Chinese names for non-Chinese children

[georgejones]

I am not a native Chinese speaker, but I had the opportunity to live in Taiwan for 2 years and studied some Mandarin in college.  Now that I have children (5, actually), I have a weekly evening class where I teach them.  I gave them all "milk names" as I was not too worried about my choice being considered silly or inauthentic since they would only be used at home.  But as they have gotten older, I think it is time to give them proper Chinese names.  I used an online tool that used our family name (钟/鍾), and the kids' birth dates to generate names.  I narrowed those lists down to 3 names for each child, but now I'm looking for opinions from native Chinese speakers about which, if any, of these names seem "good".  I know that is extremely subjective, and I'm not asking anybody to do stroke count or 五行 analysis, I'm just looking for first reactions.

 

#1 (男)  a) 钟德顺 b) 钟昊德 c) 钟哲祥

#2 (女)  a) 钟珍恩  b) 钟梦炫  c) 钟天卬

#3 (男)  a) 钟卓彬  b) 钟新耀  c) 钟海琪

#4 (男)  a) 钟敏良  b) 钟炳达  c) 钟雄添

#5 (男)  a) 钟浩仁  b) 钟睿宏  c) 钟瑞欣

 

Thanks!

[Lu]

I liked 钟昊德, 钟梦炫 and 钟天卬. The others are all good names as well, as far as I can tell, regular Taiwanese names.

 

A thought: traditionally, Chinese families had a generation name for ever generation, where all the children of that generation had one same character in their name (sometimes it was a different character for boys and girls, sometimes the same). Perhaps you could consider doing that?

 

Also, since your children are older than babies, perhaps you can consider personalising their names a bit more, because while the names in your post above are all fine names, they look a bit generic to me. You could pick a character based on a character trait, or a wish for them, or an animal they like, or the place they were born, or something else that you're picking especially for that child. My apologies if you already did that and that was your criterium for making those top-threes.

 

And how cool that they first got milk names and are now getting school names :-) I think that practice has pretty much vanished in China.

[skylee]

I think simple and generic names are good.  I know a woman called simply 一, and a pair or sister and brother called 一 and 二. Names can be as simple as them.

 

Of the names for the boys, I like these - 1b, 3a (but see below), 4a, 5a. I am not impressed by the names for the girl. If one must choose from those three, then 2a. Otherwise I think 5c is a good one for the girl.

 

Re 3a, while both 敏 and 良 are good names (personally I always suggest that people use 敏 and 明 in names) the combination reminds me of 泯滅天良, which can't be a good thing.  Perhaps you could consider 敏明 or 文敏 instead?

 

PS - 2b really does not work. It is worse than a stage name.

[skylee]

Sorry for asking this, but is the surname 鍾 really simplified to 钟? I just want to be sure. I find some simplified characters confusing.

[Lu]

 I know a woman called simply 一

I once met a girl called 丁一 and I really like that name, but I don't think I'd like it that well with other surnames. If you call your children 钟一, 钟二, 钟三 (hm, 中山?) etc, it's almost mean. Nothing wrong with simple, generic names (they're generic because so many people like them, after all), but some friends in Taiwan used to laugh about their own 市场的名, names picked by the fortune teller without putting additional thought into it. Just my personal opinion, mind, and I clearly only have very limited feeling for what makes a good name.

 

And yes 鍾 is simplified to 钟. Surnames get simplified along with all the other characters.

[skylee]

And yes 鍾 is simplified to 钟. Surnames get simplified along with all the other characters

 

Not 蕭,  though. But it is another can of worms.

 

Actually I asked the question because I remembered the arguments about how the famous writer's name 錢鍾書 should be written in simplified characters. But this has little to do with this thread.

[Hofmann]

I'm not too into generic looking names. I'd prefer some more diversity among Chinese names, so that they're more memorable and make Chinese people less of a homogeneous mass.

[georgejones]

Thanks everybody for all the input! My method for coming up with these names was extremely mechanical, more a process of elimination than of creation. So I think I'm actually going to start over and try to be a little more creative.

[aroberts42]

What do the kids think of the names? I would let them choose or at least have input. That would really make them personal (and probably really creative!).

[skylee]

I think it is the parents' right to name their children, but I am neutral to people changing their own names.

 

I have no strong views on creative names as long as they don't sound stupid.

 

These are just my personal views.

[gjfhdkbb]

most of the names you narrowed are sounded as korean. as a native chinese, i would choose 

#1 (男)  b) 钟昊德   (祥 sounded like 翔. the character now is not very welcome~~)

#2 (女)  a) 钟珍恩   (i prefer this to others. but the names is not very chinese you know~~)

#3 (男)  c) 钟海琪   (quite literary. if your child is very gentle, this is a fabulous one)

#4 (男)  c) 钟雄添

#5 (男)  b) 钟睿宏 

[aroberts42]

"I think it is the parents' right to name their children"

Well, duh. But we aren't talking about actual legal birth names, but fun, personal Chinese names that probably won't be used outside the family. What better way to get them interested and excited than to let them have input? I don't assign my students English names, I let them pick their own (though I do have a list of names if they can look at if they need help) and it is something they all love. 

[skylee]

But we aren't talking about actual legal birth names, but fun, personal Chinese names that probably won't be used outside the family.

 

Is this thread about "fun, personal Chinese names that probably won't be used outside the family"? But the OP said in #1 - "But as they have gotten older, I think it is time to give them proper Chinese names".

[georgejones]

@skylee - agreed. My primary goal is to give them names that they can use in case they continue to use Chinese outside of home.

I am thinking of using 德 as a common character in the names, since I like the meaning of it. But I would use it as the 3rd character, because 钟德X reminds me of

种（的/地/得）X which seems strange to me. But are there good female names that include this character, or should I just do something different for my daughter?

Thanks!

[imron]

It's my understanding that it's acceptable for the generation name to be different for males and females.

[skylee]

德 is ok for female names. One of my good female friends has it in her name. A singer here is called 德蘭 (Teresa), same as what Mother Teresa is called in Chinese here.

 

There are some famous people (men and women) in HK with the name 敏德. I think 德敏 is also good.

[jedihy]

If you wish the name has two characters, you can choose the same 1st character for all children and then pick a different 2nd character for each child. It is a more common way for native Chinese. Brothers and sisters have the same 1st character in their name. For example, 毛岸青、毛岸英 are the names of 毛泽东's (the ever greatest leader of China) sons.