changing my surname: 寒

[Tiri]

Hi guys, quick question.

 

Until now I've been using surname 韩, but several Chinese friends told me that it makes my name look like I'm Korean, so I decided to change it to 寒. The thing is, I don't know if it can function as a surname. I've found a page on Baidu explaining that it can, but I'm not sure if it still reads as han2. I also have never met a person using this surname, so I thought I'd ask just to be sure.

 

Thank you!

[abcdefg]

I know quite a few Chinese people surnamed 韩。Is it really so foreign? Do you really need to change? To my ear 寒 doesn't sound very good; has undesirable connotations. (I'm not a native speaker, however, and could be mistaken.)

[Hofmann]

One wonders about the literacy of these Chinese friends of yours. 韓 is approximately the 25th most common surname in China, whose origins you might begin looking into here. This 韓 character was one of many to transliterate the native Korean word han apparently meaning "leader" or "great," possibly related to Khan.

 

BTW, while the Han River and the old name for Seoul, Hanseong, was transliterated using the character 漢, they still use this same native Korean word.

[Lu]

I think 韩 is a perfectly normal Chinese surname. Just because it's the same character as in 韩国 doesn't mean the bearer looks Korean. Haven't they heard of 韩寒?

I suppose you can solve all the matters you worry about by changing your surname to 汉. Very much Chinese, certainly a surname. But there is no real need.

[Publius]

I'm also mystified. Why 韓 makes your name look like Korean? Surely half of Koreans use the surname 金 and the other half 朴 or am I missing something? Your full name doesn't happen to be 韓流/韓潮, does it? 韓 is perfectly Han Chinese. 韓非, 韓愈, 韓復榘, 韓寒, 韓紅...

[lips]

IMHO, changing surname should not be done on a whim.  What if China and Korea suddenly become the best of friends again?  Are you going to change it back?

 

Anyway, rather than changing it to 寒，why not go one step further and change it to 冷，which to me is a much "cooler" (no pun intended) surname, and is not uncommon.

[Publius]

Oh I see! The OP has some fenqing friends! Speechless...

[Publius]

1 hour ago, lips said:

rather than changing it to 寒，why not go one step further and change it to 冷

What if the OP's name is 韩笑...

[lips]

or 箭。

[Ceciliaq9]

Hi, i`m a native Chinese speaker ! I think " 韩“ and “寒”  both can be your Chinese family name! “韩” can be a chinese name and also be an korean name,its a very common last name in China & korea, but “寒” can be more unique and poetic, it literally means “cold”, yes 冷 also means cold, but “寒” can be more beautifully used! some writers and artist always use 寒 as their stage name!! since you are forginer, if you make your last name as “韩”, some people may think it is strange to have a traditional Chinese name, but using 寒, they probably would think you love Chinese culture!

[889]

There's a teeth-and-gums relationship between family and personal name, so it's hard to say whether one name is good without knowing the other. No different than English in that respect, except even more so.