Name translation

[Joe99]

Hi, i came from Teochew family, which apparently we dont speak Mandarin like .. AT ALL hahaha. So here is the thing, my sister name is Lim Hui Siam for many years we dont even know how to write it in 汉字, so maybe hopefully there's someone here that can help us how to write it in standard simplified chinese mandarin.

Thanks by the way for willing to read my story about our family's problem.

[Lu]

Lim is usually 林 (Lín in pinyin). For the rest of the name, it usually helps to know the intended meaning.

 

Also, why are you asking about your sister's name, instead of your own name (or instead of your sister asking about her own name)?

[889]

This looks like a Straits Chinese or Singapore romanization. That is, your family was probably settled in Singapore or Penang or someplace inbetween, though originally hailing from S China.

 

It's not really possible to be certain what your sister's romanized name is in Chinese characters. While Lim is likely 林, the other parts of the name aren't so clear, since Hui and Siam could each represent several different characters. A quick Google search, for example, finds Siam representing at least 森, 暹, 嬋, 祥 and 芯 in Straits Chinese names.

 

That said, perhaps someone familiar with naming conventions and Straits romanization could nonetheless make a good guess.

[Joe99]

@Lu actually i'm from a country in southeast asia where chinese cultures, languages, etc were banned until like early 2000s my sister lived in the older time where if they spoke mandarin or chinese dialects or perform chinese influence kind of things in public we will immediately got arrested. While i, lived most of my life in the era of where these law is not exist anymore that's why my parents sent me to study in a school that got mandarin classes, but still after attending those classes for many years my mandarin is not very good but at least i know how to write my own chinese name. My sister was not as lucky as i am.

[Joe99]

@889 we know that her Lim Hui is 林慧 but we confuse with the siam  and yeah actually i was also thinking maybe her Siam is 暹 but not really sure tho ..

[Publius]

In Modern Chinese, the character 暹 is used only in 暹羅, an old name for 泰國 Thailand. So unless your name ends in 羅 or a character also containing the 辶 radical, I'd say 暹 is unlikely.

 

So you know the second character in her name is 慧, probably because you have the same character in yours? It's common practice for parents to name their children after a pattern. If you can tell us the last character of your name, maybe we can have a better shot at the last character of your sister's.

 

Knowing the tones also helps. Can you describe how her name is pronounced in Mandarin or the variety your family speak? Is the last syllable high level? rising? falling etc? If it's Cantonese, you can check all the homophones of 暹 (cim) at http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-can/. If it's Mandarin, use this link http://tool.httpcn.com/Html/zi/PinYin/xian.html.