How to introduce 杜若滢/杜若滢应该怎么解释

[aeitodd]

Hi! My chinese name is 杜若滢 and I want to know how I can introduce the characters when I meet someone for the first time

 

My friend 孟丽英 says 孟子的孟、美丽的丽、英国的英. I know my 滢 is a little unusual so I particularly meed help introducing this. Thanks!

[Moshen]

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My chinese name is 杜若滢 and I want to know how I can introduce the characters when I meet someone for the first time

 

Is this customary among Chinese people?  I've seen Westerners do this in videos on learning Chinese, but I never encountered a Chinese person who did this when introducing themselves or being introduced in casual conversation. 

 

To me, it comes across as pretty pedantic - like someone American introducing themselves as "Chelsey with a 'y,' not like the New York City neighborhood."  If I'm just meeting you socially, why do I care how your name is spelled?

 

My husband's name is "Xiaoli," and he once commented to me that it's common as a female name, but with a different "li" than for him.  Yet I never once heard him introduce himself to another Chinese by specifying which character he uses for "li" in his name.

 

Of course when someone needs to be able to write your name it's important to be able to explain the spelling clearly.  But not necessarily on first meeting.

[Demonic_Duck]

On 5/4/2024 at 9:47 PM, Moshen said:

If I'm just meeting you socially, why do I care how your name is spelled?

 

That's the exact reason you'd do this — if someone needs to write down your name (e.g. you're 报名ing for some 活动).

 

@OP maybe something like 

杜：杜鹃的杜

若：若非的若

滢：萤火虫的萤，把下面的虫字换成玉器的玉，左边再加三点水

 

Maybe there's a less convoluted way of describing 滢 but that's the best I could come up with ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

 

Edit: or just describe the character components in full, 三点水（氵），草字头（艹），秃宝盖（冖），玉器的玉

[Lu]

My Chinese name sounds a lot like a well-known geographical term, and if I don't specify it people assume I am named after the geographical thing. That's why I often spell it on introduction.

 

As to 滢, is there perhaps a celebrity with this character in her name? That can be a good solution for characters that are usually found in names. I once had a colleague surnamed 袁 who always spelled it as 袁世凯的袁.

[Tomsima]

definitely not limited to westerners, my wife has an unusual character in her name and specifies in this way any time meeting someone for the first time...though point taken that that might be a personality thing!

[Jim]

My daughter has the character 忞 in her name which also usually needs explaining, but is of course quite easy to describe.

[need4speed]

滢，This word is not common in everyday usage. But 莹 is a word that most people know. 

So, you can say  左边三点水，右边是晶莹剔透的莹. 

[cncorrect]

I would introduce the name like this: 杜是杜甫的杜，滢是晶莹剔透的莹加个三点水，“若滢”就是像小水。