Chinese names: male or female?

[ioannis]

Hi,

maybe my chinese-speaking friends can help me out.

Is there any way to tell from a person's name in Chinese if it is male or female?

Also,

what are the most common first names for men and women in China?

and can anyone tell me how my name would be in Chinese?

Ioannis (John in english)

thanks

[amego]

ni hao ioannis, yeppy theres a way to tell by knowing whether the characters are masculine or feminine, erm..take a look at this thread 1st =)

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/7292-please-help-w-chinese-names-4-baby-girl

feel free to ask more qns =p

next, well since im a Singaporean , im not too sure of the "naming" situation in China..haha

well John is 约翰 yue1 han4 in Mandarin, it'll be different in other dialects (or more accurately topolects),

1) the sound "john" has no corresponding close sound in mandarin, thus resulting in it being seemingly "off" (although the sound "jiong" exists and it sounds rather close but transliteration of names don't work this way..hmmm i donno how to put it in words)

2) Since transliteration of names is based on the sound, and topolects have different pronunciation for the same characters, the outcome will be different.

im sorry that this is a bad (and VAGUE) reply, but i hope it would be of some help to you =p

cheers,

amego

[ioannis]

Ni hao amego

(well, thats my first chinese words!)

Thank you for the info.

well John is 约翰 yue1 han4 in Mandarin, it'll be different in other dialects (or more accurately topolects),

How can you people read these characters, I am amazed!

Well, "yue han" (sounds like Johann, the german version)

I don't know what the numbers 1 and 4 mean.

1) the sound "john" has no corresponding close sound in mandarin, thus resulting in it being seemingly "off" (although the sound "jiong" exists and it sounds rather close but transliteration of names don't work this way..hmmm i donno how to put it in words)

Actually, the greek version is Ioannis (ee-o-'an-is) or Yiannis (yan-is) which would be closer to chinese sounds

[hakkaboy]

The numbers 1 and 4 mean 1st tone (high level tone) and 4th tone (falling tone) respectively.

[ioannis]

I see. Thanks.

So, how many tones do you have?

Is there any site where I can see the characters (is there special name for them)?

It's a pity I cannot hear how you pronounce them.

Maybe you also know a site where I can hear the pronunciation of these characters?

thanks again

[amego]

ioannis! 很高兴能再见到你! hen3 gao1 xing4 neng2 zai4 kan4 ni3

很 very

高兴 happy

能 can

再 again

见到 "succeed in seeing"

你 you

so it becomes "very happy can again succeed in seeing you" = "(I'm) so glad to see you again!"

ok Mandarin has 5 tones (don worry too much dude)

1 high level

2 high rising

3 low rising falling

4 high falling

5 neutral (don worry about this 1st)

see these webbies for a feel

http://www.wku.edu/~shizhen.gao/Chinese101/pinyin/tones.htm

http://www.uiowa.edu/~linguist/faculty/beckman/lotw01/mantone.html

How can you people read these characters, I am amazed!

Well, "yue han" (sounds like Johann, the german version)

I don't know what the numbers 1 and 4 mean.

well each character represents an idea, a sound, learning them (about a few thousand to be able to read a newspaper) can be a challenge, or learn pinyin (like nihao is pinyin) which is a hell lot easier but you'll miss those cool and interesting characters

see here (go to the FAQ 1st =p )

http://zhongwen.com/

Actually, the greek version is Ioannis (ee-o-'an-is) or Yiannis (yan-is) which would be closer to chinese sounds

ic, maybe yue1 han4 is transliterated from there =p

Sometimes i feel that sometimes dialects play a part too (IMHO), like Swiss is 瑞士 rui4 shi4 (erm the rui sounds like rei, ray).

The Hokkien (a Chinese dialect(more accurately topolect)) pronunciation of 瑞 is "swee" and 士 is "si", so we have "sweesi" (pretty close huh), so in Mandarin the pronunciation becomes rui shi, cool.

再见! zai4 jian4 (again see = see you = cya = bye bye = bye)

[Sophia_Shang]

John also can be translated as '若望' in China, but it is some kind of old-fashioned.

[ioannis]

amego,

I found the sites you gave me helpful to understand the sounds.

thanks

sophia_shang

that's an interesting combination of a greek and chinese name

You know that "sophia" in Greek means wisdom.

So, my original question was actually, given a name like, for example "Li Gong".

How do you know if it is a male or a female?

(for Sophia no problem, but I don't think it is common for Chinese women to have Greek names )

[horas]

John also can be translated as '若望' in China, but it is some kind of old-fashioned.

*

Is 'John' transliterated in that way in the Chinese version of 'The New Testament Bible'?

PS

The original version of the New Testament is in Greek : -)

And 'philosophy' means 'love of sophia'

-

[Sophia_Shang]

Actually, there are a large quantity of Chinese names can be use by both genders, but there are still some names that should be used on females only, there are several simple ways to find them out:

a name with a character components（偏旁，部首）of 女(female), for example: 妙，妤，姬，娜，婧，嫣;

a name with a character about apperarences, for example: 美，丽(beautiful)，洁(pure);

a name about flowers, par exemple: 莉(jasmine)

so 'Mary' can be transliterated as "玛莉" (玛 is for a kind of jade; precious stone while 莉 for jasmine), but 'Mario' can just be translated as '玛利奥' or ' 玛力奥', '利' means 'beneficial' and 力 means 'power' or 'strength'.

Belive it or not, many parents in RURAL areas tend to name there male child a girl's name or a name for animals or ralated to animals(par exemple: 狗子(doggie) 狗剩(people are left by dogs, i.e even dogs don't want such kind of people) ) in the old times, and this kind of name can still be seen among the people in there 40s. Parents do this because they think this kind of name will make there male child 'easy to bring up'!

But, there's a tradition in China that people tend to love boys more than girls, so in the old times, parents who get a girl will be some kind of disappointed, and the will resort to give their girl a boy's name or such names like '若男'(similar to boys) and' 胜男'(better than boys) to satisfy themselves.

As to my name (well, it seems to be a little difficult for me to answer), Sophia of course is not my real name, it is just a nickname called among my friends and I also use it on the net, for I fancy the Philosophers in Greek a lot! Among them, I love Plato best. I read 'REPUBLICS' very often and other books, too!

Because of this, many friends of mine began to call me 'Sophia', they think I am quite weird to bury myself in philosophy books, and I love this name, too!

As to the question of 'are there many women in China have a greek name', the answer is 'yes' and 'no'. Of course we love to arm ourselves with greek names, but we just let it be our nicknames. The idea that to put a greek name on or ID card never occurs to us.

All the best

Sophia

[xiaocai]

'若男'(similar to boys) and' 胜男'(better than boys)

how about "招娣" or "焕娣"?

[amego]

'若男'(similar to boys) and' 胜男'(better than boys)

how about "招娣" or "焕娣"?

But, there's a tradition in China that people tend to love boys more than girls, so in the old times, parents who get a girl will be some kind of disappointed, and the will resort to give their girl a boy's name or such names like '若男'(similar to boys) and' 胜男'(better than boys) to satisfy themselves

haha i've heard of them before, my 姨妈 yi2 ma1(mum's elder sister) name is 引弟 yin3 di4 (to attract a brother) however she disliked the name and changed it to 燕娣 yan4 di4. Thats the olden 封建社会 feng1 jian4 she4 hui4 "feudal society", where males were deemed as more important 'cause they can carry on the family name, this is known as 重男轻女 zhong4 nan2 qing1 nü3 "lit: heavy boys light girls", illustrating the favoritism towards boys.

amego,

I found the sites you gave me helpful to understand the sounds.

thanks

谢谢你，不客气 xie4 xie4 ni3 bu2 ke4 qi4 (thanks, don't stand on ceremony)

So, my original question was actually, given a name like, for example "Li Gong".

How do you know if it is a male or a female?

Erm judging from "stereotype", it should be a boys name, sometimes you would need the actual characters to aid you. Names like Shuying are 99% girl haha...but certain names like Wei Li can be 伟力 wei3 li4 "great strength":guy , and 玮丽 wei3 li4 "precious beauty" :girl

cya ioannis! anyway what does you name means?

[ioannis]

cya ioannis! anyway what does you name means?

Nihao amego.

I am not really sure

There is a quick answer that the name comes from Hebrew and means "God's gracious gift".

Recent researchers think that the Greek alphabet is much older than we think, belonging to a civilization predating even the egyptian civilization. They think that the Greek letters have hidden an apocryphal meaning and there is a new code to explain the meaning of words that were created by the ancient language-makers.

I cannot go into details but the name Ioannis (ΙΩΑΝΝΗΣ) is made up of the letters:

Ι : force or energy continually coming down from above and energizing all things

Ω: the manifested space, which is material (e.g. the earthly space))

Α : the primal sunlight/ first Sound, Light, emanating from the Sun

Ν : Spirit (Nous) and Law (Nomos) in Heaven / Water (Nero) on Earth

Ν

Η : the double descent of irradiation, which becomes manifested (looks like double-helix)

Σ : manifestation and viewing of things inside an inner space (e.g. material body)

So, the endings -ΗΣ and -ΟΣ are very common for Greek names because they depict human beings, which are in essence souls (energy, force) manifesting in material bodies.

In short, according to this theory, Ioannis would mean (this is my arbitrary interpretation of the code):

"That energy manifestation into a human body (person) which is created by the continuous descent of force into the earthly space, from the primal Sun, and which enlightens the spirit and brings the law"

or "He who is enlightened from above" or something like that.

Again, it is a theory. I don't think anybody really knows.

Sorry if I confused you

Ioannis

[horas]

-

sophia:

But, there's a tradition in China that people tend to love boys more than girls

*

This is globally the case (boys wanted more than girls) because most societies in the world are 'patriarchies' (again from a Greek word: patriarkhia): descent/surnames are reckoned through the male line.

A Chinese family wants a son first (to carry their family surname further) - boys are nicknamed: Xiao Huang-di (Little Emperor)

NB

I found it is 约 翰 (Simplified Chinese) / 約 翰 (Traditional Chinese) - yue1 han4, for 'John' in the Chinese New Testament.

約 翰 福 音 - the Gospel according to John

http://www.biblegateway.com/versions/index.php?action=getVersionInfo&vid=80#booklist

-

[ioannis]

I found it is 约 翰 (Simplified Chinese) / 約 翰 (Traditional Chinese) - yue1 han4, for 'John' in the Chinese New Testament.

So, there. It sounds very much like the German version, Johann.

And I have found my name in Chinese, 約 翰

By the way, the female version in Greek would be Ioanna (約 翰 a ?). So, one can at least distinguish the gender of names by the ending.

約 翰

[amego]

"That energy manifestation into a human body (person) which is created by the continuous descent of force into the earthly space, from the primal Sun, and which enlightens the spirit and brings the law"

or "He who is enlightened from above" or something like that.

Again, it is a theory. I don't think anybody really knows.

Sorry if I confused you

wow such a short name can have such profound and long meaning...cool...hmmm needa apologise dude cya!

[LiYuanXi]

John also can be translated as '若望' in China, but it is some kind of old-fashioned.

I have not heard a translation for John as 若望 before but I kind of like the name. It sounds nice!

[amego]

Well it kinda sounds nostalgic to me, sounds like "if you are hoping".