Help with Chinese Name

[Lou]

你 好 everyone!

I have been studying Chinese for a couple of weeks now and I'm making nice progress. The characters were really hard at first, but I think I now sort of figured out a system to learn them, and I'm planning to take the HSK 1 exam around August/September.

Now, I think I should have a Chinese name, since, well... My original name is essentially unpronounceable in Chinese. Sure, it could work, but it doesn't fit in the sentences and seems out of place. Since my knowledge of Chinese is rather limited at this point, I'd really appreciate your help with my name.

From what I know, there are generally two methods of name-translation: Trying to preserve the sound, and create something that Chinese people can't identify as a name and has lost all it's meaning, or trying to preserve the meaning of a name and translate it into a original name used by Chinese people. I'm not a fan of method one and would like to use method two-preserving the meaning- for my Chinese name.

My original two given names are Luise (meaning: the warrior, the fighter) and Brigitte (meaning: the light, brightness, the high one). I don't really care whether I'm getting a two character name or a one character one, so you can get creative with either only one of the names or both ones :-). I, however, fear that especially "Luise" might lead to some very hard and masculine sounding results, since "warrior" just isn't the softest of words. Therefor, I really don't mind a great deal of creativity when it comes to interpretation of the meaning of both of the names. If something halfway relatable to the meanings sounds good and is usable, that's definitely better than a harsh sounding combination of 4th-tone words that sticks to the meaning exactly.

Now, some no-nos for the name:

1. Confusion. If the character looks suspiciously close to the one for stale bread or I'm introducing myself as "gluestick" if I get a tone wrong, please, another variation might be better suited.

2. Not-so-nice sound. As stated above, I really don't mind a lot of flexibility with my names' meanings if it improves the sound. Also, if, for example, there really is no proper-sounding name even closely relating to the meanings of "Luise", a one-character name is fine for me.

Thanks a lot for everyone willing to help me find my Chinese name :-).

[zhouhaochen]

If it was me, I would try to make some Chinese friends and once you know them better, ask them to give you a name that they think suits you, not caring whether it sounds like your original name or not, but just that it suits you and your character, based on what your Chinese friends think. In my opinion trying to translate a name is pointless, it has to be re-created.

In China, name giving is much more of an art than in the west.

Thats how I got mine (周浩辰 - not sounding at all like my real name "Andreas") 12 years ago and I am very happy with it

[Lou]

Thank you for your answer :-)

Well, I definitely don't want to preserve the sound of my original given names-I know that that is pointless and leads to "names" Chinese people can't identify as such ad hold no meaning whatsoever.

What I would like to do, however, is to translate the meaning of my names (warrior/fighter/ and brightness/light) into names that also could be given to a Chinese newborn. I know that the sound of these names would be completely different than the one of my original names, that's not a problem. However, the names should of course sound good. I think the meaning of my two names describes me quite well, but especially with the meanings of "Luise" I'm totally willing to undergo a lot of creativity for the sake of a less harsh sound.

I have thought and googled a little and came up with 明 (míng) for "brightness/light". Could that be used as a name? However, whilst I really love the sound of it, but I don't really love the look of the character. So, does anyone know other variations to translate "brightness/light" into a name?

[889]

Yes, do not try to pick out your own name. There's no rush.

 

But recognise that not all Chinese are equally adept at choosing good names. Ask someone relatively learned who knows you and your character and who by nature will give some thought to the question, not just throw out something random that comes to mind.  Then check that name around with others before adopting it. Also, best to ask a northern, native Mandarin speaker. Native Cantonese speakers, for example, tend to like names that sound well in Cantonese.

[Lou]

Okay, then I'll ask a native :-). Perhaps my teacher can help me, or one of my classmates. Thanks you all!

[Lou]

Hello again!

I've been talking to two Chinese classmates about the issue (not classmates from my Chinese course, but classmates from my school that happen to be from China). They suggested two names to me: 明 (míng, brightness) and 伶 (líng, clever, witty). I like both a lot. However, I would really appreciate a little help from you in deciding on one of them and for finding a second character to complete the name. So, I have a couple of question that my classmates couldn't answer (both are fairly fluent in Mandarin, but have never actually been to China or taken Chinese classes and therefor aren't a hundred percent sure about everything sometimes).

Are there any kind of possible problems arising with either of the names? Confusion with other words that have weird meanings, confusion with characters that have dubious meanings, anything like that? What name do you prefer? Why?

And, secondly, could you perhaps suggest a second syllable to complete the name? 明 seems kind of unisex, and 伶 of course means something rather rational, cold, so I'd like a traditionally feminine, flowery, warm second word to feminize the name in both cases. The only suggestion my classmates had was 花, but I'm not too find of that.

Thanks for any help :-).

[Demonic_Duck]

If you want something more overtly feminine, maybe you could swap “伶” with its homonym “玲”, tinkling sound of jade. I certainly wouldn't associate “伶” with cold rationality, though.

[Lou]

thanks for the suggestion, Demonoc Duck!

玲 might be an option, I'll think about it.

Do you also have any suggestions for the second syllable? I am open to suggestions for both 明 and 玲/伶, I haven't decided for any of these definitely yet. I will make my decision based on how well they pair out with the second part of the name :-).

[Demonic_Duck]

Sorry, I misread your post, I thought the name they'd suggested was 明伶， which would make sense as it's the middle two characters of 聪明伶俐.

Bear in mind Chinese names can consist of between two and three characters in total (technically up to four with compound surnames, but that's rare), and that the first character must be a surname. 明 itself can be used as a surname, though it's not too common. As such, 明玲/明伶 on its own could be a standalone name, or you could add a surname in front of it (100 most common modern surnames according to some book).

[Lou]

Oh no, 明 wasn't supposed to be the surname, but the given name (or at least one part of it!)

The surname is a whole other story that I'll need to think about-most likely, I'll just pick one from the list you gave me that goes well with my name.

What I'm searching for is a second character to complete the given name, like, for example, 花明, because from what I've seen, given names seem to be constructed from two characters most often. So I'm searching for another character/word to go with 明 or 玲 in order to use that combination as a given name :-).

I still need to decide between 明 and 玲 and I would like to make my decision based on how they sound together with the second component of the given name that they are supposed to form.

I hope that was clear now *lol*

So, can you suggest any character(s) that would go with either 玲 or 明 to make a given name with them? :-)

[skylee]

Many years ago I had a room mate. Her name was 巧玲. It was a pretty name. But she told me that she had changed her name when she was younger. Her original name was 巧靈. Her parents had it changed as the name was too good (and could get people's attention which they definitely did not want). So she had become 巧玲.

Just a thought having read the discussion on the words 伶/玲.

My view, if anyone wants it, is that the OP should study Chinese more before thinking about a Chinese name. It is not wise to make a decision when one knows too little about something. And there are a lot of words out there other than the ones mentioned on this thread.

[GilbertDawson]

In making my Chinese name, I used a few different resources.

 

This fall I was taking an intermediate Chinese course and my teacher asked me to create a Chinese name for myself. (Previously I'd been calling myself 杰克 "Jake", purely on sound-loan, but I decided I'd get real about a Chinese name.) I tried first to find a common Chinese surname with a meaning similar to my own. Couldn't find one, but my mother's maiden name "Hill" did have an approximation in 山. For given name I kept 杰，then chose 程 because I liked the character itself, it still sounded a little like my birth name (杰程/Jacob) and has a fun homonym or two. Did a double-check (via Google, QQ and by typing "jiecheng" into Pleco) to make sure I hadn't named myself after a pop star or a toaster, and the result was my Chinese name, 山杰程。

 

(Note: I checked my name with my Chinese teacher before settling on it. Everyone who makes their own Chinese name really needs to check with a fluent speaker before deciding on a name. This cannot be stressed enough.)