Chinese transliterations of western names

[klortho]

Sorry if this has been covered already in another thread. I searched for a little while and didn't find anything. I'm wondering if there is any list around of "standard" transliterations of western names. In books, I always see "David" as "大卫"; "Anna" as "安娜", etc. I recently stumbled upon "Mike" as "迈克" in two independent places.

Relatedly, does anyone know a dictionary that lists Chinese versions of names of famous western people and historical figures? Most online (and paper, for that matter) dictionaries I've checked don't even, for example, have the Chinese for "Clinton".

[semantic nuance]

Here in Taiwan, people, newspaper, or media translate Clinton as 柯林頓, referring to the former president of usa.

Hope it helps!

[stephanhodges]

CeDict has Clinton, and I've noticed many other names there too. Not sure where Erik gets them from. I use the version in Dimsum (mandarintools.com). From link below, Adsotrans also has it.

Clinton is listed as [pop=Clinton/kèlíndùn]克林顿[/pop]

[anonymoose]

One way of finding stuff such as this is go to the Chinese Google, or go to the international Google but select Language Tools, and then choose Chinese, and type the name in English. You are bound to find a few Chinese web pages with the name in both English and Chinese. This technique is also useful for finding unusual words and place names, etc. in Chinese.

[笨笨德]

transliterations are always taken from the following set of characters...

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These transliterations are always carefully selected so they are obvious to the reader, usually by making sure they make no sense as a normal chinese word. So a native reader will instantly be able to realise the word is a transliteration even if they dont know what it actually is...

http://www.taohai.com/cn/newsdetail.asp?id=43

this page has a big list... might be of some help in getting a feel for it, although certain historical figures sometimes get special names that are not neccessarily transliterations....

have fun...

[trevelyan]

Relatedly, does anyone know a dictionary that lists Chinese versions of names of famous western people and historical figures? Most online (and paper, for that matter) dictionaries I've checked don't even, for example, have the Chinese for "Clinton".

The link posted above by BBD looks great. I know there are specialized paper-based Chinese dictionaries of names available, as the place I work has one, but the entries are all English->Chinese.

We have a lot of these sorts of names in Adso, and you can search the database at the URL below. Just remember to search first and last names separately (ie first "Brad" and then "Pitt") as they will be stored separately. If you notice anything missing and submit it through our Quick Add form with the first letter capitalized the system will tag it as a personal name automatically:

http://www.adsotrans.com/adso/uniedit.pl

[klortho]

Thanks, guys! These are all great responses!!

[yingguoguy]

笨笨德, does the mainland and overseas use the same transliteration system? I.e. can I convert your list to simplified, learn the list, and then be able to recognize any English name?

Actually I'm kinda disappointed by this. Before I started learning Chinese I'd read that transliterating names in Chinese was a very complicated and poetic process of balancing the sound of the character with an auspicious meaning. Then I realize that most names just use the same characters again and again. Who say's Chinese doesn't have an alphabet? Makes it easier to learn though I suppose end grumble

[笨笨德]

Yeah, its the same character set in traditional and simplified....

perhaps what you heard before is the process of giving someone a personal name.

This is completely different than a direct transliteration.... remember this set of characters will be used to transliterate foreign words, not only peoples names...

If you ask a friend to give you a chinese name, then the process is different, they will consider your personality, goals in life etc and try to match it loosely to the sound of your english name... but remember you will have a real chinese name at the end, not a transliteration.

As you said, this is quiet a poetic and time consuming process, which explains the need for this direct transliteration method... would you really want to spend hours thinking up a name for a foreign brand of toilet cleaner ?

加油

[yingguoguy]

As it's Christmas, here is 笨笨德's list in a nice spreadsheet, with simplified chars, pinyin and definitions.

Looks like I have found a task to do this weekend, memorizing all these.

My god! Do they really use 喀 (vomit) and 魯 (foolish) in transliterations?

Are you sure this list in comprehensive? For example

伦敦: London lundun: The list has 伦 but not 敦

华盛顿: Washington huashengdun: The list has 华 but not 盛 or 顿

洛杉矶: Los Angeles luoshanji: The list has 洛 but not 杉 or 矶

史密斯: Smith shimisi: The list has 史and 斯 but not 密

Perhaps these are older transliterations that came into common use before this system was introduced, or are there different rules for place names. (sigh) Just as it was in danger of becoming too easy.

translitdefs.xls

[笨笨德]

Sorry man, i copied an older version of list i leeched from some software...

this is the offical list from mainland china... i will give you the reference for the list when i find it... i just remember it was dated from the 1970's....

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斐熙鸠窦艮麟

a tad bigger i know so please dont sit in and memorise these this weekend man, go out and have some fun

i know the 魯 character is used commonly in taiwan as 太魯閣 for a transliteration of a scenic place called Taroko (Gorge) not sure if the name is japanese or from the Atayal aboriginals..

Have a nice weekend all....

[Lu]

The aboriginals from the Taroko-area are also called Taroko, so I think it might be aboriginal-hua. Does sound a bit Japanese, though.

[yingguoguy]

Gulp,

You know, perhaps I will leave it for another weekend. Or else maybe just print that list off and cross them off as I encounter them in daily life. There's already a whole score of those like 达 or 基 which I know the pronounciation as I see them in foreign names, but have no idea what it means. Good to know there's an official guide, thanks.

[klortho]

yingguoguy, I guess this new list also addresses your grumble about the lack of choices when transliterating -- 457 characters I guess gives people quite a lot of flexibility to be creative and poetic.

[yingguoguy]

stupid poetic justice.

[thetada]

Thanks everyone. I'm obsessed with transliterating western names into Chinese and this is a goldmine.

[tooironic]

Whatever you do though, be wary of 'Chinese names' books. I bought one a few months ago a second hand book store and let's just say there for A LOT of very random names in there, like 'Schepum' and 'Toggle' LOL

[racky]

hello everyone,

i come from P.R.C..

the first thing i wanna say is the transformation of Western name into Chinese is different in Taiwan, Mainland and hong kong. Even the name of the film.

The basic transformation depends on the dictionary published by XinHua publishing company.

Hope it's useful.