Part answer
in reply to a message by CN
Yes, it's common for Chinese to also have an "English name" as they call it. No, foreigners in China usually don't take on a Chinese name (probably because they don't communicate in Chinese anyway).
I've asked Chinese people about what their names means and sometimes I did get back "Nothing, it's just my name", but the way I got it so far, is that separate characters may have a meaning but together they don't necessarily have a meaning, like normal words that are a combination of of two characters do have a special meaning in that combination.
I've asked Chinese people about what their names means and sometimes I did get back "Nothing, it's just my name", but the way I got it so far, is that separate characters may have a meaning but together they don't necessarily have a meaning, like normal words that are a combination of of two characters do have a special meaning in that combination.