or anything, but still....) Wouldn't that be something like Ming Mingtian? Does that even work? Would those be two separate names? I have no idea, please help.

[skylee]

Perhaps you could consider 明明. Surname is 明, and the given name is 明 too.

PS - hmmm... suddenly Lolita comes to mind because of the name Humbert Humbert ...

[RustyMuFFins]

Isn't the surname meaningless though? If 明 was the surname and 明 was the personal name wouldn't that just mean shining or bright or brilliant, etcetera...? I mean, I don't know for sure, but could you explain to me, please?

[muirm]

Just to confirm, you are naming a character in the story, not the story itself, right? I would have guessed naming the story, but you refer to the "naming process", which makes me think of naming a person.

What about using the surname to emphasize the brightness rather than express it directly? Maybe something like 万天明? I don't have a good sense for what sounds stupid as a name, though.

[RustyMuFFins]

Yes, I’m naming a woman in the story.

万天明… wouldn’t that mean ten-thousand tomorrows/dawns? It sounds nice, but I’m not quite sure if it’s what I’m looking for. It could certainly work though.

My biggest issue is my lack of understanding the naming system. When I came up with 亮明天 I wasn’t sure how that would read once written out in English. To my understanding, it would come out as Ming Mingtian which seems to me like John John, which, in English, would be a strange name. Further, I have no idea if Wantian Ming (Assuming I’ve translated that right) or Ming Mingtian count as personal names unto themselves like Annabel Lee could be considered a first name in English or whether the Wantian or Ming would become surnames by default.

So as far as not having a good sense for what sounds like a stupid name, you’re good. You’d know better than me.

[skylee]

Re #3, I am not sure what you mean by surname being meaningless. But, I can give you an example. There is an artist whose name is 黎明. 黎 is the surname, 明 the given name. But when I see the name, I usually combine the two characters in my mind as 黎明 means dawn. I think when he was named his (grand) parent(s) must have thought about this.

Here is another example. In a tv drama, there is a male character whose name is 明天, surname明, given name 天. Together it means tomorrow. Individually 天 is quite common as a given name.

明 is not a very common surname. As a given name it can be used for male and female. The character usually means bright, clear, and in the word 明天 it means tomorrow. I think having a given name the same as the surname is cool, and cute.

[muirm]

[亮明天] would come out as Ming Mingtian

I think it would be liàng míngtiān. In general, Chinese names are a one-character surname (there are some rarer two-character surnames) with a one or two character given name. I've never heard of a three character given name, other than of course transliterations of names from other languages. I have never seen 亮 used as a surname, so it might not sound very natural.

Sometimes 万 is used in combination with other words to mean "all" (e.g. 万岁, 万物, 万能), so with 万天明 I was going for "bright days forever", or something like that. I don't know if a Chinese person would interpret it like that, though. Apparently there is already a character in some Chinese novel with this name, so maybe go with something else.

[skylee]

I've never heard of a three character given name, other than of course transliterations of names from other languages.

There are such names. I remember coming across them (real Chinese names). IIRC they are usually 聖名 (Catholic). And there is this guy who represents HK in some sport games. His name is an official name, but of course it is from transliteration.

[Lugubert]

I think having a given name the same as the surname is cool' date=' and cute.[/quote']

Cute indeed. From London:

... London Zoo had 12 giant pandas: ... Chi Chi, An An, Chia Chia, Ching Ching, Ming Ming & Bao Bao

[Angelina]

My Chinese name is a transliteration of my first name. It's four characters long, too long for a normal name. I didn't speak Chinese when I got it and now I'm stuck with it

[Peter2010]

consider "耀明" for “shining tomorrow”, e.g. 张耀明、李耀明、王耀明.... ect.

[RustyMuFFins]

As for surnames, I was confusing the statements regarding their meaning. Ignore that comment.#11 Yao Ming, right? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I like it.

[RustyMuFFins]

So how does Yào Ming work?