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HelpRe: Picking a Chinese name
in reply to a message by Fiammetta
I like Fu Lan "happiness orchid" best. But IIWY, I'd ask a Chinese speaker, if I could get one who'd be honest with me.
I think I would not want to pick something too unique ... I'd want to use a name that had some precedent as a girl's name, and didn't seem made up and foreign to my Chinese acquaintances (I'd worry that it might be comical without me realizing it). That'd be more important to me than approximating the sound of my real name.
- mirfak
I think I would not want to pick something too unique ... I'd want to use a name that had some precedent as a girl's name, and didn't seem made up and foreign to my Chinese acquaintances (I'd worry that it might be comical without me realizing it). That'd be more important to me than approximating the sound of my real name.
- mirfak
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Well, the thing is, technically all Chinese names are "made up" since you can pick any word you want as your child name. Lan as Orchid at least as a history of usage as a girl's name. When Chinese people choose English names for themselves, the results are sometimes, well, surprising. Some are normal enough names, but I've come across "Apple", "Albus" (as in Dumbledore), "Shoulder". Stuff that wouldn't really pass in an English speaking country. And one of my American colleagues' Chinese name translates as "Orange" (it started as a joke and then stuck).
So it's pretty much a free-for-all. It's not immensely important since I don't do business in Chinese and won't really be using it in any official capacity.
So it's pretty much a free-for-all. It's not immensely important since I don't do business in Chinese and won't really be using it in any official capacity.
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