Help with Chinese Name

[Minerva]

Hello everyone!

My name is Minerva, I'm new to this forum, but not totally new to Chinese. I've learnt the language for a while (about two years?) and I'm at a solid intermediary level.

The thing is: In 2016, I'll go to Taiwan for half a year to practice my Mandarin. Since my English name is somewhat unpronouncable in Mandarin (no, it's not Minerva *lol*) I'd love to have a Chinese name to use whilst I'm there. Maybe you could give me some advice? We are talking about first names here, just FYI.

I'd like to have a two-syllable first name since it seems to allow for more flexibility. So far, though, I only managed to come up with one-syllable names, and even with them, I'm not sure whether they are good choices...

I'm twenty-three years old, female, and study Biochemistry. I'm a science geek, love to read, love maths, love to go out with friends, love to do crazy stuff (like randomly deciding to learn Chinese one Christmas Day). I'm not especially tomboyish, but definitely not extremely girly in the sense of 'pink'n'glitter'.

So far, names I managed to come up with were:

明

䳟

靈

But as I said, I'd like to have a two-syllable name. Maybe you could tell me which first syllables would go well with the names I suggested? Are they even suitable in the first place?

Do you have more suggestions?

Sound-wise, I absolutely love te -ing sound, and I'd like to limit the number of fourth tones in my name, since I think it sounds a little harsh.

Any input is appreciated!

[skylee]

Consider 明明. 明 is an excellent choice to be used in a name. It has good meanings, is easy to pronounce, and can be used in both male and female names.

[Lu]

Isn't 明明 a bit childish? I agree the meaning is nice though.

 

Minerva, consider getting a surname to go with your given name. And in Taiwan, most people have two-character given names, so yours would fit right in.

[889]

It'd be very odd to have only a first name. If you go for a Chinese name, go for the full three characters. Besides, there may be times when someone wants to address you formally by your last name; you shouldn't force a first-name basis.

 

And as said here before, selecting an appropriate Chinese name should really be done by a Chinese friend or teacher who knows you and your personality, and is sensitive to language subtleties.

[skylee]

明 is also a surname.

[Minerva]

Thanks everyone for your replies!

I obviously wouldn't just have a first name, of course I need a last name *lol*. It's just that my actual (English) last name is pretty short and easy to pronounce, therefore I actually just wanted to stick to it and only choose a first name. Why change what does not need to be changed :-)?

Back to business: I like 明 too. Especially since my middle name is Brigitte, which apparently means 'bright', just like 明. Perfect fit, I'd say!

It's just that as far as I know (and I might be totally wrong here), first names in Mandarin usually are made up of two characters, though one-character names are not extremely unusual. Still, maybe you could suggest some two-character names which include 明? Creativity is honestly not my strong suit, and my Mandarin isn't good enough yet to avoid any unpleasant accidents when it comes to naming myself (e.g. choosing a name that turns out to be a homonym for 'stinking goat') therefore I'd rather you guys help me than I chose by myself *lol*

Thanks again!

[skylee]

You mean you want to be called 明明 Jones or Jones 明明 or something like that? I am afraid this is not acceptable. You will need a Chinese surname to go with a Chinese given name. If it is Jones, for example, you might call yourself 鍾明明 (very nice name indeed).

You could also consider the name 青霞.

[889]

Having a full Chinese name is an important part of the cultural assimilation and social integration that go along with studying Chinese and living in China. Tell people you meet -- many of whom won't speak English -- that your name is Jones Mingming and you'll make a very bad first impression, as if you don't want to try assimilating and integrating. To repeat, it's really not a practical alternative.

[Beijing Raymond]

what you think 明娜, I hope you like it.

[Shelley]

I guess if you had a surname like Lee it would be easy enough to use, but you need to get the character combination correct. I suppose there might be a few surnames that would be okay but not Smith or Jones etc.

[TheBigZaboon]

@Minerva,

At the risk of sticking my nose into your private life more than I have with my other advice, and based on what you said in your textbook post, what about asking permission to use the family name for your surname. I don't know how close you are to your relatives in Taiwan, but it seems this might solve the surname issue in one fell swoop. Then you can concentrate on a given name/first name.

Hope I haven't overstepped myself here. Feel free to slap me if I have.

TBZ

[Flickserve]

"Jones 明明"－agree that combining just doesn't work.

[Minerva]

Thanks everyone for replying!

Okay, so the idea of just keeping my English surname is off the table. I didn't realise that it would seem so insensitive, sorry! :-)

TheBigZaboon, I really like your idea! I have no clue why I have never thought of it. One branch of my Taiwanese family is called 田, the other one 黎- I'll just aks them and pick on of the names. This solves the whole surname problem wonderfully. Thanks! :-)

Skylee, I think 霞 is really beautiful! Would 霞明 or 霞靈 be good names? In my head, that would translate do something like 'brightness of the sunset sky' or 'spirit of the red sky', right?

Thanks everyone!

[skylee]

There is an ex-world/ Olympic champion diver called 伏明霞 Fu Mingxia. 明霞 is a beautiful name. The name 青霞 that I suggested earlier has 霞 in it. My mother's name also has 霞 in it.

[889]

Don't forget you'll be signing your name from time to time, and Chinese people will judge you in part on your calligraphy.

 

That means that in picking a name you should consider not just how it sounds but how it looks, considering especially how it will look as a signature and most especially how it will look when you write it given your probably basic Chinese handwriting skills.

 

霞靈?

[TheBigZaboon]

@Minerva,

I live in Japan, and right now they're having a bit of a tiff over women's surnames and marriage. The Constitutional Court has upheld a law that requires a woman to use her husband's surname after marriage. Nobody seems to enforce this, and my wife uses her own surname at work and on her passport, but there may be some legal instances where this might cause trouble.

But in Chinese society, (and I may be wrong) it seems that the wife continues to use her family name, but the children use the father's family name. I don't know whether your relatives in Taiwan are on your father's side, or your mother's, but I would give the relationship some thought in terms of family politics. I don't think there is a legal issue, as you are not claiming citizenship or anything like that. If there's a father's family connection, that might be the name to choose, and the permission to seek. If there's only the mother's connection, then obviously consulting your mother for advice on which name to choose might be best.

I think others better informed on this than I am will step in here, but family politics are an area where I have learned to tread lightly.

TBZ

[somethingfunny]

I have 明 in my Chinese name and I can confirm that it is awesome.

 

Also, when someone else gave me my name they chose the surname that sounded as close as possible to my English surname.  I don't think they sound very similar but whenever I explain it to Chinese people they all seem to think it makes a lot of sense.  Basically just the first letter of my English and Chinese surnames are the same.  So if your surname is Jones, then you could easily just choose 季 as your surname.

[lips]

Make sure you have native speakers of major Chinese dialects - Putonghua (and Mandarin as spoken by people in Taiwan), Cantonese, Shanghainese, and especially Minnan dialect (Taiwanese), since you have many Taiwan connections, to go over the name to make sure in does not sound like something funny,  bad, or have other connotations.  :O

[889]

If that's not practical, you can Google it; if you get enough hits showing it's common enough, that's a reasonably good indication it's OK. Just make sure it's not shared with a 凶手 or such.

[Lu]

But in Chinese society, (and I may be wrong) it seems that the wife continues to use her family name, but the children use the father's family name.

This is correct, although there are exceptions. If all parties agree, children can also take their mother's surname. This can come in handy if a family has only daughters and the husband of such a daughter (and his parents) don't mind.

 

There are quite a lot of western man-Chinese/Taiwanese woman couples, and from what I see it's pretty common for the children of such couples to take father's surname for their western name and mother's for their Chinese name. So if Vincent White and 高美英 get married, their kid might be John Wei White in his passport and 高伟 in Chinese class and for his grandparents.