Don't want a goofy chinese name

[billiardsmike]

Anyone care to assist? I really don't want a goofy chinese name, but haven't picked one out yet. Last name is Blomgren, first - Mike. Last is shortened version of Swedish for flower child. I don't tell people that back home! I've got to register tomorrow and I don't want to be the butt of a joke from some clerk - you folks either.

[skylee]

Both "flower" and "child" are surnames in Chinese, 花 (hua1) and 童 (tong2) respectively. Alternatively you might consider taking the first syllable of your surname, such as 布 (bu4 / cloth) or 步 (bu4 / step).

Mike is commonly transliterated to 邁克 (mai4 ke4) / 邁可 (mai4 ke3).

步邁可 (Bu4 Mai4 Ke3) gives me the impression of a person taking big steps forward.

[billiardsmike]

BuMaiKe Not bad - has possibilities. Anyone else?

[Long Zhiren]

China requires transliterations for Western family names, for any names?

Does the family name Blomgren exist for any notable historical or geographical names? We could look it up in a Chinese text book and see if it's already been done somewhere.

By the way, in the Chinese translation of the Bible, Michael is transliterated as 米 迦 (mi3 jia1).

Thank goodness you don't already have a Chinese surname like 龍 (me) with 16+ strokes. When you're starting from scratch to learn Chinese, the instructors will start laughing at your situation out of pity...having to start off with such a difficult character, almost like the Polish kids with twenty letters in their names.

[xus-swede]

Mike, I'm Swedish and I'm sort of wondering where you got the word child from? The word gren is in my world translated into branch, or to be more specific, treebranch. But you where saying it was a shortened version of what?

[billiardsmike]

Maybe I was lied to by a Swedish au pair I met years ago. Name was originally Bloomgren, but it was shortened 100 yrs. ago to sound more American.

[Xiao Kui]

Puff, I mean Mr Dragon, I mean Long Zhi Ren ,

I don't see how you can complain abt your family name being too long to write, when you can just as easily use the simplified character 龙， though admittedly, it's not as pretty as the traditional one. No whining please!

[xus-swede]

She sure did. Blomgren is a quite common surname in Sweden and it sure doesn't mean flower child. And as far as I know, "bloom" is in no way a Swedish word either so somebody sure has fooled you good here.. It means, directly translated, flowerbranch. A better translation is probably possible if you change the word branch to something more appropriate since I've never heard of a flowerbranch.

[Long Zhiren]

when you can just as easily use the simplified character 龙

I've got a dumb question now. In mainland China where people like to use simplified script, is it common to write one's name using simplified script?

[skylee]

In mainland China where people like to use simplified script, is it common to write one's name using simplified script?

It is, to the extent of adopting a wrong simplified version. Take a look -> http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/6558-the-surname-%e8%95%ad%e8%90%a7-xiao1

[billiardsmike]

Thanks xus!

[Qcash3]

All my friends just changed their Chinese names to cool sounding names, like 马龙 and 强虎. These names have absolutely nothing to do with their English names. Mine on the other hand is supposed to be a transliteration 卫汀..... Check this name out, 劢克路, Mai4Ke4Lu4. Strive to overcome the journey. Please let me know if my translation is way off... I tend to do that sometimes .

[billiardsmike]

I knew I should have posted this thread earlier. With all of the rush to register (with a couple of problems) I forgot to take my list of names. Advisor assigned me one, supposedly based on my middle name. I've heard it's a little difficult to get BLCU to change names later, so I hope it works out well. I'll look for input next Friday. Thanks for the help!

[Jake Perry]

About.com seems to be rather flippant about the whole thing

they will 'make up' a chinese name based on your english surname.

http://chineseculture.about.com/library/name/family/blfn.htm

is there a link to an official chinese goverment database

of previously established hanzi for english surnames?

[mr.stinky]

you could do like the master himself, who chose the simplest characters: da shan.

i, being unable to learn the language, will be using 'chou doufu.' at least

they'll remember me.

[cui ruide]

I kinda like having my own Chinese name that doesn't seem to be a direct transliteration of my real name, though I think it's rooted in it. My last name starts with a 'C' (thuse Cui), and my first name (though I go by my middle name it appears on all rosters, of course): Richard. The Chinese people I've met seem to like it or think it's a good name (though one didn't think it sounded like a real Chinese name), probably because it's pretty interesting/funny to pronounce.

崔瑞德 Cui1 Rui4de2 = Ruide roughly means "lucky virtue"

[carlo]

I like 杜克风 for Chris Doyle (the HK DoP). As to Chinese names, I've always thought that if the Qing imperial family name was 爱新觉罗 I can live with a goofy transliteration of my own 'foreign' name.

[heifeng]

I've gone through 2 Chinese names not based on my real name, but then felt like I don't need to use a Chinese name anymore since I'm not Chinese anyway so why have to take a Chinese name? Plus my English name seemed easier for everyone to say (oddly enough, my Chinese and Korean friends don't have too much of an issue with pronouncing it, so only teachers ended up using my Chinese name) Then I just started using characters to just represent the syllables in my English name only to discover Chinese people actually use this exact name. Then I started changing the second character to make it a bit less common and occasionally adding a forth syllable. However, people still end up abbreviating my name Chinese style by calling me 老~ , 小~, or ~姐 which will throw me off and cause a nice time delayed response until I figure out they are talking to me....

[skylee]

I like 杜克风 for Chris Doyle (the HK DoP).

It's 杜可風.

[Ragge]

I agree with xus-swede. Gren means branch, not child. Child in Sweedish is barn or unga.

How about my name - any suggestions for what I can use as a Chinese name? My first name means "the one who gives advice in time of war" and my last name means lit. "south home".