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Chinese name

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Template:ChineseText Personal names in Chinese culture follow a number of conventions different from those of personal names in Western cultures. Most noticeably, a Chinese name is written with the family name (surname or last name) first and the given name next, therefore "John Smith" as a Chinese name would be "Smith John". For instance, the basketball player who is commonly called Yao Ming would be addressed as "Mr. Yao", not "Mr. Ming".

Some Chinese people who emigrate to, or do business with, Western countries sometimes adopt a Westernized name by simply reversing the "surname–given-name" order to "given-name–surname" ("Ming Yao", to follow the previous example), or with a Western first name together with their surname, which is then written in the usual Western order with the surname last ("Fred Yao"). Other Chinese people sometimes take a combined name, consisting of Western first name, surname, and Chinese given name, in that order ("Fred Yao Ming"), mostly in Hong Kong, or in the order of Western first name, Chinese given name, and surname ("Fred Ming Yao").

Traditional naming schemes often followed a pattern of using generation names as part of a two-character given name; however, this is less used today, especially in Mainland China, where many given names use only one character. However, it is still the norm among the Chinese populations of Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

When generation names are used as part of a two-character given name, it is highly inappropriate and confusing to refer to someone by the first part of their given name only which will generally be their generation name. Instead, the entire given name should be used. This should be the case regardless of whether the surname is used. For instance, referring to Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as Hsien or Hsien Lee would be confusing as this could just as easily refer to his brother. However, this does commonly occur in Western societies where the first part of the given name is frequently mistakenly used as the first name when the given name is not hypenated or adjoined.

In addition to the given name, many Chinese have various kinds of nicknames (see Alternative name).

Family names

Main article: Chinese surname

The Chinese name system is the original pattern of names in Eastern Asia. In fact, all countries in Eastern Asia have followed the Chinese name system. Today, there are over 700 different Chinese family names, but as few as twenty cover a majority of Chinese people. The variety in Chinese names therefore depends greatly on given names rather than family names. The great majority of Chinese family names have only one character, but there are a few with two; see Chinese compound surname for more information.

Chinese family names are written first, something which often causes confusion among those from cultures where the family name usually comes last. Thus, the family name of Mao Zedong is Mao (毛), and his given name is Zedong (traditional: 澤東, simplified: 泽东).

Married Chinese women, in modern times, usually retain their maiden names as their family name, rather than the adopted name of their husband — this is almost universal in the People's Republic of China (PRC) — and children usually inherit the father's family name. Historically, it was considered taboo to marry someone with the same family name — even if there is no direct relationship between those concerned--though in recent decades this has no longer been frowned upon.

Given names

Main article: Chinese given name

Generally speaking, Chinese given names have one or two characters, and are written after the family name. When a baby is born, parents often give him or her a "milk name" or "little name," such as Little Treasure (小寶/ 小宝) or two characters that repeat (明明). The given name is then usually chosen later and is often chosen with consultation of the grandparents. In China, parents have a month before having to register the child. The parents may continue to use the nickname.

With a limited repertoire of family names, Chinese depend on using given names to introduce variety in naming. Almost any character with any meaning can be used. However, it is not considered appropriate to name a child after a famous figure and highly offensive after an older member among the family or even distant relatives.

Given names resonant of qualities which are perceived to be either masculine or feminine are frequently given, with males being linked with strength and firmness, and females with beauty and flowers. Females sometimes have names which repeat a character, for example Xiuxiu (秀秀) or Lili (麗麗, 丽丽). This is less common in males, although Yo-Yo Ma (馬友友 Mǎ Yǒuyǒu, 马友友) is a well-known exception.

In some families, one of the two characters in the personal name is shared by all members of a generation and these generational names are worked out long in advance, historically in a poem listing the names. Also, siblings' names are frequently related, for example, a boy may be named pine (松, considered masculine) while his sister may be named plum (梅, considered feminine), both being primary elements of the traditional Chinese system of naturally symbolizing moral imperatives.

Chinese personal names also may reflect periods of history. For example, many Chinese born during the Cultural Revolution have "revolutionary names" such as strong country (強國, 强国) or eastern wind (東風, 东风). In Taiwan, it used to be common to incorporate one of the four characters of the name "Republic of China" (中華民國) into masculine names.

A recent trend has swept through greater China to let fortune tellers change people's names years after they have been given. These fortune tellers claim that the name leads to a better future in the child according to principles such as Five elements (五行 wǔ xíng).


Romanization

In mainland China, Han names are romanized in pinyin, usually without tone marks. Chinese from Mainland China are generally recognizable from the "x", "zh" and "q" that exist in Hanyu Pinyin orthography.

In Taiwan, the vast majority of Taiwanese today romanize their names in Mandarin pronunciation using Wades-Giles or a similar system, which can be easily distinguished from the Hanyu Pinyin used for romanization in Mainland China and Singapore by the lack of the use of "q", "zh", and "x" and the inclusion of hyphens. Unlike Mainland China, romanization of names in Taiwan is not standardized and one can often find idiosyncratic variants such as Lee or Soong, and others.

Chinese in southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macau, and other old diaspora communitites are likely to romanize in their own dialect, such as "吳" becomes Ng in languages such as Cantonese, while the same character would be Wu in Mandarin. In particular, Cantonese, Min Nan, Hakka are prevalent. Although not a Chinese dialect, ethnic Chinese in Vietnam romanize their names in Vietnamese pronunciation using quoc ngu, making them almost indistinguishable from Vietnamese names. In Singapore, individuals, or their parents, are free to choose to romanize their Chinese names in Mandarin, in any Chinese dialect, or in any other form as deemed fit. In general, however, the romanized name in dialect and in Mandarin (in pinyin) are both depicted on the person's NRIC, unless the bearer chooses to drop either of them. In Macau, Chinese names are usually transliterated based on Portuguese orthography.

Alternative names

Nicknames are usually an alteration of the given name, sometimes based on the person's physical attributes, speaking style or even their first word. A nickname may consist of the diminutive ā (阿) or xiăo (小), followed by part of the given name (usually the last character or occasionally the surname -- but see Forms of address, below). The ā (阿) diminutive is more commonly found in the southern regions of China than in the north, where xiăo (小) is more common. Nicknames are rarely used in formal or semi-formal settings. One exception to this is Chen Shui-bian, who is commonly known as A-bian (阿扁) even by himself and in newspaper articles.

In former times, it was common for educated males to acquire courtesy names. The two most common forms were a zì (字), given upon reaching maturity, and a hào (simplified Chinese: 号; traditional Chinese: 號), usually self-selected and often somewhat whimsical. Although this tradition has lapsed, authors' use of pen names is still a common phenomenon. For more information, see Chinese style name.

For prominent people, posthumous names (simplified Chinese: 谥号; traditional Chinese: 諡號; pinyin: shìhào) have often been given, although this is uncommon now. Sun Yat-sen was given the posthumous name of Guófù (simplified Chinese: 国父; traditional Chinese: 國父, Father of the Nation), the name by which he is most frequently known in Taiwan. Emperors were also ascribed temple names (simplified Chinese: 庙号; traditional Chinese: 廟號; pinyin: miàohào), and in certain situations, an Era name as well.

Forms of address

Within families, adults are rarely referred to by their given names. Rather, the relationship is stressed, so each member is known by this connection. Thus, there is big sister, second sister, third sister and so on. These connections i are also distinguished by what side of the family they are on. Generally speaking though, the family title is only used when the relative being called is older than caller. It is considered highly inappropriate and sometimes extremely offensive if a person from a younger generation calls someone from an older generation by his/her given name. Younger relatives are normally only called by their relational title in formal situations. Children can be called by their given name, or their parents may use their nickname.

When speaking of non-family social acquaintances, people are generally referred to by a title, for example Mother Li (simplified Chinese: 李妈妈; traditional Chinese: 李媽媽; pinyin: lĭ māma) or Mrs. Zhu (朱太太, pinyin: zhū tàitai). Personal names are used when referring to adult friends or to children, although, unlike in the west, referring to somebody by their full name (including surname) is common even among friends, especially if the person's full name is only two syllables. It is common to refer to a person as lăo (老, old) or xiăo (小, young) followed by their family name, thus Lăo Wáng (老王) or Xiăo Zhāng (小張, 小张). Xiăo is also frequently used as a diminutive, when it is typically paired with the second or only character in a person's name, rather than the surname. Note that because old people are well respected in Chinese society, lăo (old) does not carry disrespect, offense or any negative implications even if it's used to refer to an older woman. Despite this, it is advisable for non-Chinese to avoid calling a person xiăo-something or lăo-something unless they are so-called by other Chinese people and it is clear that the appellation is acceptable and widely used. Otherwise, the use of the person's full name, or alternatively, their surname followed by xiānshēng (Chinese: 先生, mister) or nǚshì (Chinese: 女士, madam) is relatively neutral and unlikely to cause offence.

Should the person being addressed be the head of a company (or simply the middle manager of another company to whom you would like to give face), one might equally address them by affixing zŏng (simplified Chinese: 总; traditional Chinese: 總) to their surname, as in Lĭ zŏng (simplified Chinese: 李总; traditional Chinese: 李總), or, if they are slightly lower down on the corporate food-chain but nonetheless a manager, by affixing jīnglĭ (simplified Chinese: 经理; traditional Chinese: 經理, manager). How people address each other is of incredible importance in Chinese culture, and can reflect a good deal about the relationship between two people, especially in corporate settings.

See also

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