A Chinese name for "Zoe"

[azoe]

Hi all, I'm Zoe. I am an Irish student who will be doing a year abroad in Shanghai from September.

 

I'm currently filling out my application forms, and I'm stuck on my own name! I don't have a Chinese name worked out yet.

 

I've spoken to a few Chinese exchange students at my college who had some suggestions. I've chosen 马 as my surname, but I'm having trouble with "Zoe". Their suggestion was 祖儿, but an online friend of mine from Shanghai told me this is a bit weird, seeing as it's the name of a singer.

 

Her suggestion for me was 卓义, or 卓亦 "if that feels too masculine". (I have no idea what's masculine and what isn't so I really don't know the difference here.)

 

I would love some more opinions: would 卓义 or 卓亦 work? With that "zh" sound, do they sound too much like Joey? I really kind of wanted a "z" sound, as Joey has no connection to my name.

I'd be very grateful for any help with this!

 

 

 

 

[LiMo]

My immediate advice is to ditch trying to get a Chinese name that sounds like Zoe. Overall these names come out sounding silly or just weird in Chinese. As you have native speakers for a reference it shouldn't be too much of a problem to get them to give you a nice Chinese name. Something unique that actually has meaning to Chinese people instead of just being a bunch of characters thrown together to approximate a foreign sound. 

 

Apparently: Zoe means "life" in Greek. From early times it was adopted by Hellenized Jews as a translation of EVE.

 

Maybe give them that to go on as a semantic link to your real name.

 

Anyway that sounds a bit harsh but I really think it's the best way, and from what I can tell having a "real" Chinese name leads to much more interesting conversations than just having a transliteration, Chinese people always ask about my name, what characters are in it and how I came by it.

[TheBigZaboon]

@LiMo Well...  We're waiting... 

[Daniel Tsui44]

卓义,  卓亦 both are good typical Chinese names, sounds close to Zoe. Meanings are also good, but take a little bit effort to call the name. 

My suggestion is "左一” or "左卓一” 

[Lu]

卓义 and 卓亦 are both fine, if you ask me (I'm not a native speaker though). 馬卓亦/馬卓義 sounds pretty good to me.

[azoe]

I'd thought about mentioning to my friend that Zoe means life, but she seemed so sure about the two suggestions she gave me that I just left it at that in the end.

 

I was aware that you could translate by meaning. Some of my classmates have Irish names such as Blaithin (meaning "little flower"). I think the Chinese name she was given by the exchange students means "little flower bud", and even if it's nothing like her name, it sounds lovely. Those girls were insistent on calling me 祖儿 though, so I just felt like I should agree. I'm afraid to disagree with anyone because what do I know? Apart from not really digging the idea of sounding like a Joey, I haven't a clue what I'm doing!

If you have any idea for a name meaning "life" I'd love to hear it.

[LiMo]

@TheBigZaboon For what? 

[Flickserve]

On 22/03/2017 at 6:52 AM, azoe said:

Their suggestion was 祖儿, but an online friend of mine from Shanghai told me this is a bit weird, seeing as it's the name of a singer.

 

There's nothing wrong with having the same name as some singers. But I am unsure if 祖儿 is a stage name for that singer. 

 

Look at it this way, with names,  you never have a total consensus. There's always someone who is going to say a name sounds funny,  old fashioned, unusual or they just plain don't like it. You just have to get a big sample of people, explain your reasons and if acceptable, then go for it. So long as it doesn't sound too outrageous, it should be OK. At least you have a reason and if 祖儿 sounds like your English name (which is a good reason)  and is reasonable in its meaning, then go for it. 

[陳德聰]

祖儿 is a boring name.

 

馬卓亦 is simple but normal, sounds like Zoe, easy to write, lol and if you're going to Shanghai people will pronounce it like "zuo-yi" anyway so bam the zh is no problem!

 

p.s. The singer is 容祖兒 Joey Yung lol! In Cantonese 祖兒 sounds like Joey.

[Publius]

祖兒 is fine. Those girls insisted on calling you 祖兒 probably because they thought it was cute.

卓亦 is fine too. Certainly less girly and quite normal as a name.

 

容祖兒 seems to be the singer's real name. Róng Zǔér in Mandarin and Jung4 Zo2ji4 in Cantonese. (J is the IPA /j/ as in 'yes' /jes/)

 

And don't worry too much about the z/zh distinction -- in large part of China it doesn't exist, so 卓/左/Zo/Jo are all the same.

 

I was curious about how the name of the young journalist Zoe in House of Cards was translated. Turns out it's 左伊 on the mainland and 柔伊 in Taiwan.

[Flickserve]

40 minutes ago, 陳德聰 said:

祖儿 is a boring name.

 

Like 'Ed' in English but it didn't stop Ed Sheeran from being successful.

 

41 minutes ago, 陳德聰 said:

In Cantonese 祖兒 sounds like Joey.

 

 

Like I wrote, you can never get a total consensus.

[lips]

5 minutes ago, Publius said:

容祖兒 seems to be the singer's real name

Some say it's not.

[TheBigZaboon]

On 3/23/2017 at 9:59 AM, LiMo said:

 

On 3/23/2017 at 9:59 AM, LiMo said:

Chinese people always ask about my name, what characters are in it and how I came by it.

Inquiring minds want to know... It seems a shame to limit this knowledge just to Chinese people...

[mlescano]

After a quick search, I found it transliterated in two ways: As 佐薇 and as 左伊, in case it helps. 左伊 is the Chinese version of the name of Byzantine Empress Zoë (c. 978-1050 C.E.): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoë_Porphyrogenita

 

Baidu image search shows that  佐薇 seems to be associated with fashion (Maybe it's a brand).