Chinese Names:
Chinese Name Vs. Name in Chinese
It is easy for you to get your name in Chinese through some so-called Chinese naming tools. For instance, Tom in Chinese is 汤姆. That's good. But a name like 汤姆 is not a real Chinese name at all. It is the name in Chinese.
Name in Chinese
A name in Chinese is only a name in simply combining characters by original pronunciation. In the above example, the Pinying of 汤姆 is tang1 mu3, which is close to Tom. It is the easiest way to get yourself a name in Chinese according to your original name, while it is not as meaningful as a real Chinese name.
A Real Chinese Name
A real Chinese name is created by ancient Chinese name creation methodology. In general there are two major ways for the name methodology, i.e. culture and fortune-telling. From the cultural aspect, the Chinese name philosophy is various and the affection dominates the result. For the respect and best blessing, people traditionally consult the oldest of the family for a name. A name for a new-born baby usually reflects either the parents’ expectation, such as good health, fortune, integrity, success, kindness, etc. Nowadays, people feel more flexible and comfortable in name selection. Chinese people mostly concern better on the affection or the expected accomplishment of the children.
Let's take the name of my best friend: ZHOU Jie (周杰)
| Surname (姓): | ZHOU (周) | the mostly used surname in china |
| Given name (名): | Jie (杰) | master; the outstanding person |
Chinese Names of Companies
We may also get some hints from the Chinese name of those giant companies.
McDonald’s is translated directly into Chinese as 麦当劳. 麦当劳 is meaningless in Chinese, just a transliteration from McDonald’s according to its pronunciation.
Also in the fast food industry, the Chinese name of Subway, 赛百味, is much better. Let's look at the detail:
| 赛 | better-than |
| 百 | hundred |
| 味 | taste |