Please help w chinese names 4 baby girl

[RainebowSerpent]

Hi, i am pregnant and looking for a baby name for my little girl, she is half chinese, but i am no longer in contact with her father, however, i bare him no ill feelings and wish to show her this by giving her a chinese name. I would like one that isn't common in china. I don't want to create one myself in case i accidentally say something rude! Something natural or spiritual, like River song or Wise Moon or something like that, it sounds funny me syaing this as i would probably never name a child that in english simply because it would be very frowned upon, although i would be tempted.

Please offer me some nice chinese names,

Thank you very much!

[johnd]

I'm no expert on Chinese names, but I can start the ball rolling. We're having a baby girl soon too, and my Chinese wife is considering 童心 (tóngxīn). The dictionary translates it as "childlike innocence", but I like to thing of it as meaning "young at heart". Will you be using the father's family name - perhaps you need to consider what is a good combination?

[johnd]

Oh, I had pesumed that you would also choose an English name. Are you looking for one name? I think that will be a hard task, and you'll certainly need to consider the pronunciation carefully.

[amego]

Green Leaf=青叶 wow thats sounds so japanese to me

Small Small=小小 sounds very chinese, since its pronounciation is xiao2 xiao3, many many names also have similiar sounds, like 萧萧 xiao1 xiao1，etc...

dear RainebowSerpent,

may I present you with a brief intro: in china, many people have only single-character names, like 李敏, etc, so they have they tendency to find some exortic characters in order to stand out and be different, of course two-character names are also popular, and siblings (usually boys) have they same second character (or third) and they sort of rank it, like 李敏慧，李敏洁，etc...

another very important thing is the tone of the surname, if it is in the 3rd tone, like 李li3, please try not to have the 2nd character also in the 3rd tone, as this will result in tone sandhi, like the above example 李敏 li3 min3 >>> li2 min3, and li2 sounds like 黎, thus causing some misunderstanding...

also we need to know the surname of your baby, as some names will go better with certain surnames

anyway,

River song or Wise Moon

River song

for river, we can have

河 he2, hmmm sounds masculine

川 chuan1, masculine

江 jiang1,also masculine

溪 xi1, stream or creek, okay for gals IMHO

song

歌 ge1, no suitable for names IMHO

曲 qu3, alright

调 diao4, "tune" not too suitable for names

thus we have 溪曲...hmmm doesn't sound too good...alternatively your can go for names of rivers, like

洹 huan2

滦 luan2, etc etc etc...

as for wise moon, the most common 'wise" for girls' names is

慧 hui4, intelligent

颖 ying3, clever, gifted

and moon is of course 月yue4, common for girls

慧月 not bad

颖月 abit weird

some other common feminine characters are 柔rou2 soft gentle, 芳fang1 fragrant, 玉yu4 jade, 雯wen2 multicoloured clouds, 淑shu2 good-hearted refined,美mei3 beautiful, 丽li4 beautiful, 诗shi1 poem, 佳jia1 good excellent, 琳lin2 gem, 燕yan4 swallow, and many many others...one thing is that people often go for the pronunciation， as in you can have a name in mind, and them use different characters with the same pronunciation with other good connotations

maybe your can tell us your aspirations for your baby, like intelligent, virtuous,fillial, etc etc, and we can work from there...

take your time! names can often have a lifelong impact =p

[liande]

Oh, I guess that all depends on the circumstances: I have three kids of a Chinese father and we have given them all both Western and Chinese names. The funny thing is that the Baby name (common in China, very often a repitition of the last syllable of the name) is very popular especially with our Western friends and also all the Chinese, so that they are mainly using that name at home, whereas in school they use their Western name. However, their good school pals also use their Chinese nickname. To make that possible, I suggest to pick a chinese name that sounds cute as a nickname and can well be pronounced by Westerners...What about Pingping, Lingling, Linlin (little unicorn), Tingting, Lanlan (little orchid), Baobao (little treasure), Tiantian (little heaven) or Mengmeng (little dream)...? So far they have not been teased about their nickname and I really do not expect them to. Also with stupid people who do not appreciate such a name, they have no need to mention it.

Therefore I suggest, you pick the baby name first, take it as the last syllable, then choose a suitable middle character that sounds good with both the first , which would be the surname, and the last, which would be the baby name.

Hope that was helpful.

[RainebowSerpent]

I've been told Lien is a chinese name that means Lotus, I would like 'X' Lien, but not sure what would go well with Lien

[amego]

yea i agree with liande...wannabeafreak is kind of an extreme viewpoint, another example: my sis name is Stephanie Sun Yiwen 孙伊纹, as with many Singaporeans, she has an English name as well as a Chinese name. So when a non-Chinese asks for her name, she'll say "Stephanie". Well that should solve all the problems. =p

[liande]

Yeah, lian (other transcription lien) for Lotus is nice for a girl. What about Snow Lotus "Xue Lian"? Any objections from the Chinese? Lianlian also makes a cute baby name!

[HashiriKata]

What about combining this "Lian" with the "Xiao" someone suggested earlier, => Xiao Lian ?

[Lu]

Lian sounds good!

for river, we can have

(...)

河 he2, hmmm sounds masculine

川 chuan1, masculine

(...)

Now I'm not an expert on Chinese names, but there is a poet called Yin Lichuan (Sichuan de chuan) and she is most definately female.

I wouldn't use that character for the name of a child growing up in the west, though, it will be mispronounced and misspelled all the time.

Edit: There is a female writer named Li Yinhe (yin for silver and he for river).

[horas]

*

What about 'Mei li' (beautiful plum?), it is practical. In some situations you could resort to the Anglosaxon variant 'Maylee'

http://www.rolandwooster.com/Flora/slides/Plum%20Flower.html

[amego]

Now I'm not an expert on Chinese names, but there is a poet called Yin Lichuan (Sichuan de chuan) and she is most definately female.

i understand =p, what i am saying is "usually, stereotypically and generally", i've seen many females with guys' names too

[dz902]

Lian/Lien 莲 is quite popular in Chinese names.

If you'd like a flora-feel name, I suggest two here:

1. 紫萱 (zi3 xuan1) Purple Daylily

First, it sounds nice! And it is not very popular anyway.

Purple is a graceful colour in Chinese culture.

Daylily, in Chinese culture and herbal books, is a kind of plant that can make people forget sadness and worries, as one of its name suggests 忘忧 (forgetting sadness).

Moreoever, it means "love for mother", as the poem says 谁言寸草心，报得三春晖, and also 萱草虽微花，孤秀能自拨，亭亭乱叶中，一一芳心插。

2. 墨兰 (mo4 lan2) Ink Orchid

A name shows concinnity and beautiful image.

[deezy]

Further, if your child will grow up in a WESTERN society, I reckon the teenager to be will reject a Chinese name knowing that the CHINESE FATHER rejected her/you.

Probably will never integrate into Chinese Society, nor will probably be able to speak in Mandarin/Cantonese or care too much about her father from the father no longer being part of her life.

Woaa, someone's bitter! Let's not project all our own issues upon others here..

Anyways, every case is different and some kids will want to embrace one side more than the other (or both equally) - especially as they grow older into adults. That, however, is ultimately THEIR decision to make - and the parent(s) would be best off giving them that choice. And fact is, just as many, if not more, Asian kids try to get back in touch with their Asian roots after rejecting it and over-assimilating into Western culture for so many years (how many on this board are hu qiao ABCs?)

There is also nothing wrong with having BOTH English and Chinese names - most Chinese living abroad have both. You don't have to "choose" one or the other.

Now, as far as choosing Chinese names, Chinese families often use a multi-generational poetic pattern - and/or also consult a professional who chooses "lucky" names based upon "superstitious" factors like (I believe) astrology, stroke counts, etc. In my family, we were initially given names based upon a repeating family pattern - but later changed by a pro name-picker. And, it may easily have been coincidence...but I must admit I slowly shook my "bad luck" off and my life just kept climbing uphill after that.

[peterwelm]

Since I don't know how to express my thought on naming in english,then I write down my words in chinese:

我们给小孩子取名一般都是想赋予这个名字某种好的隐喻，同时也希望借此寄托长辈们对这个小孩子的期望。(在中国，姓名中的姓通常没有什么选择，不是father's 就是 monther's,只是小孩子跟母亲姓的情况不多见) 所以人们在给刚出生的小孩取名时，往往都是提前很久（一般说来，最迟也会是在小孩出生前的一个月就应当开始考虑取名的事情，而且在这过程中往往会征求很多人的意见，如父母以及那些非常受尊重、并且德才也比较好的人,即使是这样，做父母的，还是会考虑再三，甚至是最后到了给小孩上户口时，才不得不最终选定一个姓名）。另外，在我的上一辈中，还比较流行在名字里包含家谱中所规定的某个字，但是到了我们这一代，这种情况在城市里已经非常少见了。

[amego]

1. 紫萱 (zi3 xuan1) Purple Daylily

Yep its a nice name! Anyway i know of 3 ppl with this name, not with the same characters though, one of them is a Singapore artiste.

[Sophia_Shang]

Well, there's an interesting name available, "惜羽" (xi1 yu3). '惜' is for 'cherish' and '羽' is for 'feather'. A bird must cherish her feather, a girl must cherish her reputation!

[amego]

Nice name sounds poetic and close to 细雨 xi4 yu3 (drizzle)

[LiYuanXi]

I think you should let us know the surname that you are using as some names provided here might not sound good with your surname.

[ExpatObserver]

Xuelian is a nice name. It means Snow lotus.