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Archivestranslating a Chinese name's meaning into English
I have a Chinese female student who wants to find an English name with the same meaning as her Chinese name. Her Chinese name is Zhang Mei, and it means; flower-something pleasant-beautiful-strong willed. I'm sure I won't be able to find one name with all of these meanings but I'd like to get close. Anybody know how I can do this without looking up the meaning for every female English name?
Thanks, Tim
Thanks, Tim
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Li means strength, and is of Chinese origin with a similar meaning to her original Mei.
Does she want to sound as though her name is in English? Name is so closely associated with identity, I wonder if she'd prefer--or want to think about--keeping her ethnicity as part of her name? Or her name, Mei?
If she does want a name in the "language," english, Li on its own both works, sounds nice, and is certainly short enough to add to -- Lia, Liann, Lisanne .... or use with a combination from some of the other suggestions presented -- Flora, etc.
Does she want to sound as though her name is in English? Name is so closely associated with identity, I wonder if she'd prefer--or want to think about--keeping her ethnicity as part of her name? Or her name, Mei?
If she does want a name in the "language," english, Li on its own both works, sounds nice, and is certainly short enough to add to -- Lia, Liann, Lisanne .... or use with a combination from some of the other suggestions presented -- Flora, etc.
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First of all...
where on earth did you get all those meanings? I'm assuming that her given name is the character
, which does mean beautiful. But it doesn't have anything to do with flowers or "strong willed". Those may be meanings she'd like in an English name, but they aren't related to the Chinese name.
I suggest Bella or Anwen for names that mean "beautiful." Alternatively, she could just use May...it's a very pretty name, and is somewhat related to flowers both because of "mayflowers" (hawthorne flowers) and the saying, "April showers bring May flowers." And while it can be fun to pick a completely different name, it's certainly easier to have a name that resembles the original name in pronunciation.
Off topic...are you teaching English in China? I lived in Shanghai last year.
~ Caitlín
Edited to add some more info.
?????????????? ~ Elspeth, Merry, Tomás, Kip, Ælfwine, Adán, Marit, Bran, Ester, Andrew, Isobel, Jeromiah Andrea, Annit Elisabetta, Josue Alejandro
where on earth did you get all those meanings? I'm assuming that her given name is the character
, which does mean beautiful. But it doesn't have anything to do with flowers or "strong willed". Those may be meanings she'd like in an English name, but they aren't related to the Chinese name.I suggest Bella or Anwen for names that mean "beautiful." Alternatively, she could just use May...it's a very pretty name, and is somewhat related to flowers both because of "mayflowers" (hawthorne flowers) and the saying, "April showers bring May flowers." And while it can be fun to pick a completely different name, it's certainly easier to have a name that resembles the original name in pronunciation.
Off topic...are you teaching English in China? I lived in Shanghai last year.
~ Caitlín
Edited to add some more info.
?????????????? ~ Elspeth, Merry, Tomás, Kip, Ælfwine, Adán, Marit, Bran, Ester, Andrew, Isobel, Jeromiah Andrea, Annit Elisabetta, Josue Alejandro
This message was edited 3/28/2005, 7:18 PM
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If you go to the homepage, there is a search feature (pretty obvious), and under it, you can click "search for names by meaning", and then just insert the meaning, and you will get some names that have that meaning.
Here are some names
Flower: Flora, Fleur
Pleasant: Naomi
Beautiful: Bella, Callista
Strong Willed: I can't find any names with this meaning.
Florabella is a combination of Flora and Bella, so perhaps Naomi Florabella would be a suitable name.
Here are some names
Flower: Flora, Fleur
Pleasant: Naomi
Beautiful: Bella, Callista
Strong Willed: I can't find any names with this meaning.
Florabella is a combination of Flora and Bella, so perhaps Naomi Florabella would be a suitable name.
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