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130 comments by Valerie & Ellen on Thursday, December 10, 2009

MYNAMEIS-ben

The English names that some Chinese people choose are very strange. Many foreigners say I have a strange name too. This is just another interesting side of China and Chinese people that Valerie Blanco and Ellen Feberwee have written about in their new 176-page book titled “In China, My name is…“. Below is a guest post by Valerie and Ellen introducing the connection between name and identity for Chinese people, how some Chinese people chose their names, and why they wrote a book about it. — Fauna

MYNAMEIS-appleThe English names of Chinese people in China. You have them in all sorts, from the common to the extraordinary. Candy, Jessie Potter, Apple, Cindy, Mint, Shining, Jack and Morning…just to name a few we came across. We lived in Shanghai for a couple of years and became curious about the background of these names. Why are Chinese adopting English names and how do they choose them? Our curiosity resulted in the book “In China, My name is…”.

More than thirty years ago, it was unimaginable in China to express your identity let stand have an English name. Everybody had the same identity; wearing the same MAO suit was one way to show that. The opening up policy has already had a great impact on society and culture, and our book “In China, My name is…” shows just that. We asked a simple question: “Do you have an English name?” But behind this question lay many answers and insights ranging from China’s past to its future. This fascinated us, so we decided to hit the streets to see whether our analysis was right. We did our research in Shanghai. We spoke with Chinese from different provinces and “social layers”; poor street workers, visitors off the Millionaire fair, religious monks, students and so on. Shanghai is a melting pot, attracting people from all over China. This gave us the chance to provide a broad perspective on this subject.

MYNAMEIS-jessie potterWhat were our main insights? Chinese adopt an English name for: easier communication, showing off social status and to secure the personal destiny. Because of the fast developments in the country, more and more Chinese have contact with foreigners. Here is where cultural differences really play a role. As Chinese is very difficult to pronounce for foreigners, a word in Chinese can have a different meaning when it is pronounced incorrectly. “Horse” becomes “marijuana” or “to ask something” becomes “kissing” for example. Maybe hilarious for foreigners but for locals this can be embarrassing.

Name giving is really important in China; it has a connection with your destiny according to the Chinese. Your destiny has to have a positive outcome, right? So it better be pronounced correctly! During our research we often spoke to a Bill or Billy wanting to become as famous and successful as Bill Clinton or Bill Gates. We also saw that Chinese choose an English name to show off their status. To have an English name shows you probably went to university, have contact with foreigners or work at a prestigious foreign company. For some people, the English name was just a way to communicate in an easier way so the meaning of the name had no high importance, as long as it sounds good and is easy to remember. For others, the meaning of the name was as important as their Chinese counterpart, making the way they choose it and its meaning more significant, fitting character and often future ambitions.

INCHINA-frontpage

Interested to see how these young generations in the big developing cities are expressing their identities? We’ve included seven of the over 200 Chinese people featured in our book, with their explanations of their English names: Anita, Apple, Ben, Charlie, Jessie Potter, Joy, and Merry. To see more, look for our book online, in a local bookstore, or visit our website, chinese-identity.com, for more information.

Want to win a free copy of our book? We’re giving away three copies!

We want to hear your experiences with names in China! So with the help of Fauna and chinaSMACK, we’re having a small contest where you can win one of three free copies of our book. Just leave a comment below answering one of the following questions:

  • Are you Chinese and have an English name? What is your English name? Why did you choose it and how?
  • Are you a foreigner and have a Chinese name? What is your Chinese name? How did you come up with your Chinese name?
  • Or, have you seen or heard of any other interesting English names for Chinese people in China and how they chose them?

Let us know and tell us your story. We will pick the best 3 stories and ship you a free copy of our book, “In China, my name is…”

Notes:

  1. You may submit multiple entries. Each entry must be of a different story.
  2. Contest submissions must be posted by the end of Sunday 2009 December 20.
  3. The three stories chosen by Valerie and Ellen to win a free copy of “In China, My Name Is…” will be announced on Monday 2009 December 21 Tuesday 2009 December 22.
  4. You must input your real email address in your contest submission. It will not be published but it is needed to contact you if you are a winner to arrange shipping the book to you. Shipping of the contest prize books will be handled by Valerie and Ellen, and their publisher Mark Batty Publisher. All unclaimed books will be fed to an alpaca.

No story to share? Won’t win? Just want to buy the book?

Purchase the “In China, My name is…” directly in many local bookstores (ex. Garden Books in Shanghai and Beijing), online via Amazon, or through our book’s official website.

“In China, My name is…” is a 176-page hardcover book that includes over 200 Chinese people and their English names along with full-color high-quality photos.

ValerieEllen

Ask Valerie and Ellen A Question!

Since we (that’s us above) will be reading everyone’s stories and choosing winners, we’ll also be here to answer any questions you may have about our book, ourselves, and our experiences in China and with Chinese people. Just tell us what you think or want to know in the comments below and we’ll do our best to respond!

2009 December 14 UPDATE: Valerie and Ellen answer some questions on CNNGo. — Fauna

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122 Comments

  1. Sara
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 3:34 pm

    first,my name is sara, because I love Michael of Prison Break.

    Reply
  2. Will
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 3:57 pm

    I’m English, and my name is William. My Chinese girlfriend said that the closest sounding thing you can say in Chinese is 胃联, which means ‘Stomach Link’, or ‘Stomach Alliance’ – which doesn’t actually mean anything really. I’ve always kinda liked the sound of it though, the idea of stomachs having alliances sounds fun to me.

    If I had a real Chinese name I think it would be 文, because that is quite a normal-ish name, but it means writing/culture – and writing is certainly my thing. However, the idea of choosing a name seems strange to me, I feel that if I pick a nice name – is that not arrogant of me? Perhaps this is only a Western psychological hangup, I am not sure. So I will only adopt a Chinese name for real, if someone I know gives it to me. That way it is more significant I feel.

    My girlfriend doesn’t have an English name, even though she is a banana (said with great affection).
    他叫洲，洲的英文是 ‘Continent’. 他也姓周！ So her name is Zhou Zhou! I find this quite amusing, people who she has to deal with find it perplexing, and she bears it with great grace. Most people say her name ‘Zo’, like ‘Zoe’ – even her parents pronounce it like that.

    I think Apple is a really nice name, with lots of nice connotations in English oral tradition, like ‘Apple of my eye’, and fruit being nice, and ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away’.

    I also like Fauna as a name! Not just so I win the book! In addition to it’s dictionary definition as the animals that usually live in a place (which is an interesting concept for a name) it sounds like ‘fawn’, which is a baby deer (cuteness), and also means to seek affection.

    Reply
  3. Zac
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 4:05 pm

    I’m an American student majoring in Chinese. My Chinese name is 何建宏 and was given to me during my first week of classes by one of my professors. They gave us a paper with our Chinese name, pinyin, and meaning, so I had a lot of fun telling my friends that my name meant “erect”.

    I’m into my third year of studying Chinese now and just got back from a six-month study-abroad stint in Beijing, where we were more or less forbidden from speaking English. By now, “建宏” is almost as recognizable as “Zac”to me, and the strange thing is how those two names seem to be the things that divide my Chinese-speaking and English-speaking life.

    Reply
  4. tailsome
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 4:08 pm

    my english name is merlin, because it sounds like \meŋtʃi:n\, which is my chinese name.

    Reply
  5. mauro
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 4:49 pm

    my favorite english name of a chinese guy that i met so far was “weeny”.

    Reply
    • jiangcheng
      Friday, December 11, 2009 at 9:28 am

      i still have to go with my old IT guy ‘Battery”

      The funny thing is after you say it like 500 times it loses all meaning and just becomes his name. I hadnt seen him in a few years and just ran into him at a party last week and was searching my mind for his name: “Transistor, Uplink, Warehouse – no BATTERY!”

      He taught me to curse in Chinese and was one of the laziest, yet well paid, people ive ever known. Godspeed Battery.

      [Im 江成 － My real name is Jonathan - so it kinda has a phonetic link - also I liked being named after 江泽民 :] – Though still not as cool as “Battery”

      Reply
  6. Capn
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 4:50 pm

    My name is Mitch, I’m a westerner. I still don’t have a Chinese name, even after many years of looking. I want to find a name with a meaning that suits me. My wife’s surname is 萧, which I use, but I can’t for the life of me think of a 合适的名字。 Phonetic variants of my western name are so lame! When I talk with Chinese people, I say people call me 企鹅 (penguin). Boy, I get some strange looks with that one! But I met a Chinese girl with the English name of “Dairy”, and her name has got to be as odd as mine. I guess she couldn’t choose between “Daisy” and “Mary” :-)

    Reply
  7. 250
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 4:51 pm

    As I’m in a position where people often ask me to give them English names, I’ve come to quite enjoy it. I try to keep them themed. One group of people I may give superhero aliases, another maybe name them after famous dictators (benito is my favourite), or perhaps serial killers. You’re only limited by your imagination.
    Much fun can be had by all.

    Reply
    • Alikese
      Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 3:29 am

      Very true, I was an elementary school English teacher for two years and I probably gave away 200 English names. When you have so many students it makes it easier to remember and more fun to shy away from Bob and Mary and use your imagination. I had a Cheech, and the Beav, Paco, Rocco, Chipper, Sparky, Bessy, Bertha, and Luigi.

      I forgot how dumb most of the names I gave out were, so when I gave my show lesson there were 50+ people watching me as I shouted out “Cheech! What do you think? Beav, how about you?” All the foreign teachers were laughing and the Chinese English teachers had no idea what was going on.

      My Chinese name is 巴永勇. We used to go to a bar pretty often and the owner was pretty well-traveled, (and his English name was Sugar Daddy so I knew he could pick names) so I asked him to give me a Chinese name, he said I looked brave and gave me 永勇, I chose Ba because it’s the first sound of my family name.

      Reply
  8. Glen
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 5:06 pm

    I’m an American and my Chinese name is 杨坤. Two of my very good friends in China gave me this name. We sat down and made different lists. I wanted to know the meaning of each name, before we decided. Of course, Chinese people ALWAYS laugh when they hear my name. “Like the singer?!” Sometimes they want me to sing a song for them. I like my name very much! And I like the original Yang Kun, too!

    Reply
  9. PUSAN PLAYA
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 5:32 pm

    Hello authors, I am a Korean and I cannot reveal my English name because many people on this site wish to silence me and the Chinese have this thing called “Human flesh search” that I am afraid of.

    I did however meet a Chinaman who went by “Wolfgang Hapsburg Li” on his business card, he probably asked a Westerner to choose him a name that sounded wealthy and powerful and got more than he bargained for.

    Reply
  10. xiao
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 5:42 pm

    i’m a cantonese born in the 80s, and my parents named me “Jane”. it’s not as trendy as my chinese name 画时 (draw time) and probably sounds like a grandma’s name (like granny jane, auntie jane). but i’m slowly loving it as i grow up. people has given me lots of nicknames and i realise names with just one syllabus is not boring at all. because of my shortness, i always get a 小(small) in front of my nickanmes. the funniest one i got is 小Jan(賤) – little miss cheap/worthless.

    weird names i’ve heard? a guy in China named himself Billboard – because he wants to coincide with his job in the outdoor media industry. classic~

    Reply
  11. aclcla
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 5:58 pm

    I am an American who is currently a teaching language in China. I’m called 羊子言。When I was 15 I was an exchange student in Taiwan in a Taiwanese high school, so I wanted a Chinese name to fit in to the culture a little more.
    My last name in English is Lamb. Originally I was given the last name 杨 because it sounded like 羊. Later I decided just to use 羊 because it is more true to my real name, even though it is a strange last name to have in China!
    I am named 子言 mainly because my host sister at the time saw it in a book and thought it sounded good and would be easy for me to write.
    When telling people my name I often say 孔子的子，语言的言. I like my name because although it was picked almost randomly, I feel it has a lot to do with my character and future, since language and learning has long since been a part of my life and hopefully my future!

    Reply
  12. Linda
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 6:07 pm

    I’m an Australian.. who studies chinese, i have came across some weird “english names” made from chinese people.. such as “Hitler” this girl named her self Hitler because she had no bloody clue who Hitler was it just sounded “nice to her”.. and another girl calling her self Lesbian.. because it sounded similar to her Chinese name…

    Reply
  13. Ben
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 6:50 pm

    My first Chinese teacher gave me the name 李安柏 which sounds vaguely like my English name when it’s written surname first. It kind of suits me because I’m quiet like 安静 and tall like a 柏树.

    I used to teach English in Chengdu and so became quite familiar with the weird names students liked to choose for themselves. The one I remember most was a guy who chose the name ‘Mud’. So yes, he would say ‘My name is Mud’.

    He later changed his name to ‘Clay’ which was a lot better. Don’t know why he liked this earthy theme though…

    Reply
  14. FOARP
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 7:00 pm

    English names, I’ve never liked them and never will like them. They have always smacked of colonialism to me, here in Japan nobody I know has one, even the ones who have spent large parts of their lives living in English-speaking countries. I had to choose a Chinese name to use in my Chinese classes, but I rarely use it unless the people I speak to have difficulty pronouncing my real name.

    Reply
  15. Maneesh (Mr Ma)
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 7:33 pm

    In Chinese mythologhy im a horse as to DOB , A friend suggested to keep Mr Ma Fu Dong as it stands for horse Money Strength, intresting

    Friends name is Ch’ari but in Indian means Foolish, HHaha

    Uncle in chinese its susu but in Indonesian it means MILK,its a funny world around

    Reply
  16. fabian
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 8:01 pm

    hey. im fabi, i’m from germany.
    2 years ago me and a friend spent some 3 weeks holidays in shanghai.
    in nanjing road we met some nice chinese ART STUDENTS who wanted to show us their gallery…
    so those two young german guys were happy to meet some nice chinese and came with them to some shop in the ‘shanghai landmark’. my friend actually bought some painting.
    next day he saw exactly the same painting for like 30% of the price he paid somewhere else. that made him quite angry and he decided to go back to that shop and complain a little.
    while he was arguing with some of the ‘students’ i took a video and had a little chat with another one of them who asked me if ive got a chinese name. i hadnt. so i thought something like ‘long dong’ would be quite funny.
    finally i ended up with 冬毅.

    lol

    btw, my friend managed to get some EUROs and another smaller painting from those guys of the shop as a result of tough negotiations.
    i guess the video can still be found on youtube if you enter the search term ‘aggro shanghai’.

    Reply
  17. Wurlymonster
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 8:16 pm

    Some of my favourite Chinese students’ English names -

    Water, Polo (2 different students), Shelf, Superman, Harry Potter, Proby, Rabbit, Promotion

    All genuine and I’ve heard those stories about Hitler etc that go around in English teaching circles

    Reply
  18. Matthew Jacobs
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 8:42 pm

    My Chinese name is 马泰 (Ma Tai)
    mostly because 马太 (also Ma Tai) is the name of Matthew in the chinese bible.
    But I decided having 太(same as 太太, “tai tai” meaning “wife”) wasn’t so good.

    Therefore I chose the character 泰 (the same as 泰国 Taiguo, Thailand, where “泰” means peaceful)

    I guess that kind of means my name is “peaceful horse”

    Reply
    • CnInDC
      Monday, December 14, 2009 at 12:05 am

      In case you’re in NE China your name can be easily linked to 埋汰 which means dirty. If you’re not the name will still sound funny to one from that region.

      Reply
  19. GAC
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 9:37 pm

    I have a few stories to tell:

    First, myself: My own Chinese name is a bit boring, 柯乔治. 柯 is a phonetic stand-in for my English surname “Corley”, and 乔治 is of course the standard transliteration of “George”, my own given name.

    For a long time I’ve been asking Chinese friends to help me find a “real” Chinese name, but the closest I’ve got is with the ladies at the front desk of my Chinese dorm have started calling me 饺子 (I’m studying at Zhejiang University, so with their southern accents the pronunciation is very similar). I have also thought to drop the surname, since there are so few Chinese surnames and I have no connection to a 柯 family (or any Chinese relatives) anywhere, but not until I find a given name that isn’t so likely to be another white boy’s name (George is pretty common).

    “Bad Girl”: I once met a girl in Suzhou whose English name was “Vilion” pronounced as “villan”. Not knowing the spelling at the time me and my friends explained to her the meaning of the word “villan”, at which point she insisted that we find her another name. Essentially she had the opposite problem as I had — rather than translating a very common Chinese name to English, she just made something up out of thin air — something that doesn’t happen all that often in English-speaking cultures as far as I know. It wasn’t until a year later that she settled on my suggestion: “Donna”, which somewhat fits the sounds of her Chinese given name, 冬梅.

    At that I was somewhat reluctant to help my friend with her name. “Vilion” was “cute”, and I really didn’t see why she needed an English name, since her Chinese name is not so difficult for anglophones to pronounce. But I think ultimately it should be up to the person who wears the name, she wanted an English name that didn’t sound like it meant “bad guy”, I want a Chinese name that actually has some interesting meaning rather than just a transliteration of my real name. To each their own.

    One last anecdote: My (older) brother was recently engaged to a Taiwanese girl, so of course he needs a Chinese name now. Of course, when I asked, it seems his future in-laws have already made that happen. My brother’s given name is Burr, not a very common English name, and at some point someone confused it with the word “bird”, so he is now refered to by his fiancé’s family as “that little bird”. I don’t know if they’ve actually considered giving him a Chinese name, but for now, when I introduce him to my Chinese friends, I shall call him 小鸟.

    Reply
  20. mechanized
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 10:24 pm

    Shouldn’t it be non-chinese name instead of English name? I mean you get people who give themselves French, Japanese etc. names……???

    hmm name is Will, and I’m an ABC, so I do have a Chinese name but that’s given to me by my parents it’s not a transliteration of will or something my friends gave me.

    I’ve encountered quite a few interesting names since I’ve been in China but here is my favorite one: I was on vacation down in Shanghai and one shopping center there was a booth for a “Will’s Gym”. I went up there to get a picture taken next to it, when I saw that the guy manning the booth’s name tag and it read “Fine”. So I walked up to tell him that my name was “Will” and I asked him so you’re “fine?” and he was like Yes I know.

    Encountered, several einstein’s, elvis, radium, fish…. and plethora more.

    I dont think the people necessarily are getting names because it makes it easier for foreigners to pronounce or remember or whatever, it could just be a creative self expression.

    Reply
  21. kailing Fan
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 10:54 pm

    My Chinese name is 范凯令， and it sounds close to my original name. It was given to me by a taiwanese friend who only has daughters… so he chose it with fatherly care. He told me 范是范仲淹的范。凯是凯旋的凯。令是命令的令。I liked a lot its meaning, the writing (water, mountain, grass。。。）and my taiwanese friends say that it’s a nice one. Nowadays, as long as I am in China, or abroad but with Chinese people, my name, and the one I like to be used to address me is kailing 凯令.

    Reply
  22. Nancy
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 11:16 pm

    My name is Nancy, I’m an ABC and I’m pretty sure my parents named me after Nancy Reagan (who happened to be First Lady when I was born). The only other Nancys that I’ve met who were under the age of 40 are also immigrants’ kids born around then too. They gave me a lovely Chinese name, but the only people who ever use it are my Chinese professors and one particular white friend who’s totally got a thing for Asians. I’m not sure why they don’t use the name my parents gave me but all my Chinese relatives call me 南希 (that is, nan3 xi1). Still, “southern hope”? I rather like it…

    Reply
  23. 痴人说梦
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 11:17 pm

    I am asked by people in China for English names all the time; it’s mostly for their kids. In the beginning I would come up with simply names like “Mia” and such, something they could easily pronounce. After awhile, I got the impression that they actually like longer and more complicated names because they sound more exotic and western. Once a couple rejected the name “Eli” for their son because it sounds exactly like 依赖(dependent)in Chinese. I’ve met a girl who named herself “Syphilis” because it sounds oh so nice!

    Reply
  24. The Lizard King
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 11:22 pm

    i couldnt stop laughing in a girls face after she told me her english name was POLKA!
    all i could think of was chubby people doing the oompa-loompa dance…
    POLKA!?
    hi, my name is The Lizard King
    HI! my name is POLKA!
    wtf?!
    also a girl called wisdom!
    oh, really?!
    WISDOM!?
    well i am THE DIAMOND SUTRA!
    who’s clever now?!
    chinese…stick with the wang or cheng or whatever…
    how the hell do they just decide to give themselves a name?
    jesus! what a vain nation…
    ‘apple. because i wear green and i blush!’
    that girl isnt even cute enough to get away with this nonsense!
    wtf!?
    gimme a break! you are wei wei or su fei or whatever, and thats it!
    my chinese name?
    wtf?!
    i got my own name, you learn it, and you pronounce it, as it is.
    i do the same for you.
    i dont believe in that ‘laowai cant pronounce my name so i make an english one for me!
    BEAUTY! or PRINCESS!’
    vain, shallow b.s.
    chinese name?
    what is wrong with you guys?
    why would you rape your given name (im guessing meant something to your family)
    just to fit in with a stupid chinese trend…
    fuck that
    most western names keep a family thing going like your grandparents or great grandparents
    or whatever.
    you are not BIG MOUNTAIN or LOVE CHINA or BLUE STONE or YELLOW MONKEY!
    you call me what everyone else around the whole world calls me.
    i call you ANYTHING but POLKA!
    rant over.
    :D

    Reply
    • The Lizard King
      Friday, December 11, 2009 at 4:31 am

      also,
      DEAR GAAAAAAAAAAAWD!!! JESSIE POTTER!!!
      “because i like harry potter so i am named after him” !!!

      does the book come with directions to this guy’s place?
      i would love to slap the silly out of that face.
      “i have many foreign friends so it is convenient!”
      man, i could kick that face with a ski-booth on, for like a month, before i start getting tired!
      holding a china daily in his hands…CLAAAAAAAAAAASSY!
      god, give me strength!!!
      “it’s hard to say if i have any kind of connection with him”
      it’s hard to say if you got any connection with the real world, wizard master!

      that’s it! im pulling the trigger tonight!
      no reason to stick around no more…ive witness the end days…

      Reply
  25. Yan Xishan
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 11:31 pm

    The Chinese word for horse sounds like the word for hemp, not marijuana. Subtle but important distinction, just ask any stoner.

    And while I am too lazy to actually write a book about it, choosing stupid names is an international phenomenon, not just limited to Chinese people. For any laowai choosing a Chinese name, please see:

    http://yanxishan.wordpress.com/2008/08/03/how-not-to-pick-your-chinese-name/

    Reply
  26. ST
    Friday, December 11, 2009 at 1:03 am

    My first name is Stuart. It was easier for my mother-in-law to call me “Stu” so a young Chinese nephew heard this and started calling me 死兔子… fortunately this did not stick.

    My last name literally means Tall Hill and I am extremely tall (2 meters) so my Chinese name is 高山 (which inevitably gets my spoken Chinese compared very unfavorably to 大山’s). My wife, from Hangzhou (hey all you Zhejiangers!), takes great delight in calling me 高大山 which apparently sounds rather “countryside” to her. I use a Chinese name in Chinese classes and with Chinese who prefer it that way but most Chinese I am close with call me “Stu” or “Stuart”.

    My wife does not have an English name (even though she is a graduate of Beijing Foreign Language Institute’s English department and is a Professor of Communication in the U.S.) and I like it that way as I prefer to use normal Chinese names for Chinese people and usually am not comfortable usnig the western names Chinese choose (though it’s their choice, I call them what they like).

    Reply
  27. Rev Matt
    Friday, December 11, 2009 at 1:49 am

    I’m American and while I don’t have a Chinese name my daughters do. My youngest is 苹果, related to the source of her English name; my middle (adopted from China) is 月, which relates both to her English name and when we first met her in person; My eldest is 世界, because it is what her English name derives from and after the long infertility struggle we had to conceive her once she finally arrived she meant (and still means) the world to us.

    Reply
  28. 小強
    Friday, December 11, 2009 at 2:56 am

    When I taught in Taiwan I always told my kids my Chinese name was 天才 with a deadpan expression. Hey, if you’re under 9 years old, that kind of stuff is hilarious.

    My actual Chinese name is 黑冠綸, or 黑先生. Although some Chinese speakers laugh at that due to the negative connotations of the characater 黑, it’s not a joke name (those transliterated names, e.g. 馬克 for Mark, seem just as utterly ridiculous to me as Chinese/Taiwanese giving themselves English ‘names’ like Lolita, Chocolate or a particular favourite, Ulysses). 黑 is my family name and it’s a really cool looking character too. 冠綸 was a student of mine who I loved to bits. He was lazy, naughty, unpopular with his peers, and occasionally whiny (he was like a Taiwanese Cartman), but he was absolutely hilarious. Being funny was more important to him than being academic and that was so refreshing in Asia in my opinion. He was the first kid who I really had a great connection with, who could reduce me to tears of laughter with just a look, so he bears some responsibility for me deciding to become a teacher for the rest of my life, even though he’ll never know that. My Chinese name is a little homage to him.

    PS: GAC – not sure about in China, but you do know 小鳥 is a common euphemism for a certain part of the male anatomy? Not sure I’d appreciate being called that in any language…

    Reply
  29. 超煎饼人
    Friday, December 11, 2009 at 3:23 am

    Neil: Off topic a bit, but I had to get a Hanko when I lived in Japan. I was helped by a guy in the town office and he suggested I got the characters “弐ー流” which seems to me like a posh way of saying 二流. I lost it and replaced it with ニール (all pronounced niru).

    A Chinese friend suggested I call myself “鸟” but being a lazy speaker, it sounds to me too much like “尿”…

    I think you are best to pick your own name, or go for one that is tried and tested.

    Kind regards,
    超煎饼人

    Reply
  30. Valerie & Ellen
    Friday, December 11, 2009 at 4:02 am

    Thanks everyone for your interest in this topic and in our book. So far, we already have read many interesting explanations of names and good stories about experiences with names in China. Curious to know what’s going to be posted in the next couple of days.

    In our research we noticed there are so many reasons why Chinese choose an English name. “Mechanized Will” you are right…it should actually be “non-chinese names”. But anyway, some think it is fashionable, some use it for easier communications etc. What do you think about the fact that some people use it to influence their destiny? Love to hear your reactions on that!

    Cheers,
    Ellen and Valerie

    Reply
  31. kodabar
    Friday, December 11, 2009 at 5:02 am

    My Chinese name is: 義约翰 – Yì Yāo hàn. My surname is Justice so my Taiwanese wife and I chose Yì, meaning justice or righteousness, to allow me two characters for Yāo hàn as an approximation of Jon. Thus Jon Justice becomes Yì Yāo hàn. My wife particularly likes this combination as a slightly different pronunciation (Yāo hăn) can mean “shouting” or “yelling” so I become “Shouting Justice”. Although I much prefer changing it to Yáo to get “handsome”, but she knows best…

    My wife’s name is Shu Fen which is a somewhat old-fashioned name and she has named herself in English as Francis because it sounds a little like Fen. Note that she has chosen the male spelling (Francis rather than Frances) because “it looks better”. Francis has turned out to be an excellent choice as my mother’s first name is Frances.

    Amongst my friends, my wife’s name is pronounced “Show Fen” rather than “Shoe Fin”. We wanted to be able to use her real name rather than her English one, but the “shoe” part has a descending and then rising tone and the “fin” part has a high tone and it’s too difficult for most British people to get right. At the time that I met my wife, she had a Korean girl as her flatmate. Joo (the Korean in question) was unable to regularly pronounce my wife’s name correctly and so we took “Show Fan” from her mispronunciation. Given that Shu Fen means “elegant lady with a delicate perfume”, we felt that an “elegant lady” would most likely hide her face behind a fan and thus only “show [the] fan”.

    Reply
  32. Michelle
    Friday, December 11, 2009 at 5:47 am

    My name is Michelle.
    I was born in Beijing and moved to the States when I was five years old.
    My parents gave me the name Michelle because at the time, Michelle Kwan was the most famous Asian-American that we knew of. Also, my Chinese name also begins with a M.

    Reply
  33. Jason
    Friday, December 11, 2009 at 9:20 am

    One of my american friend Ben got his second chinese name “李建宏” by the master in Lama Temple! Because he dislike his first name which is homophonous with “笨”.

    Reply
  34. Maxime
    Friday, December 11, 2009 at 11:02 am

    My real name is Maxime, or Max for short. My Chinese teacher gave me the name 白克思. When I asked him what: does 克思 stands for? He said: “the most important person of course, Carl Marx”. I though that was hilarious so I simply replaced the name he gave for Marx’s real Chinese name, 马克思. Not only does it sound like my name but also it’s a great conversation starter. Whenever I meet someone in China, they laugh when I tell them my name and then I usually get a lecture on the great achievements of Marx and communism in general. Funny and educational at the same time.

    Reply
    • Capn
      Friday, December 11, 2009 at 11:32 am

      In that situation, the good thing about your talking partner’s predictable response is that you can use it as a “known text” to calibrate against their accent. :-)

      Reply
  35. Melissa
    Friday, December 11, 2009 at 11:58 am

    I’m an American grad. student studying contemporary Chinese folklore and pop culture (poplore), so I speak to a lot of people in the prime consumption ages of the tweens to early 30s. I’ve met people whose English names run the gamut from Kevin (a girl) to Romeo Zulu-Juliet (a guy). Surprisingly my favorite name comes from a supremely nice businessman in his late 40s. He’s very successful, professional and uses the name “007″ — like James Bond. But it’s not James Bond, it’s “double-oh seven”. It makes me giggle every time I talk to him. Which is one of the reasons he uses it. He chose the name because he loves, LOVES, the Bond movies, and kept it because it’s unusual and silly and he says it makes him stand out from other people using run of the mill names like Sam or Edward. And it’s really, ridiculously fun to call someone that.

    Reply
  36. Anghelos
    Friday, December 11, 2009 at 12:41 pm

    My name is actually Greek, and literally means angel. So when I first started learning Chinese, I went by 天使 (which also means angel). After a year being called by that name, I was told (quite embarrassingly) that it was a woman’s name, indicating a certain beauty, at that. So I asked my professor for a new one, and it resulted to 顾安国，顾 and 安国 being phonetic translations of my surname and first name, respectively. I now tend to present myself as 安国, as it feels better, although Chinese people keep hearing it as “韩国”(Korea) as 韩 is a surname and 安 isn’t.
    I’ve heard some interesting English names, such as Sunny, Scarlet, and a French one, “Sauvage”(which means “wild” in a kind of a bad way..).

    Reply
  37. Terry
    Friday, December 11, 2009 at 3:18 pm

    In one of my classes I have a Zebra, an Octopus, and a Timber. Last weekend a girl told me her Chinese name, then said, “You can call me Chubby.” I didn’t.

    Reply
  38. Megumi Terui
    Friday, December 11, 2009 at 4:59 pm

    Well, my Chinese name is a no-brainer, a direct translation from Megumi (Japanese name, I’m Mexican though) to Chinese: 惠美. Apparently everybody likes it, and it doesnt’ sound ‘too’ foreigner (except, for course, for those who know some Japanese).
    But anyway, I have a friend that used to be an English teacher, and he had the weirdest names in his classroom. Besides the usual “Happy”, “Tiger” or “Eagle”, he had a couple of students that were friends since a long time ago and managed to made it to college together. Their English names? Vitamin and Protein! And yes, they did know what it means!

    Reply
  39. PLEASE DON'T REN ROU ME
    Friday, December 11, 2009 at 6:18 pm

    As English majors, we are required to have an English name each so it will be easier for the teachers to call the roll, and also to create an English-speaking atmosphere. In the first year, one of my classmates picked “Funny” as her name: for someone who is not familiar with the language, if “fun” means things that are enjoyable then “funny” naturally means enjoyable. It is until the second semester that she realized this, or probably just someone told her that. And she secretly changed “u” into “a”. Now it’s been two years, and her English name is still Fanny.

    Reply
  40. Matthew
    Friday, December 11, 2009 at 6:30 pm

    On my first day in Shanghai I was approached by two Chinese ladies while I was walking on the Bund. Of course they wanted to take me to a teashop and then take lots of money from me for a pot of China’s most expensive tea. But I took something from them – my Chinese name 马修 (sounds like Matthew),　and have kept it ever since.

    Next time I get mugged I’ll have to remember to ask for some stock tips.

    Reply
  41. Di
    Friday, December 11, 2009 at 7:22 pm

    I’m a Chinese. And I first had my English name as Castor, which is supposed to mean the brightest star in Gemini, during which I was born. I intentionally ignored the other meanings when the word is not written in capital, a kind of animal, a kind of plant seed, and the kind of oil it produces. And I felt good about it until one day I met a real American who laughed, gently, to my relief, at my name, saying it sounded like a kind of food he ate for breakfast. And suddenly, all the aura that once surrounded the name vanished, left only with a word that looks like the dictator in Cuba, difficult to pronounce and get, and implying things ranging from animals to plants to snacks but the star I would like people to think of. So I quickly abandoned it and used the pinyin of my Chinese given name as my English name, since I begin to feel that the “English names” do not fit me quite well after all.

    Reply
  42. Valerie & Ellen
    Friday, December 11, 2009 at 9:37 pm

    Join “In China, my name is…” on facebook!

    Kind regards, Lili & Ailun…yep, we have Chinese names as well. More on that soon…

    Have a good weekend!

    Reply
  43. grenache
    Friday, December 11, 2009 at 11:57 pm

    School I was Director at had a 1000 kids, so in a couple of years came across quite a few interesting names. The “best” ones:
    God (about 4 of them), The Devil, Computer and Bacteria.

    A couple of times I “advised” staff to change their names. Bothe Windy and Lemon were totally unaware of the connotations there names had to some native English speakers.

    At the start of each term, whole classes of 7-year-olds had to be named, so teachers used special strategies. One class took on the names of the Manchester United team at the time (plus the bench) and another class was named after the characters from the UK soap opera “East Enders”.

    Reply
  44. Norman
    Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 2:03 am

    My original Chinese name, given by my first 老师 in America, was 浩洛汶，hao4luo4wen4. Hao matches the first syllable of my last name, and luowen approximates my English name, Norman. I was quite proud of this name because of the water radicals, as I am a recreational triathlete and open-water swimmer. I would explain this when any Chinese person would inevitably comment on my name, “一点儿奇怪….”

    Many years later, during a semester studying in China, we had a short lesson on Chinese names, and I learned that the three water-radicals made my name 一点儿难看, and the three fourth-tone characters made my name 一点儿难听.

    The 老师 advised me to change 汶 wen4 to 文 wen2。I resisted this because, as I said, I had invested part of my identity into the name. However, at this point being a “China hand” was also part of my identity, and (forgive me) hearing a woman say “Luo4wen2″ sounded sexier than hearing her say “Luo4wen4″ or “Luo4wen0.” So I reluctantly changed my name.

    Later, an older Chinese woman commented, “你的名字特别好－－我以为你是中国人！

    –洛文，AKA Norman

    Reply
  45. JD
    Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 3:58 am

    I’m an American business owner & educator with a Chinese name that I love: 杜哲森. My first Chinese teacher at Bei Da gave me this name because, in addition to approximating my English surname, I originally came to China to study classical poetry, hence my sharing a Chinese surname with 杜甫 (Du Fu). She then gave me 哲 (哲学: Philosophy) because I too am a writer with a philosophical slant, & 森 (森林: forest) because I come from deep, dark Appalachia. Now, this name is also part of the brand for my company which teaches creative writing and college prep skills to Chinese students applying to American Ivy League-caliber universities.

    However, I can’t resist listing two of my favorite student English names of all time. Five years ago I taught an advanced poetry writing workshop at the top high school in Shenzhen, & had the pleasure of teaching two brilliantly snarky young men named, respectively, “The Age of Steam” & “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.” Neither of these students, who both spoke fluent English, would respond unless I called them by their “names.” I’ll take sarcastic kids like that over one named “Rainy” any day. Fortunately, the latter student eventually let me shorten his name to “Dec.”

    Reply
  46. Magnus
    Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 4:33 am

    WOW! This book looks great. I want a copy! You inspired me to look back at some of the records I have of old students of mine from China…
    Here’s 2o that I remember:

    1. Destiny – She sat in the front row. A little girl. It felt so strange to think that “Destiny sat in the front row.”

    2. Gnitsy – This guy is super cool. He created his own name. As he explained, “It’s STING backwards.” Never mind about the “Y”. His English was impeccable and he had the confidence to have a bizarre name. I think when he entered into the working world he changed it back to STING.

    3. Glacier – Slow moving? No. Cold? Nope. Beautiful and fun, Glacier was a student who was always pleasant and inquisitive. She was convinced it was a beautiful name. We told her before she went abroad to Australia that she should change her name since people will not understand. But she’ll always be “a big chunk of ice” to me.

    4. Dreaming – I think her name explains so much about her. Not a depressing type who was always dreaming of something more, but bubbly, dynamic and lots of fun. The only problem is is that you would say her name from time to time in conversations that are not about her. “Last night I was dreaming…” or “What? You are dreaming!!!” Kind of weird.

    5. Diablo – This guy was a big fan of some computer game. I asked if he knew the real meaning. Yes, I know, he said. It means “DEVIL.” Yes, I know what devil means. He seemed ok with that. I never had a student named GOD though.

    6. Chieftan – Another computer game inspired name. Although he became a chieftan in my mind, he then changed his name as he began to work. Now he is Barney which is not much better. I keep thinking of a big purple dinosaur chief of a tribe of purple dinosaurs. Weird.

    7. Celery – This girl was classic since her explanation was that simply, “I like celery.” Enough said.

    8. Tomato – Sticking with the salad theme, Tomato liked the red color and the taste. Again, enough said.

    9. Talk! – A young guy who was naturally shy. So he specifically chose this name to motivate himself to do something… can you guess?

    10. Raila – Another student who made up her name. Her beauty contrasted with her name. Yet the contrast helped me to remember her name in some strange way.

    11. Limpia – Friend of Raila, Limpia enjoyed Spanish and wanted to learn it. Unfortunately I forgot all the Spanish I learned so I couldn’t help her, but I did know that the verb “limpiar” had something to do with cleanliness.

    12. Hans – This guy was one of a kind. Smart. Daring. Never embarrassed. He was a constant fixture in English corner. When I asked about how he got his name he calmly said, “My Chinese name is Han Han, so my English name is Hans.” Naturally.

    13. Freedy – A wonderful young lady from the country side living in the big city and giving everyone a run for their money. She would tell us stories upon stories about how she grew up in the countryside fascinating everyone at English corner. At first the name meant nothing to me. After a few years knowing her, Freedy means my good friend.

    14. Eric Floyd – One of my best friends in all of the Middle Kingdom. All five years living in China we were able to keep up with each other via communication or by visiting each other. He is a big fan of all things Western when it comes to music. That should get you thinking. His favorite artist is Eric Clapton and favorite band is Pink Floyd. Voila!

    15. George Oliver Alexander – Another full English name friend that I had in China. This kid was really really smart. He went on to university in Nanjing and I’m sure his future is very bright. Perhaps he couldn’t choose one name and then someone told him about how Western people have middle names.

    16. Matthew Trevelyn Knight – A friend of George Oliver Alexander. Equally intelligent and stunning English. I taught him in Middle school and therefore never was able to tell him about Knight Rider. The Trevelyn part I’m not sure about but I’m sure he had some good explanation.

    17. King – This was a simple translation from a common family name in Chinese. But King didn’t really match the regal personality and attitude of a king. We taught King and his class baseball during the Autumn and he was less than coordinated when it came to sports. King somehow just didn’t fit.

    18. Alpha – Never had an Omega but the name Alpha seemed to fit since she was the class monitor. When she spoke the class listened. When she wanted to argue in English, I listened.

    19. Yo Yo – This was inspired I think by some Japanese influence. It had nothing to do with the toy but that is the only image in my mind when I called on her during class.

    20. Sunny – This was the perfect name for this young student. She was ALWAYS smiling. Ear to ear. If her name was anything else it wouldn’t fit. She was sunny. She was bright. She was a breath of fresh air.

    Reply
  47. austin
    Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 8:35 am

    My chinese name, 穆昊廷， was given to me in first year Chinese by a teacher. It sounds reasonably like my actual name and I like all the characters well enough, so I’ve kept it (even though it can take a while to write, 16 strokes in the surname alone!)

    We were practicing “spelling” our names verbally (“南“ 是 南京的南, etc) and I asked my teacher what some words were that included mine; he just chuckled and told me to describe the characters instead because there weren’t any easily recognizable words with the characters. (I always get compliments on the flow and elegance of my Chinese name, but I don’t think a one of them would want it XD)

    Reply
  48. ImmortalTechnique
    Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 11:58 am

    my name is immortal technique cuz i keeps it fresh liek dat

    Reply
  49. drewwang
    Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 12:03 pm

    My favorite English names I have heard would have to be Rolls Royce and Fashion. Fashion (a guy) and I became friends and he took me to his family farm, where we met his dad, Old Fashion.

    Reply
  50. MathieuM
    Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 1:59 pm

    My Chinese name was given by a very good Chinese friend, it is 马泰隆 (Matailong) because I live in Shanghai and when pronounced in Shanghai dialect, it sounds like my actual surname “Montelon”.

    Unfortunately:

    1: When Chinese people receive my contact information they assume that “Montelon” is thus my firstname and thus, they write me emails starting with “Dear Montelon” instead of “Dear Mathieu”.

    2: My Chinese firstname “泰隆“ sounds very much like “泰龙“ and many people joke about the fact that my name sounds a lot like “史泰龙“, the Chinese name of Silverster Stallone!

    Thanksfully, my department at the office has three other persons, all of them are Chinese, they are called: Crystal, Coral and Sky.

    Reply
  51. Stefan
    Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 2:01 pm

    The story about my Chinese name start summer 2007, when I decided to visit China (Shanghai) for the first time. Previously I had only been on vacation in Hong Kong a couple of times, but this time I was going to work as an intern for my MBA studies in a local Chinese company.
    My Swedish name is Stefan, eqivalent to the english Steven, but before I left i had help of a local friend of a friend to get a chinese name, 谢庭风 (or Xie Ting Feng in mandarin). I used this on my business cards during the visit with mixed results – people i met seemed a bit surprised, some asked if that was my chinese name etc and I did not feel very comfortable with it (It seems its same pronouncation as a HK Artist, a bit ridiculous for a 45-year old swedish man:)).
    When I later on my home in Hong Kong visited another local friend here – she commented it was not a really good name for me so I asked her if she had a better suggestion. Later o I got mail from her. She had asked one of her cousins on the mainland which was very well versed in chinese language and also studying chinese astrology. He had taken my birth info to an astrology master and used for basis of my new name, 施宇軒 (Mandarin: ShiYuXuan or cantonese SiYuHin) Which I have been using for 2 years now with very good receprion from the chinese i meet, both i china and Hong Kong. The first time i used it in mail with the Shangahai company i had visited i got response fomr the owner that I had changed to a very good name . she had even showed it to several in the staff! It seems that the meaning itself comes from some old proverb or saying and implies (at lest for some) good educatiom from good family, gentleman, desicive. (Im sure I might get other comments too about it here..) Its a bit amazing to me to get a name from a person that never met me that actually i feel as comfortable with as my old Swedish name. I have studied alot, and I respect traditions…

    (One year later I actually moved to Hong Kong and have been using this name – I now eveb react if i hear someone use it in a sentence – even if my cantonese is more or less non-existent)

    Reply
  52. David
    Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 2:03 pm

    My wife’s name is Shuang. Back in China she chose the English name “Shirley”. But only old women have that name in the West now, so soon after coming to the US (we now live in Australia) she dropped it. Most people don’t have too much trouble with pronouncing it roughly as “Shwang”. This English name thing is a bit odd. Few of the Chinese born people I know here or knew in the US use English names. OTOH of our grad students in the US was called Xueqi. The administrative staff just called her “that other Chinese grad student” even after I told them how to roughly pronounce the name…

    Reply
  53. David
    Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 2:11 pm

    Sorry for the duplicate – my obvious choice is DaWei which is how “David” is transliterated in Chinese bibles. But I tend to go by the name of Xiong Xiansheng among my wife’s relatives and friends :) (yes, Mr Bear).

    Reply
  54. Ryan
    Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 4:22 pm

    By far, no contest the best two English names I have heard were Pastrami and Lancelot.

    Pastrami greeted me with a 3 kuai bottle of Yanjing and said “My name is Pastrami. Like the meat. I named myself Pastrami because I think it will get the girls.”

    And it worked.

    Lancelot was a hardworking coworker who chose the name because he thought it would turn him to royalty. I don’t know where you are Sir Lanelot, but may your reign be supreme.

    I currently study Mandarin quite intensely and plan on moving back to China. How would even begin to pick a Chinese name?

    Reply
  55. Promo
    Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 6:05 pm

    My Chinese name is 朴素(SImple)。。。I know it’s not so popular but it was randomly chosen by my Chinese Teacher ,a few years past. I asked her to give me a simple Chinese name, so i guess she thought i meant, a name that means “Simple”. That was how i got this name…and it really got known among my friends in China.

    Reply
  56. buzaihu
    Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 6:19 pm

    This kid who was working with my language program, one of the funniest and energetic chinese kids i’ve ever met, decided to name himself after a real bad ass dude. Somebody of pure, ass kicking stature. Of course, he chose Schwarzenegger. Come on, who wouldn’t?

    The only problem was that he couldn’t quite pronounce “schwarzenegger”, so it always came out a little jumbled. When I was introduced to him, he said to me “Hello! My name is shortu nigger”. After trying to tell him a few times that it’s probably not the best name to use, I realized that he was actually trying to say the gubernator’s name, and laughed for about five minutes straight for feeling like a racist.

    Eventually, he got bored of schwarzenegger and went for michael scofield because, like Sara on this post, he loves Prison Break. rad.

    Reply
  57. 湖爍䰾蹈
    Sunday, December 13, 2009 at 5:35 am

    I am an American student who has studied Chinese for several years and had the chance to go to China for two months last summer. When I first started studying the language, my teacher (rather lazily) told the class that those among us who wanted Chinese names to visit a particular website that provides a random name based on your English name. I wrote down a list of the names it presented and the teacher chose this one: 蘇兆明 (Su Zhaoming). It doesn’t seem to be the common last name and I don’t think I’ve ever met another student of Chinese that has chosen that last name. It is however connected with two idols of refinement: the city of Suzhou and the poet Su Dongpo. I really haven’t gotten much feedback on the name other than one time I was complimented on it, so I guess it isn’t too bad of a choice.

    Reply
  58. a guy
    Sunday, December 13, 2009 at 11:07 am

    Here are some examples from over the years:
    Had a student named “Sunshine” who was constantly mopy, frowning, and all around just plain miserable. I always wanted to tell her to change her name to “Overcast”.

    Recently a co-worker had two students sitting next to each other, one of which had the English name Adam, so she named the other Apple.

    I had a student who wanted to change his name to Killer. He seemed really excited about it, and when I nixed it, he immediately said “Ok, Ryan”. Two pretty extremely different choices there.

    Destiny changing – one student named himself LeBron, believing it would help him become a better basketball player. One girl came to our school with the name Cinderella, thinking it would help her achieve a fairy-tale ending to her life.

    Other names I’ve encountered: Bubble (a boy), Jingle, Eleven, Lincoln, Yo-Yo, Pinky Ella (I never did find out the story behind this one), Even (matched her temperment).

    Reply
  59. maxiewawa
    Sunday, December 13, 2009 at 6:11 pm

    I knew a guy called “Warming”. It sounded like his Chinese name.

    Another guy I knew was called “Earth”. He had a friend called “Skye” (it’s not an uncommon English name) but he thought that “Earth” was more manly.

    Reply
  60. CnInDC
    Monday, December 14, 2009 at 12:23 am

    The Hong Kong band “Beyond” was (and maybe still is) called 比昂得 by Shanghai Radio stations. I didn’t see anything funny until one day a classmate from northern China murmured B养的 while listening to the radio.

    Reply
  61. ashley
    Monday, December 14, 2009 at 4:15 pm

    I met a Chinese guy called himself Goblin.
    On a slightly different tack, many years ago , when I lived in London, I knew an ethnic Chinese guy who worked for a very unpleasant woman who was a super size bitch. She imported stuff from China. Having used agents for many years, she decided to cut out the middle man and import directly, herself.
    She asked my buddy to give her a Chinese name to put on her name card. So her first trip to China, she was giving out name cards which said her name was – Big Fat Whore.
    My buddy lost his job when she got back home, but it was worth it.

    Reply
  62. Valerie & Ellen
    Monday, December 14, 2009 at 5:12 pm

    Hello there,

    Hope you all had a good weekend! On this side of the world everything is well. And again, thanks for all the great stories being posted.

    Just before the weekend we mentioned we have Chinese names as well:

    Ellen Feberwee: sometimes I used my Chinese name Fan Ai Lun. My Chinese teacher in The Netherlands made it up for me. Fan stand for my last name. Ai stands for love and lun for human relationship. Ailun is a bit similar to my Dutch name. I didn’t use it often because Chinese were able to pronounce my Dutch name.

    Valerie Blanco: my Chinese name is Bai Lily and means white lily. Bai stands for my last name Blanco, which means white, just like my last name. Lily is a typical Chinese name but this is also my nickname since I was young. So I actually created this name by myself. However, I checked it with some Chinese friends to make sure it has no strange meaning. I never had an experience like one of the readers “Ashley” mentioned so I guess the name is good ☺.

    Keep the stories coming!

    Cheers,
    Ellen and Valerie

    Reply
  63. hudongqing
    Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 6:30 am

    I’m an Australian (anglo) and my first Chinese name was given to me when I arrived in China: 马得明. 马 is actually pronounced the same as my family name in English, which is an anglicisation of the way its said in Irish, and I quite like the meaning of the given name I got, because I used to study ethics and morality. All the teachers and old people loved this name and always said, “好名字” but all the people my age would laugh and tell me it was too old fashioned. So I made a new one:
    胡冬清.

    This name I chose myself. My mother’s maiden name is a homonym for the english word for 东清树 and I’m kind of an environmentalist, so I like being named after a tree. But I preferred the meaning of 冬清, which is short for 冬天清晨 – it gives the impression of a sharp winter’s morning, with mist hovering around the base of trees in the forest. But I couldn’t keep the same family name, because 马冬清 sounds like the Chinese for “going shopping” or “buying things”, which I really don’t like the sound of. So I used my ex-girlfriends name, 胡. This was perfect because it adds to the meaning of my name both a lake, so now the scene is like the 山水 artwork, and also the sound of someone playing 二胡, which is my favorite sound.

    Reply
  64. UnclePu
    Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 10:01 am

    A few of the more unusual names I came across: Freedom, Marx, Hitler, Fairly, Platina (she meant Platinum), Hymen (I doubt she kept that name after learning the meaning).

    Reply
  65. monkay
    Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 11:44 am

    I was at a party with some Chinese friends…some French students came in and introduced themselves. One girl had the unfortunate name of Sabine and the drunk Chinese guy shaking her hand, startled, said 设么。。。傻B?

    Reply
  66. Joel
    Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 11:56 am

    * Are you a foreigner and have a Chinese name? What is your Chinese name? How did you come up with your Chinese name?

    When I first came to China I was afraid of picking a stupid-sounding or foreigner-sounding Chinese name. But I couldn’t speak Chinese so how was I supposed to know which Chinese names were good and which were bad? And my Chinese friends always had conflicting opinions about potential names. In our neighbourhood, the bike repairman and our retired neighbours always hung out on the corner. I would sit and chat and drink with them sometimes. They got tired of waiting for me to get a name, so one day they just told me: “Your name is 大江！” And they told the whole neighbourhood so they all call me that. Now I use “大江” as a 小名。

    Or, have you seen or heard of any other interesting English names for Chinese people in China and how they chose them?
    Plenty! Here’s my list from this semester teaching English: http://chinahopelive.net/2009/11/03/whats-in-a-chinglish-name-ill-tell-you
    Unfortunately, “King” and “Yoyo” didn’t make the list.

    Reply
  67. Miguel
    Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 2:58 pm

    I’m a westerner that studied Chinese for a few years and I have two Chinese names. My first Chinese name, 包汉理, was given to me by my Chinese teachers at Indiana University and it was derived from the consonants in my family name. It really has no meaning and as I started traveling around China and telling people my name, they would look at me strangely. Finally, when I was in Turpan I met two Chinese girls from Singapore who gave me the name 麦翰林. 麦 sounds like my English given name “Mike” and 翰林 refers to the 翰林院, which was an academy that produced scholars who advised the emperor. Everyone seems to like this name much better and I have stuck with it.

    Reply
  68. Miguel
    Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 3:03 pm

    I went to a travel agency in Nanjing where the entire staff had cigarette brand names for their English names. I forget if I bought my plane ticket from Winston or Marlboro. I dealt with both of them.

    Reply
  69. Chinochano
    Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 5:44 pm

    I am Spanish, my real name is Antonio, but my Chinese name is An Dong (安东). In the beginning of my stay in China (now it’s been 8 years since then) the Chinese gave me the name An Dong Ni Ao (安东尼奥), wich is the most common practice in Chinese for this Spanish and Italian name. However, I didn’t like it because I considered too long for a Chinese name, so I proposed my Chinese friends to link the two last syllables, making it “An Dong Niao”. They laughed at me saying that “niao” can mean “pee” or “bird” in Chinese, and none of this two words is good for a human name. So I decided to make it even shorter… Finally, I love my name 安东 because not only sounds very Chinese (even some real Chinese people have this name) but also has an interesting meaning for me: 安 means “quiet”, and I am very (sometimes extremely) quiet person, and 东 means “east”, the place in the world where I am now. Perfect suitable name.

    Reply
  70. Kage Musha
    Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 5:50 pm

    It’s not a bloody Mao suit, it’s a Zhongshan suit. The Chinese all call it Zhongshan zhuang.
    Bloody Western copy & paste + ignorance.

    Reply
  71. Chinochano
    Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 5:56 pm

    I forgot to say, I also like my name because Chinese people remember it very easily, and in the other hand is very easy to pronounce even for people with nule capacity for speak other languages (as us the Spanish).

    Reply
  72. HC
    Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 4:00 am

    It makes sense for some people to choose names that their clients can easily remember and not forget if they do sales, for example. I will never forget the name on a business card that was given to me years ago during my visit to China. The name is Pubic and his last name is Har –> Pubic Har

    Reply
  73. Ellen
    Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 4:35 am

    My name is also Ellen! Before going to China, I gave a lot of thought to what to choose as my name there. What an opportunity — finally, I could pick a name that reflected something about me! I remember considering ‘Ai lin,’ meaning love forest, but my friends back home convinced me it was too risqué. I never settle on anything, and just naturally turned into the purely phonetic ‘Ai lun’ (艾伦) when I got there, figuring I would change my name to something perfect once I knew more characters. Indeed I did choose a name after a few months — I really wanted to be ‘Lei Yu lian’ (雷雨莲) – for ‘thunder rain lotus’, maintaining some resemblance to my real name (my last name begins with L), the strength and power of thunder, the peaceful and steady importance of rain, and the tasty fragrance of lotus. I started introducing myself this way, but it didn’t work!! Everyone still called me Ailun. Numerous people complained that my name had way too much water in it. One friend who couldn’t get used to the change said ‘once an ailun, always an ailun.’ Funny thing about names is that they stick. 艾伦 forever!

    Reply
    • Albert Liu
      Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 8:52 am

      My name is Albert. My dad, who is a physicist, came over to the USA from China in the 1960′s. My friends say, “He must have named you after Albert Einstein. Pity you got such a clunky 19th century German name.” I usually reply, “True, but given that the only other options were Niels (Bohr), or Maximilian (Planck), I think I did OK!”

      Reply
  74. Mr. Wallen
    Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 8:56 am

    Since my company does business with Chinese electronics manufacturers, I get tons of email solicitations from these factories’ sales departments. I have been doing business with and traveling to Asia since the early 1980s, and have taught conversational English to a number of young Chinese people who had just entered the business world.

    Some of the oddest names I’ve come across, though, have been recently: A guy named Cheney, another one named Trump, one guy named Romeo, another guy named Cupid. A girl named River (do you know how hard it is for most Chinese to say “River”?), another girl named Magdalene, and one girl named Louisiana.

    Reply
  75. Mike
    Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 10:29 am

    When I was studying in Nanning, Guangxi, in 1994 many students had different English names. Radium, Blue, and Rambo were some of the ones that I remembered. My Chinese name is 史道德 because it sounds like my American name. I chose it for the meaning of my given names.

    Also, another reason for different sounding names for Chinese into English is simply that in Chinese it is normal to be called XiaoYan (little butterfly), or Mei or Li (beauty). So why not in Engish? I like the idea. I worked on my Chinese name for many hours before I was happy with the sound and the meaning.

    Reply
  76. Kyle
    Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 10:56 am

    I had a fellow American teaching English in the late ’90s that gave porn star names to all of his students, names like Dirk, Amber, Ebony, Celeste…

    I came across two different Wiwians

    Reply
  77. George
    Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 11:54 am

    I am an American married to a Chinese. My English name, George, is one for which there is a Chinese equivalent, Qiao Zhi.
    My wife’s Chinese name is Li Li Xin, so Lily was an obvious choice.

    Reply
  78. Josh
    Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 1:45 pm

    I’m an American and I married an ABC woman. She has a Chinese name, but goes by the English name her parents gave her which is Wendy. Her father is not so keen on me since I’m white and the fact that she took my last name irks him even more. So when I started studying Chinese as my minor in school, I needed a Chinese name. My wife said that it’s not good to name yourself, so I had her pick something for me. I’m majoring in accounting and I’m dependable, so she settled on 恒正. As friendly gesture to her father, I elected to take his surname of 林. I don’t think he received it as I intended, but hey, I tried. I like how 林恒正 flows off the tongue and it’s a breeze to write so I’m happy to have it.

    Reply
  79. EC
    Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 4:15 pm

    Three funny stories:

    1) There was a Chinese guy who worked in the Starbucks in my building. His name was xPand. He was very sweet, and, well, on the tubby side. Never figured out whether the name was humorous, ironic, or coincidental.

    2) Had a client whose name was Wings. Apparently, he was originally Wing, but his colleagues made fun of him for having an “imbalanced” name, so he added the S for symmetry.

    3) Chinese IT guy named Micro2000. He wanted a name that sounded techie, but was afraid of using Microsoft2000 after a colleague said he’d get sued for trademark infringement.

    Reply
  80. Valerie & Ellen
    Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 4:40 pm

    Hello everyone,

    Again, many thanks for all the reactions. In these days you have been sharing all kinds of stories about foreign and Chinese names. We would like to share a few stories of our favorite names in the book. Before starting we also want to mention that what we found interesting during our research was the fact that behind a simple question, “Do you have an English name?” (or foreign/non-Chinese name) lay more answers and insights than you would imagine, ranging from China’s past to its future. We let you think about that for now….please feel free to share your insights on this.

    What made some names interesting for us was not only the name in itself, but also what it meant and the connection with the person; the whole concept basically. We both studied “Concepts & Brands” so that’s why we focus on Branding and identity development quite much. Some names were simple but had a great story behind it. “Ben” for example is a simple name. Ben in the Western world has biblical roots. This “Ben” however took de name from the Chinese word “ben” which means “stupid”. He told us he thinks he’s not so smart.

    Another person which name we liked was Rubberpixy. This person sees himself as beings as flexible as a rubberband. A rubberband is normal and laid back but when you pull it, it can be tensed. When you let it go it shoots in all directions. Pixy comes from pixle, which is related to computer design programs. He chose to use this new identity that totally fits his character and work. He is working as a graphic designer in Shanghai. It is a very unique name and this person really thought about his reasons for taking on this name.

    That’s it for now, cath up soon again.

    Kind regards,
    Ellen and Valerie

    Reply
  81. bleah
    Friday, December 18, 2009 at 4:35 am

    I came in touch with a Vietnamese person with a name that sounded similar to Robert (which was his English name) but must have sounded kind of funny for Chinese people. I wonder what it sounded like.

    Reply
  82. Bettydong
    Friday, December 18, 2009 at 10:10 am

    I am a Chinese and study English as my major in university. In my first English class, the teacher asked everyone’s English name and he would call our English names from then on. Of the 27 students, only three were boys. One boy stood up and announced:’ Hello, everyone, my name is Whale.’ What?! Everyone was surprised. ‘W-H-A-L-E, whale.’ He repeated. Looking at him, I found him slim, the least thing I can associate is such giant animal as a whale. Having seen our confusion, he continued to explain ‘My Chinese name is XIAO JING YU 效靖宇，and it is pronounced similar to 小鲸鱼(meaning little whale in Chinese), so I chose this name!’ No one could stop laughing at that moment.

    Reply
  83. Marc
    Friday, December 18, 2009 at 3:47 pm

    Hehe, Chinese people can be just as cruel in giving foreigners Chinese names. Before I could speak Chinese, a friend gave me a name that similar to my last name: 来福康 (“Come Fourtune and Health”)… They thought it was funny to give what sounded like a peasant’s name. So cruelty goes both ways :p

    Reply
  84. Tully
    Friday, December 18, 2009 at 3:56 pm

    Just stumbled across this website. Looks Cool!

    Anyway!I’ve encountered names varying from the funny, crazy and unique to the serious, obvious and even boring.
    I’ve had students with names such as Hitler, Stalin, Caesar, Kissinger and Churchill as well as Edison and Einstein which could have had a story behind them,
    but knowing the students involved, I think that they were probably chosen for a laugh.
    I’ve also had students with names such as Commander, Freedom, Sunlight, Victory, Magic, Outsider, Dream and Destiny that are meaningful.
    Then on to the thought provoking ones such as, Black Car (his father apparently had a black car), Pig Killer (I didn’t ask)

    I actually have a very funny but unfortunate/fortunate story that you may or may not believe.
    My sister and her soon to be husband came to see me in China last year,
    While here we got talking about Chinese names and how Philip wanted to get his Chinese Characters tattooed on his arm.
    So I decided to give them names while they were here.
    Anyway my sisters boyfriends name is Philip White. But everyone knows him as Philly.
    So I proceeded to find Chinese with similar pronunciation/transliterate to Philly or Philip and just translated White to bai(百).
    Anyway a long story short his name ended up as baifeili(白菲利). Unknown to us this turned out to be an extremely unfortunate translation,
    Although we had chosen different characters the sound was the same as the baifeili (白费力)(white laborious),
    a well known term meaning, pointlessness/in vain or similar to the expression to bang your head against a brick wall,
    So, down to the tattoo shop the guys were very amused, but we passed off the laughing as us being Waiguoren.
    But luckily the tattoo guy eventually figured that we mustn’t have known what baifeili meant and so wouldn’t do it.
    We went away confused by the whole event until in school the next day I told the story to one of the girls in the office.
    She explained what it meant to me, but not after telling the whole office and them proceeding to roll around in laughter.
    I’ve since found out that there actually happens to be jokes in a Chinese text book about foreign names translated into Chinese.
    Most of the stories are about Japanese names translated into Chinese but one joke includes Baifeili.
    Anyway needless to say Philly didn’t get the tattoo and we came out of it unharmed despite leaving most of my face in the tattoo shop and the remainder in the school office.

    Reply
  85. leone zhang
    Friday, December 18, 2009 at 5:40 pm

    i just skimmed it over,there are so many interesting artical that really catched my eyes,although some of its,which it mapped out the unshunned phenomenons of china,it also as a banner for warming us to avoid its.

    by the way,my chinese name is zhang long english name is leone zhang,the austere reason here for choose “leone”,coz of it resembles in the pronunciation and transliterate with “long”

    Reply
  86. Bettydong
    Saturday, December 19, 2009 at 12:25 am

    Hey Ellen & Valerie

    I was very surprised when my surpervisor sent this webpage to me because currently I am doing my dissertation on this topic! I have found very interesting stories from your page and thank you! I would like to know if I could discuss with you more on this and exchange our views, as you are from Europe, and I from China, there might be some differences and similarities in interpreting perspectives. Leave me a message via Email if comvenient for you.

    Reply
  87. David Stern
    Saturday, December 19, 2009 at 6:50 am

    Any problems with this name as a translation of my English/German name: 星大炜 (Stern = Star in German).

    Reply
  88. Alex Hofford
    Saturday, December 19, 2009 at 4:36 pm

    Hi once bought a Yakult from a girl named Yakult in a 7/11 in Causeway Bay, Hong KOng.

    Reply
  89. jay7
    Sunday, December 20, 2009 at 1:45 pm

    that is some funny sh*t actually… though who cares how you name urself? just make sure you enjoy when people calling you.

    Reply
  90. Ray
    Sunday, December 20, 2009 at 7:27 pm

    I’m Chinese and have a English name, Ray. Why Ray? It’s simply because that’s the perfect sounding match with my Chinese name “锐-Rui” which means “sharp” and “vigour”. Another reason is I am kind of a guy with a sense of humor. And almost everyone I met likes me, so I think I can be the Chinese version “Raymond”. Then I nailed it.

    I guess my story is one of the most orinary so the free copy looks like none of my business. To gain some chance, I am adding my wife’s story here.

    My wise is a Chinese,too. Her fisrt name is “莉亚－Liya”. When she came to UTSA to visit me, three years ago, we thought it’s better to have an English name for her to live in the states and communicate with local people. We picked “Leia”. Again, probably you have noticed that, the prononciation is 99% the same. And, you’ve got to keep this between us, Princess Leia ( Star Wars) is adorable, isn’t she?

    Reply
  91. Fauna
    Tuesday, December 22, 2009 at 1:38 pm

    Winners

    The winners of the contest chosen by Valerie and Ellen are:

    GuoBao

    EC

    Promo

    Congratulations! Winners will receive an email from me and Valerie and Ellen with instructions on providing your shipping address to receive your free prize copy of “In China, My name is…”

    Thank you everyone for your support and participation! :)

    Reply
  92. FOARP
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 7:31 pm

    I am English you fool.

    Reply
  93. FOARP
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 9:36 pm

    Apologies for flying off the handle

    Reply
  94. FOARP
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 10:33 pm

    The problem comes when you work in an office in which you are the only English-speaking person, and people in your office are told to choose English names to make it “convenient for foreigners” despite the fact that you speak Chinese and nobody has to speak to any foreigner except yourself. It is common for companies, especially foreign-owned companies, to insist on this kind of nonsense.

    Reply
  95. john
    Friday, December 11, 2009 at 12:46 pm

    My friend (Chinese) worked at a foreign owned company in Beijing, and when she was introducing me to her coworkers (also Chinese), she used their English names. IIRC they all called each other by English names in that office, and I’m not sure there were ANY foreigners working there full time.

    Bizarre.

    Reply
  96. Capn
    Friday, December 11, 2009 at 1:05 pm

    This foreigner name business is fun for them, it’s like playing dress-ups to be someone you wish you were.

    Chinese people will do anything to convince themselves they’re not peasants anymore.

    Reply
  97. little Alex
    Sunday, December 20, 2009 at 2:50 am

    Well, I grew up in Hong Kong and most of the people I’ve met will introduce themselves using their English names, even in a completely Chinese company.

    You’re right that colonialism might have played a part in that, but it’s also the idea that it affords you some distance between your professional life and your private life, since the only people who know your Chinese name — your real name — would be your family and friends.

    Reply
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