Personal nameA name is a word or term used for identification. Names can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. A personal name identifies a specific unique and identifiable individual person, and may or may not include a middle name...
s in
Chinese cultureChinese culture is one of the world's oldest and most complex. The area in which the culture is dominant covers a large geographical region in eastern Asia with customs and traditions varying greatly between towns, cities and provinces...
follow a number of conventions different from those of personal names in Western cultures. Most noticeably, a Chinese name is written with the
family nameA family name is a type of surname and part of a person's name indicating the family to which the person belongs. The use of family names is widespread in cultures around the world...
first and the
given nameA given name, in Western contexts often referred to as a first name, is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...
next, therefore "John-Paul Smith" as a Chinese name would be "Smith John-Paul". Chinese people commonly address each other with full names instead of given names (especially for names consisting of two characters in total). Family names are never used alone without any salutation. For instance, the basketball player
Yao MingYao Ming is a retired Chinese professional basketball player who last played for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association...
should be formally addressed as "Mr. Yao", not "Mr. Ming", and informally addressed as "Yao Ming" instead of "Yao" or "Ming".
Some
Chinese peopleThe term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
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"). Some Chinese people sometimes take a combined name. There are two main variations: Western name, surname, and Chinese given name, in that order ("Fred Yao Ming").
Traditional naming schemes often followed a pattern of using
generation nameGeneration name, variously zibei or banci, is one of the characters in a traditional Chinese name, and is so called because each member of a generation share that character, unlike surnames or given names...
s as part of a two-character given name. This is by no means the norm, however. An alternative tradition, stemming from a
Han DynastyThe Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
law that forbade two-character given names, is to have a single character given name. Some contemporary given names do not follow either tradition, and may in some cases extend to three or more characters.
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
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
an Prime Minister
Lee Hsien LoongLee Hsien Loong is the third and current Prime Minister of Singapore. He is married to Ho Ching, who is the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Temasek Holdings. He is the eldest son of Singapore's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew....
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 hyphenated or adjoined.
Family names
A majority of countries in Eastern Asia adopted the Chinese naming 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
characterChinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
, but there are a few with two; see
Chinese compound surnameA Chinese compound surname is a Chinese surname using more than one character. Many of these surnames derive from noble and official titles, professions, place names and other areas, to serve for a purpose. Some are originally non-Han, while others were created by joining two one-character family...
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 ZedongMao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
is Mao (毛), and his given name is Zedong (traditional: 澤東, simplified: 泽东).
Traditionally, Chinese women usually retain their maiden names as their
family nameA family name is a type of surname and part of a person's name indicating the family to which the person belongs. The use of family names is widespread in cultures around the world...
, rather than adopting their husband's. Children usually inherit the father's family name. However, some married women add the husband's surname to their full-name (this is popular in Hong Kong but rare in Mainland China), but rarely do they drop the maiden name altogether.
Historically, it was considered
tabooA taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
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
Generally speaking,
Chinese given nameChinese given names are generally made up of one or two characters, and are written after the family name, therefore "John-Paul Smith" as a Chinese name would be read "Smith John-Paul". Chinese names can consist of any character and contain almost any meaning...
s 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" (奶名) or "little name" (小名), such as
Little Precious (小寶 / 小宝) or two characters that repeat "Ming Ming" (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 to name one 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 MaYo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...
(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
generation poem (banci lian 班次聯 or paizi ge 派字歌 in Chinese) listing the names. Also, siblings' names are frequently related, for example, a boy may be named
pine (松 Sōng, considered masculine) while his sister may be named
plum (梅 Méi, considered feminine), both being primary elements of the traditional Chinese system of naturally symbolizing moral imperatives. Depending on region and family, female children may not be entered into the family tree, and thus will not be given a generation name. A frequent naming pattern for female offspring in this case could share the same last character in the given name while varying the first character (in place of the generation name). A well known example of such system can be found from the names of the main four sisters in the novel
A Dream of Red Mansions, where they were named 元春 (yuan chun), 迎春 (ying chun), 探春 (tan chun), and 惜春 (xi chun).
Chinese personal names also may reflect periods of
historyChinese civilization originated in various regional centers along both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River valleys in the Neolithic era, but the Yellow River is said to be the Cradle of Chinese Civilization. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest...
. For example, many Chinese born after 1949 and during the
Cultural RevolutionThe Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
have "revolutionary names" such as
strong country (強國, 强国) or
eastern wind (東風, 东风). In
TaiwanTaiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, it used to be common to incorporate one of the four characters of the name "
Republic of ChinaThe Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
" (中華民國) into masculine names.
People from the countryside may have names that reflect rural life, for example,
large ox (大牛) and
big pillar (大柱), but these names are becoming less common.
Also, some decades ago, due to the traditional
ConfucianismConfucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...
, when a family gives birth to a female baby, the parents may name her
comes a little brother (來弟),
invites a little brother (招弟) or
hopes for a little brother (盼弟). Some other female names of this sort includes: 望弟 (
hopes for a little brother), 牽弟 (
brings along a little brother), 帶弟 (
brings a little brother), 引弟 (
attracts or leads along a little brother), 領弟 (
receives a little brother), and even 也好 (
it's all right, too (to have a girl first then a boy later)). The parents may feminize the character '弟' (younger brother) to '娣' with the same pronunciation, but different in meaning (it literally means "wife of a younger brother," but more recently it is used to transliterate western female names). These names show the traditional
sexismSexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
or male chauvinism in the older Chinese society where having a boy (who can inherit the family name and continue the family line, which is an honour to the ancestors) is better than having a girl (who can only be another family's daughter-in-law, carrying on the family name of others).
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)The Wu Xing, also known as the Five Phases, the Five Agents, the Five Movements, and the Five Steps/Stages, are chiefly an ancient mnemonic device, in many traditional Chinese fields....
.
Taiwan
Family names in Taiwan of the
Han ChineseHan Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
heritage are similar to those in southeast China, as most families maintain
family treeA family tree, or pedigree chart, is a chart representing family relationships in a conventional tree structure. The more detailed family trees used in medicine, genealogy, and social work are known as genograms.-Family tree representations:...
s that are traceable to their origins in places such as
Fujian' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
and
GuangdongGuangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
.
Taiwanese aboriginesTaiwanese aborigines is the term commonly applied in reference to the indigenous peoples of Taiwan. Although Taiwanese indigenous groups hold a variety of creation myths, recent research suggests their ancestors may have been living on the islands for approximately 8,000 years before major Han...
have also adopted Chinese names in the process of
assimilationSinicization, Sinicisation or Sinification, is the linguistic assimilation or cultural assimilation of terms and concepts of the language and culture of China...
(see also
Taiwanese nameThe naming customs of Taiwanese aborigines are distinct from, though influenced by, the majority Han Chinese culture of Taiwan. Prior to contact with Han Chinese, the Taiwanese aborigines named themselves according to each tribe's tradition. The naming system varies greatly depending on the...
). The popularity distribution of family names in Taiwan as a whole differs somewhat from the distribution of names among all Han Chinese, with the family name Chen (陳) particularly common (generally about 11%). Local variations also exist.
The top ten most frequent family names in Taiwan, ranking in China, and common romanizations.
| Name |
Rank in Taiwan |
Rank in Mainland China |
PinyinPinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
|
Pe̍h-ōe-jī |
Common romanizations |
| 陳/陈 |
1 |
5 |
Chén |
Tân |
Chen, Chan |
| 林 |
2 |
16 |
Lín |
Lîm |
Lin, Lam |
| 黃 |
3 |
8 |
Huáng |
N̂g |
Huang, Wong, Hwang, Ung |
| 李 |
4 |
1 |
Lǐ |
Lí |
Li, Lee, Le, Ly |
| 張/张 |
5 |
3 |
Zhāng |
Tiuⁿ |
Zhang, Cheung, Chang, Teo, Teoh |
| 王 |
6 |
2 |
Wáng |
Ông |
Wang, Wong |
| 吳/吴 |
7 |
10 |
Wú |
Ngô͘ |
Wu, Ng, Goh |
| 劉/刘 |
8 |
4 |
Liú |
Lâu |
Liu, Lau, Liou |
| 蔡 |
9 |
32 |
Cài |
Chhòa |
Cai, Choi, Tsai, Choy |
| 楊/杨 |
10 |
6 |
Yáng |
Iûⁿ |
Yang, Yeung ,Yeo |
Among the Taiwanese
PresbyterianThe Presbyterian Church in Taiwan was planted in Taiwan in the 19th century by Dr James Laidlaw Maxwell Snr of the Presbyterian Church of England and Dr George Leslie Mackay of the Presbyterian Church in Canada....
ChristiansChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, the family name 偕 (Kai in Taiwanese Pe̍h-ōe-jī) is of particular interest as an example of a Chinese-like surname with a non-Chinese
rootEtymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
. According to the clan's tradition, the name was adopted to honor the
CanadianCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
missionaryA missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
George Leslie MackayGeorge Leslie Mackay was the first Presbyterian missionary to northern Formosa . He served with the Canadian Presbyterian Mission. Mackay is among the best known Westerners to have lived in Taiwan.-Early life:...
, also known as Má-kai (馬偕). This family name is actually rarely seen even among
PresbyterianPresbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
Christians. Taiwanese Christians of other denominations do not carry this tradition.
(See:
Top 10 Taiwanese family names and
Top family names in China (1988),
List of common Chinese surnames)
Given names that consist of one character are much less common on Taiwan than in
mainland ChinaMainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
.
More common in the past when life was much more difficult, Taiwanese given names are sometimes unofficially re-assigned based on the recommendation of fortune-tellers, in order to ward off bad
omenAn omen is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change...
s and evil spirits. For example, a sick boy may be renamed "Ti-sái" (豬屎), or "
HogA pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
ManureManure is organic matter used as organic fertilizer in agriculture. Manures contribute to the fertility of the soil by adding organic matter and nutrients, such as nitrogen, that are trapped by bacteria in the soil...
", to indicate to the evil spirits that he is not worth their trouble. Similarly, a girl from a poor family may have the name "Bóng-chhī" (罔市), or translated loosely, "Keeping (her) Only Reluctantly".
NicknameA nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
s (also known as "child names",
gín-á-miâ, 囝仔名) derives from the practice common to Fujian of being constructed by attaching the prefix "A-" (阿) to the last syllable. Unlike the situation in Mainland China, this construction is used for Hakka names as well. Nicknames are often used by friends to refer to each other, but are rarely used in formal contexts. However, one major exception to this is
Chen Shui-bianChen Shui-bian is a former Taiwanese politician who was the 10th and 11th-term President of the Republic of China from 2000 to 2008. Chen, whose Democratic Progressive Party has traditionally been supportive of Taiwan independence, ended more than fifty years of Kuomintang rule in Taiwan...
(陳水扁, Tân Chúi-píⁿ) who refers to himself as A-píⁿ—a (阿扁) in public, which appears endearing to his supporters. The use of nicknames in public contexts is however unusual, and very few other public figures (such as the singer
A-meiA-Mei , also known by her birth name Chang Hui-mei , is an aboriginal Taiwanese pop singer and occasional songwriter. She is also known by her aboriginal name Gulilai Amit . She was born in the rugged mountains of eastern Taiwan and is the third youngest of nine siblings. A-mei made her debut in...
) are known by their nicknames.
Examples of names of prominent Taiwanese born in Taiwan, mostly after World War II.
- One-character family name + two-character given name (mainstream)
- 王永慶 ＝ 王 ＋ 永慶 (Wang Yung-ching
Wang Yung-ching was an influential entrepreneur who founded a large business empire in Taiwan. According to the 2008 Forbes survey, he was the 178th richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of US$5.5 billion...
, billionaire)
- 陳長文 ＝ 陳 ＋ 長文 (lawyer)
- 張榮發 ＝ 張 ＋ 榮發 (Chang Yung-fa
Chang Yung-fa is the founder and Group Chairman of the Evergreen Group.- Biography :In 1927, Chang was born in Penghu, while Taiwan was under Japanese rule...
, billionaire)
- 林懷民 ＝ 林 ＋ 懷民 (Lin Hwai-min
Lin Hwai-min is a Taiwanese dancer, writer, choreographer, and founder of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan. He was educated at National Chengchi University in Taiwan and University of Iowa in the US....
, dancer)
- 古金水 ＝ 古 ＋ 金水 (aboriginal athlete who adopted Chinese name)
- One-character family name + one-character given name (few)
- 蔡琴 ＝ 蔡 ＋ 琴 (Tsai Chin (singer)
Tsai Chin is a pop and folk singer from Taiwan . She sings in both Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese Hokkien and is known for her naturally magnetic rich vocals and witty persona.-Music career:...
, folk singer)
- 陈豪 ＝ 陈 ＋ 豪 (Tan Haur, multi disciplinary visual art artist)
- 蕭薔 ＝ 蕭 ＋ 薔 (Stephanie Siao, actress; stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
)
- Two-character family name + one- or two-character given name (even fewer)
- 歐陽龍 ＝ 歐陽 ＋ 龍 (actor, local politician)
- 司徒達賢 ＝ 司徒 ＋ 達賢 (first professor of business strategy in Taiwan)
- Compound family name + one- or two-character given name (rare)
- 鄭余鎮 ＝ 鄭 ‧ 余 ＋ 鎮 (former politician involved in a sex scandal)
- 郭李建夫 ＝ 郭 ‧ 李 ＋ 建夫 (Kuo Lee Chien-Fu
Kuo Lee Chien-Fu is a retired Taiwanese professional baseball pitcher and currently a baseball coach. He is best known for being the ace pitcher in the Chinese Taipei national baseball team in the 1992 Olympics where he was twice the winning pitcher in the two Chinese Taipei versus Japan matches,...
, retired professional baseball player)
- Husband's family name + one-character family name + two-character given name (some women)
- 錢林慧君 ＝ 錢 ＋ 林 ＋ 慧君 (former Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU)
The Taiwan Solidarity Union is a political party in the Republic of China which advocates Taiwan independence. It was officially founded on July 24, 2001 and is considered part of the Pan-Green Coalition. Unlike the Democratic Progressive Party, its larger companion party in the Pan-Green...
legislator)
Diaspora
Among
Chinese AmericanChinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...
s, it is common practice to be referred to primarily by the Western name and to use the Chinese given name as a
middle namePeople's names in several cultures include one or more additional names placed between the first given name and the surname. In Canada and the United States all such names are specifically referred to as middle name; in most European countries they would simply be regarded as second, third, etc....
; for instance, Soong would have "James Chu-yu Soong". In a more recent effort to combine Western names for those with native Chinese names, the Western name is placed directly in front of the Chinese name so that both the Chinese and Western names can be easily identified. The relative order of family name-given name is also preserved. Using this scheme, Soong Chu-yu would be James Soong Chu-yu.
In Malaysia and Singapore, it is equally acceptable for Western names to appear before or after the Chinese given name, thus
Tan Keng Yam TonyTony Tan Keng Yam is the seventh and current President of Singapore. Until 1 July 2011, he was Executive Director and Deputy Chairman of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation and Chairman of Singapore Press Holdings Limited...
may also be written as Tony Tan Keng Yam, and individuals are free to indicate their official names in either format on their
identity cardThe National Registration Identity Card is the identity document in use in Singapore...
s. General usage tend to prefer placing the Western name first as this permits the Western and Chinese name order to be preserved simultaneously (ex. "Tony Tan" and "Tan Keng Yam" can be combined to "Tony Tan Keng Yam"). In addition, some individuals who use their western name more frequently may prefer to place it first. For administrative purposes, however,
governmentThe Government of Singapore is defined by the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore to mean the Executive branch of government, which is made up of the President and the Cabinet of Singapore. Although the President acts in his personal discretion in the exercise of certain functions as a check...
agenciesThe government of Singapore consists of several departments, known as ministries and statutory boards in Singapore. Ministries are led by a member of the cabinet and deal with state matters that require direct political oversight. The member of the cabinet heading the ministry is known as the...
tend to place the Western name behind so as to standardise namelists sorted by family names. In some cases, therefore, agencies may choose to include a
commaThe comma is a punctuation mark. It has the same shape as an apostrophe or single closing quotation mark in many typefaces, but it differs from them in being placed on the baseline of the text. Some typefaces render it as a small line, slightly curved or straight but inclined from the vertical, or...
behind the Chinese name to indicate such amendments made, for instance, "Tan Keng Yam, Tony".
The Hong Kong printed media tends to adopt a presentation style similar to American usage, for instance, Donald Tsang Yam-kuen. On official records such as the Hong Kong
Identity CardsAn identity document is any document which may be used to verify aspects of a person's personal identity. If issued in the form of a small, mostly standard-sized card, it is usually called an identity card...
, however, family names are always printed first, capitalised, and followed with a comma for all names, including non-Chinese names. Therefore the name would be printed as either TSANG, Yam Kuen Donald or TSANG, Donald Yam Kuen, according to the person's, or the person's parents' own preference at time of application. A non-Chinese name would be printed in the style of "BUSH, George Walker". Some people do not have the
transliterationTransliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...
s of their Chinese given names in their names in English record, such as Henry Lee or Peter Vincent Cheng. In
MacauMacau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
, ethnic Chinese individuals who have Portuguese given names may have their names written in the Portuguese name order, such as Carlos do Rosário Tchiang.
The use of a comma between a surname and given name is acceptable if the name is in isolation (such as part of an alphabetized list or on a field of a government document), but not as part of a sentence. For example, the sentence "My student Wang, Ming-Sheng graduated in 2006" would be wrong.
Romanization
In mainland China, Han names are romanized in
pinyinPinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
, usually without tone marks. Chinese from
Mainland ChinaMainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
are generally recognizable from the "x", "zh" and "q" that exist in Hanyu Pinyin orthography, and by the combination of the two syllables in a two character given name into one romanized word (e.g. Chen Xianglin).
In Taiwan, the vast majority of Taiwanese today romanize their names in Mandarin pronunciation using
Wade-GilesWade–Giles , sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a romanization system for the Mandarin Chinese language. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Wade during the mid-19th century , and was given completed form with Herbert Giles' Chinese–English dictionary of 1892.Wade–Giles was the most...
or a similar system, which can be easily distinguished from the Hanyu Pinyin used for romanization in
Mainland ChinaMainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
and
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
by the lack of the use of "q", "zh", and "x", by the use of "hs" and by the inclusion of hyphens. Unlike
Mainland ChinaMainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
, 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,
MacauMacau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
, and other old diaspora communities 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 NanThe Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....
, Hakka are prevalent. Although not a Chinese dialect,
ethnic Chinese in
VietnamVietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
romanize their names in Vietnamese pronunciation using
quoc nguThe Vietnamese alphabet, called Chữ Quốc Ngữ , usually shortened to Quốc Ngữ , is the modern writing system for the Vietnamese language...
, making them almost indistinguishable from
Vietnamese nameVietnamese names generally consist of three parts: a family name, a middle name, and a given name, used in that order. The "family name first" order follows the system of Chinese names and is common throughout the Sinosphere , but is different from Chinese, Korean, and Japanese names in having a...
s. 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
pinyinPinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
) are both depicted on the person's NRIC, unless the bearer chooses to drop either of them. In Macau, Chinese names are usually
transliteratedTransliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...
based on Portuguese
orthographyThe orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
.
Chinese from diaspora communities in Malaysia and Singapore can also be identified by the inclusion of spaces in their first names. (e.g.
Tan Cheng LockTun Dato Sri Sir Cheng-lock Tan, DPMJ, KBE was a Malaysian Chinese businessman and a key public figure who devoted his life to fighting for the rights and the social welfare of the Chinese community in Malaya...
)
Current
Chinese associated names for prominent people,
example of Sun Yat-sen's names |
| 1 |
Official name: |
Sūn Démíng (孫德明) |
| 2 |
Milk name: |
Sūn Dìxiàng (孫帝象) |
| 3 |
School name: |
Sūn Wén (孫文) |
| 4 |
Caricatural name: |
unknown |
| 5 |
Courtesy names: |
Sūn Zàizhī (孫載之) |
| 6 |
Pseudonym(s): |
1. Sūn Rìxīn (孫日新)a
2. Sūn Yìxiān (孫逸仙, 1886)a
jap. Nakayama Shō (中山樵, 1897) |
| -Death, Honorary titles : |
| 7 |
Posthume name: |
Guófù (國父) |
| 8 |
Temple name: |
noneb |
| 9 |
Era name: |
nonec |
Notes : a. both pronounce "Sun Yat-sen" in Cantonese ;
b. only for Royalty and Emperors ; c. only for Royalty and Emperors' reigns. |
Nicknames (小名)
:Milk name and «Caricatural name»
NicknameA nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
s are usually an alteration of the given name. There are two kinds of nicknames; one given by biological parents to a baby, and one given by the family or a child's friends to another child (綽號/绸号 chuòhào). The first is a nickname to call a baby or child, often made simply by doubling one character of the official name (i.e. official name 德明 -> 明明 mingming), or even their first word. The second one is a caricatural name based on the person's physical attributes, speaking style (小胖 xǐaopang « little fatty », 小豬 xǐaozhu « littlepig »， 蒼蠅 cangying «
flyTrue flies are insects of the order Diptera . They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax...
» ). A nickname may consist of the prefix
ā (阿) or the diminutive prefix
xiǎo (小), followed by part of the given name (usually the last character or occasionally the surname—but see Forms of address, below). The prefix
ā (阿) is more commonly found in the southern regions of China than in the north where the prefix
xiăo (小) is more common. Nicknames are rarely used in formal or semi-formal settings. One exception to this is
Chen Shui-bianChen Shui-bian is a former Taiwanese politician who was the 10th and 11th-term President of the Republic of China from 2000 to 2008. Chen, whose Democratic Progressive Party has traditionally been supportive of Taiwan independence, ended more than fifty years of Kuomintang rule in Taiwan...
, who is commonly known as A-bian (阿扁) even by himself and in
newspaperA newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
articles.
School name (學名)
The School name is the name that a child takes to go to school. Teachers and classmates had to call the child with this formal name. Friends prefer to use the official given name or the caricatural name. Note that
Binomial nomenclatureBinomial nomenclature is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, although they can be based on words from other languages...
also called "學名" in Chinese, so sometimes called "訓名(Xùnmíng)" to separate them.
Western name
Urban or well-educated Chinese commonly receive a Western-style name (such as "Jackie" or "Steve") in school or select one for themselves. These names may be used even in Chinese-language conversations (in business settings). On Mainland China white-collar workers began to use Western names after Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms because their Western interlocutors could not properly pronounce their Chinese names. The practice has since spread to the general population for various reasons. Western names may be perceived as more egalitarian, because their use does not involve issues of social hierarchy. They are also easier to type in English-language texts, which predominate in business technology, and may also be perceived as patriotic due to their association with economic progress.
Historical
Courtesy names (字) and Pseudonyms (號)
In former times, it was common for educated males to acquire
courtesy namesA Chinese style name, sometimes also known as a courtesy name , is a given name to be used later in life. After 20 years of age, the zì is assigned in place of one's given name as a symbol of adulthood and respect...
. The two most common forms were a
zì (字), given upon reaching maturity, and a
hào , usually self-selected and often somewhat whimsical. Although this tradition has lapsed, authors' use of
pen nameA pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
s is still a common phenomenon.
For more information, see Chinese style nameA Chinese style name, sometimes also known as a courtesy name , is a given name to be used later in life. After 20 years of age, the zì is assigned in place of one's given name as a symbol of adulthood and respect...
.
Posthumous name (諡號) and Temple name (廟號)
For prominent people,
posthumous nameA posthumous name is an honorary name given to royalty, nobles, and sometimes others, in East Asia after the person's death, and is used almost exclusively instead of one's personal name or other official titles during his life...
s have often been given, although this is uncommon now.
Sun Yat-senSun Yat-sen was a Chinese doctor, revolutionary and political leader. As the foremost pioneer of Nationalist China, Sun is frequently referred to as the "Father of the Nation" , a view agreed upon by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China...
was given the posthumous name of Guófù ' onMouseout='HidePop("86329")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Father_of_the_Nation">Father of the Nation
Father of the Nation is an honorific title given to a man considered the driving force behind the establishment of their country, state or nation...
), the name by which he is most frequently known in
TaiwanTaiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. Emperors were also ascribed
temple nameTemple names are commonly used when naming most Chinese, Korean , and Vietnamese royalty. They should not be confused with era names. Compared to posthumous names, the use of temple names is more exclusive...
s , and in certain situations, an Era name as well.
Era name (年號)
The era name can sometimes be used in ways which refer to the monarch himself, and not to the period. In
MingThe Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
and
Qing DynastyThe Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
, emperors generally used only one era name during their reign, and it is customary to refer to Ming and Qing emperors by their era names. So the name Kangxi (康熙), for instance, usually refers to the
Kangxi EmperorThe Kangxi Emperor ; Manchu: elhe taifin hūwangdi ; Mongolian: Энх-Амгалан хаан, 4 May 1654 –20 December 1722) was the fourth emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the first to be born on Chinese soil south of the Pass and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, from 1661 to 1722.Kangxi's...
(康熙帝), not the period of the years from 1662 to 1722. Instead, this period is usually called the reign of Emperor Kangxi (康熙年間).
Forms of address
Within families, it is often considered inappropriate or even offensive to use the given names of relatives who are senior to the speaker. Instead, it is more customary to identify each family member by abstract hierarchical connections: among siblings, gender and birth order (big sister, second sister, and so on); for the extended family, the manner of relationship (by birth or marriage; from the maternal or paternal side).
The hierarchical titles of junior relatives are seldom used except in formal situations, or as indirect reference when speaking to family members who are even younger than the person in question. Children can be called by their given names, or their parents may use their nicknames.
When speaking of non-family social acquaintances, people are generally referred to by a title, for example Mother Li or Mrs. Zhu (朱太太). 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 or nǚshì is relatively neutral and unlikely to cause offense.
Whereas
titleA title is a prefix or suffix added to someone's name to signify either veneration, an official position or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may even be inserted between a first and last name...
s in many cultures are commonly solely determined by gender and, in some cases, marital status, the occupation or even work title of a person can be used as a title as a sign of respect in common address in Chinese culture. Because of the prestigious position of a teacher in traditional culture, a teacher is invariably addressed as such by his or her students (e.g. ), and commonly by others as a mark of respect. By extension, a junior or less experienced member of a work place or profession would address a more senior member as "Teacher".
Similarly, engineers are often addressed as such, though often shortened to simply the first character of the word "engineer" -- . 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 show respect), one might equally address them by the title "zŏng" , which means "general" or "overall", and is the first character of titles such as "Director General" or "General Manager" (e.g. ), or, if they are slightly lower down on the corporate food-chain but nonetheless a manager, by affixing Jīnglĭ .
Chinese names in English
Chinese people, except for those traveling or living outside of China, rarely reverse their names to the western naming order (given name, then family name). Western publications usually preserve the Chinese naming order, with the family name first, followed by the given name. Beginning in the early 1980s, in regards to people from
Mainland ChinaMainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
, western publications began using the Hanyu Pinyin romanization system instead of earlier romanization systems; this resulted from the normalization of diplomatic relations between the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the
People's Republic of ChinaChina , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
in 1979. The usual presentation of Chinese names in English differs from the usual presentations of modern
Japanese namein modern times usually consist of a family name , followed by a given name. "Middle names" are not generally used.Japanese names are usually written in kanji, which are characters of usually Chinese origin in Japanese pronunciation...
s, since modern Japanese names are usually reversed to fit the western order in English. Edith Terry, author of
How Asia Got Rich, said that "it was one of the ironies of the late twentieth century that Japan remained stranded in the formal devices underlining its historical quest for equality with the West, while China set its own terms, in language as in big-power politics."
See also
Kinds of Chinese group-names:
- Family name#China
- Chinese clan
A Chinese clan is a patrilineal and patrilocal group of related Chinese people with a common surname sharing a common ancestor and, in many cases, an ancestral home.-Description:...
- Generation name
Generation name, variously zibei or banci, is one of the characters in a traditional Chinese name, and is so called because each member of a generation share that character, unlike surnames or given names...
(Asian)
Kinds of personal-names:
- Chinese surname
Chinese family names have been historically used by Han Chinese and Sinicized Chinese ethnic groups in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and among overseas Chinese communities. In ancient times two types of surnames, family names and clan names , existed.The colloquial expressions laobaixing...
- Chinese given name
Chinese given names are generally made up of one or two characters, and are written after the family name, therefore "John-Paul Smith" as a Chinese name would be read "Smith John-Paul". Chinese names can consist of any character and contain almost any meaning...
- Chinese style name
A Chinese style name, sometimes also known as a courtesy name , is a given name to be used later in life. After 20 years of age, the zì is assigned in place of one's given name as a symbol of adulthood and respect...
(Zi et Hao: social given name and pseudonyms)
- Regnal name
A regnal name, or reign name, is a formal name used by some monarchs and popes during their reigns. Since medieval times, monarchs have frequently chosen to use a name different from their own personal name when they inherit a throne....
(World)
- Posthumous name
A posthumous name is an honorary name given to royalty, nobles, and sometimes others, in East Asia after the person's death, and is used almost exclusively instead of one's personal name or other official titles during his life...
(Asian)
- Temple name
Temple names are commonly used when naming most Chinese, Korean , and Vietnamese royalty. They should not be confused with era names. Compared to posthumous names, the use of temple names is more exclusive...
(Asian)
- Era name (Asian)
Other links:
- Indonesian-sounding names adopted by Chinese Indonesians as the biggest overseas Chinese group
- List of common Chinese surnames
- Japanese name
in modern times usually consist of a family name , followed by a given name. "Middle names" are not generally used.Japanese names are usually written in kanji, which are characters of usually Chinese origin in Japanese pronunciation...
- Korean name
A Korean name consists of a family name followed by a given name, as used by the Korean people in both North Korea and South Korea. In the Korean language, 'ireum' or 'seong-myeong' usually refers to the family name and given name together...
- Vietnamese name
Vietnamese names generally consist of three parts: a family name, a middle name, and a given name, used in that order. The "family name first" order follows the system of Chinese names and is common throughout the Sinosphere , but is different from Chinese, Korean, and Japanese names in having a...
- Naming laws in the People's Republic of China
Naming laws in the People's Republic of China are based on technical capability rather than the appropriateness of words Naming laws in the People's Republic of China (excluding Hong Kong and Macau, as well as the Republic of China situated on the islands of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu) are...
External links