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ArchivesRe: ATTN: Rene
in reply to a message by X Mar
No, and I would say the situation is pretty desperate :) This is also the reason why I started my own page with Japanese names. It does not yet list as many names as BtN, but I go forward one name at a time, like e.g. today with Takeo:
http://www.aboutnames.ch/japanese.htm
Beside BtN, the following page has also a fair number of names and is trustworthy because the people behind it specialize in Japanese names:
http://www.japanese-name-translation.com/site/japanese_baby_names.html
Now, about Chinese. It took me a while before I understood it but now I am pretty sure: There can't be a list of Chinese given names in the sense of, say, a list of English names, because the Chinese traditionally coin a new name for every child! Of course some names are "copied" or coined again and again, and so BtN can give a list of Chinese names, that I also believe to be accurate, but I think you will never arrive at a list of Chinese given names that will cover a sizeable portion of all people's names.
But while this feels certainly "strange" and "difficult" for people from the West you have to take into account that there are generally no problems with the meanings of Chinese names: As soon as you see them written, it is of course clear what they mean. They mean what the characters mean that are used to write them.
That's one of the fascinating aspects of the Chinese script: Basically you can't write something that does not mean something.
Rene www.AboutNames.ch
http://www.aboutnames.ch/japanese.htm
Beside BtN, the following page has also a fair number of names and is trustworthy because the people behind it specialize in Japanese names:
http://www.japanese-name-translation.com/site/japanese_baby_names.html
Now, about Chinese. It took me a while before I understood it but now I am pretty sure: There can't be a list of Chinese given names in the sense of, say, a list of English names, because the Chinese traditionally coin a new name for every child! Of course some names are "copied" or coined again and again, and so BtN can give a list of Chinese names, that I also believe to be accurate, but I think you will never arrive at a list of Chinese given names that will cover a sizeable portion of all people's names.
But while this feels certainly "strange" and "difficult" for people from the West you have to take into account that there are generally no problems with the meanings of Chinese names: As soon as you see them written, it is of course clear what they mean. They mean what the characters mean that are used to write them.
That's one of the fascinating aspects of the Chinese script: Basically you can't write something that does not mean something.
Rene www.AboutNames.ch
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