Ran_Dom on life and China, and life in China: Fancy a Chinese name? :

I just discovered this online tool. Rather fun but not all that serious, since it comes up with names that are composed of the characters that are closest to the pronounciation of one's English name and, I cannot really tell to which extent, the desired essence of your name. In real life, however, names are choosen by someone who knows the nuances (and there is plenty of them..) of Chinese language and culture.

Some (random) facts and anecdotes:

The surname, which is usually 1 character, comes first - Hence, avoid calling Hu Jintao "Good morning Mr. Jintao".. Apparently, there are over 700 different Chinese family names, but as few as twenty (Li, Wang,..) cover a majority of the Han people. List of most common Chinese surnames here.
The given name follows the surname. It is normally composed of one or two which are chosen by the parents (or the grandparents in traditional Chinese culture). It's the given name that causes the variety of Chinese names, since one can potentially choose from the whole range of Chinese characters. Names can be choosen according to birthdate, the perceived (and expected) characteristics of the person, the family's background, gender traits, the fortune tellers recommendation, etc. More here . They can even be influenced by the period of time they are born in - during the cultural revolution names such as "eastern wind"(東風, 东风) were reportedly rather frequent. Some of the limitations: it is considered inappropriate to name ones child after a famous figure and offensive to name it after an oldermember among the family or even distant relatives.
What do Chinese people do that emigrate or frequently deal with foreigners?- They either reverse the order, hence Yao Ming becomes Ming Yao (surname - given name) or find themselves an English given name, followed by the Chinese surname (eg. Peter Yao). While the first one can be confusing (since if both sides try to adapt and the Western side has difficult to distinguish given from surnames, then one (as a Western) can still end up dropping a clanger. The second option can be funny since some people probably simply use google language tools to translate their name, others use a (sometimes "the"?) English word they think to know - I got introduced to "Rock", "Potato", Watermelon and even a "Dying Duck". I'm still figuring where the last one got his inspiration from..
大明 meaning as much as da ming or "big bright" is the name that was choosen for me. Let me highlight that it's "bright" in the sense of “radiant”, shining, not in the sense of “intelligent”.. I was baptised at the very start of my China adventure but still suffer from it since there is a story/ deeper meaning to it (which I still not quite understand) that causes everyone reading it on my business card either to smirk or to laugh out loud.. ;).. I might have found an indicator, while googeling for the deeper meaning of da ming, on (yes, seriously..) Greg Mankiv’s Blog, In the comment of anonymous regarding the name of her dog (...) Anonymous said:
I named my jokey dog "Da Ming".Because in China there are two comedic actors respectively named Guo Da and Cai Ming. And my dog often does some antics just like a comic.He always walks leisurely around the living room lowering his head,sometimes knocked by the wooden chairs,and snarling "them" as if "they" want to provoke a fight,and he is read to. After smelling "them",he realizes that "they" are not creature.Then he walks away shaking his head.
I promise I didn't "snarl" any wodden chair... so what? I walk away, shaking my head.. :) Sometimes I simply refer to myself as 多米尼克 - meaning as much as Duō mǐ ní kè which is the phonetically closest translation of my French/English name. Wanna find out how yours would be translated phonetically? here
Within families given names are rarely used to address adults. Instead one uses the relationship, hence ayi (for auntie) and other titles. Hence, I can forget Sheila's name and simply call her mei(4) mei.. ;) Read more about the incredible maze of titles here.