Not sure this name means what I was told...

[RTinAK]

My daughter's Chinese name is 秀怡, Xiu Yi

 

I was told this means "beautiful young lady".  My search to find how to properly write the characters shows that 怡 means "harmony or peace" so I am wondering if the name has a different meaning that what we were told.

 

Thoughts?

[skylee]

Pretty and pleasant. Good name.

PS -秀 could refer to beauty or intelligence (so it can be used in male names too, like 陳獨秀/ 金秀賢 etc）.

[edelweis]

@Skylee, so this name is appropriate for girls only?

(I haven't yet tried to identify male and female given names, it looks difficult...)

[889]

It is a very pretty name. I'd only remark that that first character can be difficult for non-native speakers to pronounce correctly.

 

A good test: can the OP pronounce 秀怡 Xiuyi correctly?

 

You don't want it to sound like 鼠疫 Shǔyì (bubonic plague).

[Lu]

If I saw this name I'd assume the bearer was female, but I think strictly speaking it might also be possible to use it for a man.

[skylee]

In theory 秀怡 could be used by a male but I think it is quite unlikely as the name is quite feminine.  I have come across each of the two characters in male names, but not 秀 and 怡 together.

[edelweis]

Thanks. So even though there's no character in the name that explicitly means "lady" or "girl", the name doesn't seem too far off from what the OP was told...

[Shelley]

I would say its more likely to be something like  Elegant or Beautiful Harmony.

 

But 秀 could also mean handsome so this where the male part could come from.

 

Similar sounding (not the same) is Xiu Li 秀丽 which means beautiful, pretty.

 

Xiao jie 小姐 means young lady but it also has a slang meaning of prostitute.

 

丽小姐 would mean beautiful young lady. But I am not sure if this is acceptable as a name.

 

It would be wise to ask a native speaker for clarification, Chinese names are fraught with difficulties and it would be wise to get it right.

[Lu]

丽小姐 would mean beautiful young lady. But I am not sure if this is acceptable as a name.

美丽的姑娘 would be a good way to say 'beautiful young lady'. If you want a name meaning 'beautiful young lady', I'd check a big dictionary under the 女 radical, most of those characters mean either 'beautiful' or 'beautiful young lady'.

[edelweis]

I mean, since it's a feminine name, with a favorable meaning implying some kind of beauty, and approved by native speakers (skylee + whoever named the girl, I don't know whether 889 is a native speaker), there's no need to worry.

I can understand how someone would translate it as "beautiful young lady" rather than "character beautiful + character joyful put together to form a typically feminine Chinese given name".

[lingo-ling]

 

 

Xiao jie 小姐 means young lady but it also has a slang meaning of prostitute.

I've heard that you don't call someone 小姐 in China, but in Taiwan it's the usual address for a young woman, equivalent to Miss. In Hong Kong, 小姐 ("siu tse" in Cantonese) is also commonly used as an address meaning Miss.

 

秀怡 is a feminine name, and would be unusual for a man, but not impossible. I have encountered a fair number of women with very masculine names and men with very feminine names.