Curious about assigned name

[aedevine]

I was given this name in class and I was wondering what people think about it. I've had some positive feedback, but some pretty aggressive negative feedback from one individual.

 

So, I guess I'll introduce myself: 我叫戴安竹。

[tobydog]

As a Chinese , I think this name is ok as male .

[TheBigZaboon]

I am not Chinese, and am NOT qualified to judge the appropriateness of Chinese names, so keep that in mind. But I have had to play the name choosing game a number of times over the years. I have found that there's a wide variety of individual opinions on the suitability of any particular name.  In the end you will have to make the final call by yourself, based on your faith in the opinions you get from your friends. This is a common topic around here, so you will probably get quite a bit of input over the next couple of days. Wait a bit before you make any decisions.

 

As to the name you wrote in your original post, I assume your first name is Andrew, and you go by that, rather than Andy. So it seems your teacher chose Dai based on your last name, Devine (I assume from your avatar), and AnZhu, based on Andrew. This is probably the most common way of getting a name. But you can wait for more input from people more knowledgeable than I...

[Lu]

I'm not Chinese either, but it sounds like a good name to me. Gives me an image of a scholar reposing in a small bamboo bush.

[querido]

I think Lu's image is beautiful, and I like the name for that reason.

[aedevine]

OP here. Lu, I really appreciate that comment! It's a great image. 

 

TheBigZaboon: yeah that's I think what was going though her head when she made the name. She is a Mainland native, so I have faith in her ability to name me.

 

However, I had received feedback that I could be confused and called "Dianne" because of "dai an," so that was one if my concerns. 

 

The other concern someone raised was that I should avoid "dai" and "zhu" in general because, as a foreigner, native speakers would assume I'm not pronouncing anything correctly, and that I would be misunderstood. Then again, that could go for anything, really.

Thanks all

[889]

I don't know whether it's accurate or not, but according to this site out of 1.4 billion Chinese, there are a four men and three women named 戴安竹.

 

http://m.sosuo.name/tong/B4F7B0B2D6F1.html

 

It doesn't do much for me for a couple of reasons.

 

First, when I see that name on a foreigner, I immediately think her first name must be Diane.

 

Second, I think a name should also look good on paper and be simple to write, but it's going to take the OP some long time to make 戴 look good in his signature; it's just not a gracefully built character.

[Lu]

17 hours ago, aedevine said:

However, I had received feedback that I could be confused and called "Dianne" because of "dai an," so that was one if my concerns. 

If your name is Andrew, I'm assuming you don't look like a Diane at all, so that should be easily resolved in most cases. But if you're worried, one way to remedy that is by changing your surname. 衛 or 魏 would perhaps work, for Devine.

[tobydog]

On 2017/5/11 at 5:01 PM, Lu said:

bamboo bush

When there is a “竹” in your name ， Chinese won't connect it with bamboo , it is just a word that shows your personality , I think 竹 refers to integrity , some Chinese characters may be weird if you translate it into English directly ， but local people think it's okey .

[Su Haifeng]

As a Chinese, I would say 戴安竹 is a good name if you want to give people an impression of well-educated, good-tempered.  And you can choose another name if you want a more masculine one. 

[陳德聰]

I don't get the Diane comments... surnames come first in Chinese names... presumably when you use this name you will be speaking in Chinese, so I think whoever made that comment to you is being kind of ridiculous.

 

I think it is a "fine" name in that it is not outstanding in a positive or negative way and if you like it and it sits well with you then keep it. Personally I like the simplicity of 安竹 but just make sure you can say your own name properly. Wouldn't want to go around saying 俺豬 all the time.

[889]

I should have been clear that I'm thinking of foreigners seeing that name and thinking she's a Diane. Less a problem, of course, for Chinese. It's not unusual for foreigners to defy convention and put a character or two representing their first name first, like 畢彼特.

[lips]

If 戴 is too hard to write, consider 大 as the surname instead.  (It is a valid surname).  Since there's no rule that all syllables of a foreign given  name have to be in a Chinese name, the OP's Chinese name can be 大竹, which carries the impression of a "highly respected monk".  

[889]

Actually, if he doesn't mind a name that echoes only his English first name, he could simply go with 安竹: that website I mentioned shows about 100 Chinese with that name (安 of course is a valid surname). The site doesn't show anyone named 大竹.

[lips]

Just now, 889 said:

The site doesn't show anyone named 大竹

I was not aware that this is a popularity contest.

[889]

I don't use the site for that reason, but simply as a quick check on whether a name is practical: if it's never been used among a billion Chinese, maybe there's a reason, like the similarity to 大猪. And maybe not, but I'd have more confidence using a name knowing that others have used it as well.

 

Besides, doesn't 大竹 seem a bit arrogant a name? Perhaps that's just the 大山 influence speaking, though.

[lips]

No worries, amongst a billion Chinese, very few know who 大山 is.  大 is a good surname because your good friends will have no choice but call you 老大。

[Publius]

Ah, the fun game of choosing a name...

When I see 大竹, my first thought is 大竹英雄. 大竹 is a valid Japanese surname.

If 戴 is too hard to write, just use 代. 《現代漢語詞典》 lists it as as a surname, 《漢語大辭典》 gives 代淵 as example, citing 《宋史》. 代 replacing 戴 is actually in the 第二次簡化字方案, along with 傅->付, 童->仝, 阎->闫, 萧->肖, 蔡-> etc. So some people may have "simplified" their surnames, at least briefly. Even today when people don't know how to write or are too lazy to write 戴, they write 代 instead.