Help with my chinese name! They gave me a boys name! D:

[Mikayla]

So I've studied chinese for several years. Sreiously, I took 3 years of it in the US and a few years ago I went to study at BLCU for a year. Over my winter break I went to Taiwan and when I told my host my chinese name she started laughing and informed me that my teacher had given me a boys name! I went to Xi'an with my school when I was in college AND I'd already been in Beijing for 6 months at that point and no one had ever told me that! Well as soon as I realized it was a boys name I noticed how when my new teachers called roll on the first day they kept skipping over me because they were looking for a boy. >_>

 

SO! Now I'm looking into going back to China and I want a new name. My chinese friends tried to give me a new one last time but it was too girly.

 

The names I have been given are :

李明开

and

Li Xinyi which I didn't end up using. Something about flowers I think? I forgot the characters. 

 

I would love some help finding a name that isn't a boys name and doesn't sound compleatly strange.

 

Thanks in advance!

[skylee]

What is the boy's name?

[Mikayla]

李明开 is the boys name.

[Lu]

It doesn't sound that boyish to me. I suppose it would be used for boys more than girls, but imo it works for girls just fine.

 

But you want to change it, that's reason enough to change it. What would you like in your name? Certain sounds, meanings, characters?

[skylee]

I think 李明開 is OK as a woman's name. Nothing wrong about it.

[Kamille]

I wouldn't let it bug me too much. Especially knowing that Taiwanese people like to tease foreigners about their Chinese / understanding of the culture.

Your host probably met more boys with that name and then she wanted to tease you with it, that's it. Or maybe another possibility would be that 名開 is only for boys in Taiwan. That could happen too. I remember I had this friend from Guangzhou, her name was 海. Now I guess, 海 wouldn't be a typical girl's name anywhere in the Chinese speaking world but she was Cantonese and her name was 海. Point is, in Taiwan people said it was hard to find a more male-sounding name then 海. There's a cultural side to it too. 

[Lu]

Point is, in Taiwan people said it was hard to find a more male-sounding name then 海.

I see your 海 and raise you a 健雄.

[Mikayla]

Seeing as my chinese friends in Beijing AND my teachers all told me that it was a boys name I really don't think it's all that unisex of a name....

 

I don't have any real thoughts about characters or sounds. As far as meanings go the only thing I REALLY don't want is anything too flowery or girly. I'm fairly tomboyish so anything too flowerly won't fit me at all.

 

The other thing I was thinking is changing my last name as well. By the time I go back to China I will be marrie and my soon to be husband will hopefully be getting a job in China and coming with me. He was talking about wanting a chinese name as well and I think he might need some for some paper work, not sure but I know the school require you to have a chinese name when you enroll so I dont think it would hurt for him to have one picked out before we go.

 

Hi name is Matt and our last name starts with G.

[889]

A woman in China normally doesn't change her name after marriage.

[Kamille]

Seeing as my chinese friends in Beijing AND my teachers all told me that it was a boys name I really don't think it's all that unisex of a name....

 

You didn't say that the first time. You said this :

I'd already been in Beijing for 6 months at that point and no one had ever told me that! Well as soon as I realized it was a boys name I noticed how when my new teachers called roll on the first day they kept skipping over me because they were looking for a boy. >_>

 

Which, I assumed, was all based on your own thoughts and analyse of what was happening.

 

 

But anyway, Mikayla, to answer your question, what do you think of 敏愷? I personally like it. It's a girl's name but I don't know to what extent it sounds girly for sure. To me it doesn't sound overly girly but maybe wait for other members to confirm or not. I'm not a native speaker. I don't know why you want to change the last name. 李 is very fine. If it's because it doesn't sound like your real last name how about 貴? Since you're bound to know some Chinese by know, why not looking for a suitable last name by yourself ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_Chinese_surnames )? You're probably not without knowing that Chinese last names don't amount to much more than a few hundreds (and commonly used ones to not much more than a hundred, that's it), and finding a suitable last name is nowhere as hard as finding a suitable first name.

Matt is usually transcripted as 麥特. Just keep in mind that unlike the name you had at the beginning and the one I chose for you now, 麥特 doesn't sound at all like a native speaker's name. As soon as they see it, Chinese-speakers will know it's a transcription from a foreign name.