Chinese Name Needed

[Emil Bragg]

I've written a short prose piece (a microfiction) which I have tentatively titled Basho & the Group of Five. The main character (named in the title) is a master player of a game that isn't identified, it may be Go or Chess or something else entirely. I need an appropriate Chinese name. I would like the surname to be "O". Have considered O, Bei...O, Bu or some such name. A given name only could work too. 

 

I've been using "Basho" only because the name works rhythmically. A Chinese given name close to Basho would work.

 

I would appreciate any suggestions. Names along with meanings would be helpful. For example, I've considered O, Bai because I understand bai means "white" which would be an appropriate name for a player of either Go or Chess.

 

In any event. Any thoughts, suggestions, advice would be much appreciated.

[Lu]

First, a few points:

 

'O' is not a Chinese surname. You can consider 'Ou' 欧, which is pronounced almost like 'Oh'. Or you can consider making your main character Korean instead, and call him 'Oh'.

 

Second, take out the comma. You're quite correct that in Chinese, the family name (surname) comes first and the given name second. Some people like to put a comma between surname and given name, but this is wrong, so please don't do this.

 

All that said, Bai 白, meaning 'white' could work for a given name I suppose. Then his full name would be Ou Bai. I've never heard of someone named Bai, and it's a bit unusual/odd, but especially for a fictional story it should be alright I think. Wait for the opinion of a native speaker though.

 

Basho is Japanese, and the name of a famous Japanese poet. You could use the characters for his name in Chinese pronunciation, 芭蕉 Bajiao, but in my opinion this is not a suitable name, also because it's a bit like calling a character Shakespeare.

[skylee]

Lu, remember 李白?

PS - O Bai reminds me of 鰲拜 (which could be a good Chinese name for someone called O'Brian, haha).

[Lu]

Lu, remember 李白?

Ah yes, of course. Didn't think of him.

[Emil Bragg]

Thanks, you two. I do like the possibility of O Bai. Lu, there is a modern professional Go player with the family name O. His name is O Rissei.

[Lu]

O Rissei is Japanese (the name, that is). According to Wikipedia, his Chinese name is Wang Licheng. 'O' is not an existing Chinese surname.

[Demonic_Duck]

白 is also a surname. What about something like 白硕 Bai Shuo? That sounds a little like "Basho".

[Emil Bragg]

I like the Bai Shuo suggestion very much, Duck. I may use that. Thanks.