中国人的姓名 (zhōngguó rén de xìngmíng) Chinese Surnames and Given Names
In Chinese, the surname comes first and then the given name. The full name of a Han Chinese is composed of two parts: the surnames and the given name.
Surnames
A Chinese “姓 (xìng) surname” refers to one of the over seven hundred family names used by Han Chinese and Sinicized Chinese ethnic groups. The term “百家姓 the hundred family names (echineselearning.com)” is colloquially used in Chinese to mean people/commoners. Chinese surnames are mainly passed from the father.
Given names
Generally speaking, Chinese given names have one or two characters, and are written after the family name. When a baby is born, parents often give him or her a “乳名 (rŭmíng) pet name” or “小名 (xiăomíng) little name,” such as “小宝 (xiăobăo) Little Gem” or two characters that repeat “明明 (míngmíng) Ming Ming.” The given name is then usually chosen later and is often chosen with consultation of the grandparents. As mentioned earlier, in Chinese, the surname comes first and then the given name. Therefore “John Smith” as a Chinese name would be “Smith John.” For instance, the NBA star Yao Ming should be addressed as “Mr. Yao”, not “Mr. Ming.” And people like to add “小 (xiăo)” before family name, such as “小王 (xiăowáng),” “小郑 (xiăozhèng),” “小李 (xiăolĭ)” and so on. In calling their superiors or elders, the Chinese are accustomed to the nonreciprocal or asymmetrical addressing. They use “title +surname” to address their superior or elders rather than call them surnames (e.g. Professor Wang), while the superior or elders call the addressers their names directly. The Chinese tend to abide by the principle of depreciating oneself and respecting others to show appropriate respects towards the persons being addressed. Otherwise, the addresser may be considered as ill mannered, ill educated or rude.
Hope it helps.
Any more questions related to Chinese learning, feel free to drop me a line at [email protected]
Chinese names generally consist of a surname or family name which comes from a relatively small stock of well established family names. The vast majority of the Chinese population (at least on the mainland) share just a handful of surnames. In fact, "the hundred surnames" is a colloquial way Chinese people refer to "common people" in Mandarin. Common surnames number a couple dozen, and less common surnames may run into the hundreds.
Surnames will be a single syllable, there are just a few double-syllable/character surnames that are derived from official titles or posts in ancient China.
The given name will be one or two words/syllables/characters that embody some positive characteristics or orientation that the family hopes to imbue the child with. There is actually deep superstition surrounding naming, and experts in auspicious names will sometimes be consulted to help with naming the child. However, this is rather old fashioned and nowadays naming is much like in the West: a nice sounding name, or a name with nice characters that is chosen by the parents or a grand parent.
During China's recent political upheaval in the last century, there was a period when Chinese parents chose their children's names along party lines that would reflect affiliation to "the party" or "the nation" or "communism" or what have you. So if you hear of a "zhang ai guo" (Zhang who loves his nation) or "li wei dong" (Li, who protects the East), you can get a rough idea of when they were born.
In villages and the countryside, parents will sometimes give a child an extremely common name: "little branch", "lump of clay". This is their "nursing name" and is connected to superstition. When infant mortality was very high, the idea is that you would not want to name your child "little treasure" or "precious beauty", but a common sounding name because then they would be passed over by the "spirits" of sickness or death.
Chinese parents also recently took to using extremely rare or complex names for their children's names, to make them "special", this wreaks havoc with administrative bodies however, as some characters cannot be found in computers, not good for say--marriage registration or criminal tracking.
Some parents also (for some crazy reason) have attempted to give their children off color, or poor-taste names like "naughty" or "little bastard". Both types of names are not allowed to be registered by local governments, and regulations have been put in place, not unlike in the West. This is a balancing act because: (1) a tiny pool of common surnames (which people do not change)+(2) most of the population clustering around the same common "good-sounding" names for boys and girls= a huge overlap of names in the population, it is not uncommon for the wrong "Zhang Da Wei" to be arrested or contacted in connection with something.
I could go on, and on, and on, but there you have something.
They're given to you at birth. When immigrants come they sound out their Chinese name to English. My Chinese last name is pronounced 'yeurng', when they translated it went to Young.
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
中国人的姓名 (zhōngguó rén de xìngmíng) Chinese Surnames and Given Names
In Chinese, the surname comes first and then the given name. The full name of a Han Chinese is composed of two parts: the surnames and the given name.
Surnames
A Chinese “姓 (xìng) surname” refers to one of the over seven hundred family names used by Han Chinese and Sinicized Chinese ethnic groups. The term “百家姓 the hundred family names (echineselearning.com)” is colloquially used in Chinese to mean people/commoners. Chinese surnames are mainly passed from the father.
Given names
Generally speaking, Chinese given names have one or two characters, and are written after the family name. When a baby is born, parents often give him or her a “乳名 (rŭmíng) pet name” or “小名 (xiăomíng) little name,” such as “小宝 (xiăobăo) Little Gem” or two characters that repeat “明明 (míngmíng) Ming Ming.” The given name is then usually chosen later and is often chosen with consultation of the grandparents. As mentioned earlier, in Chinese, the surname comes first and then the given name. Therefore “John Smith” as a Chinese name would be “Smith John.” For instance, the NBA star Yao Ming should be addressed as “Mr. Yao”, not “Mr. Ming.” And people like to add “小 (xiăo)” before family name, such as “小王 (xiăowáng),” “小郑 (xiăozhèng),” “小李 (xiăolĭ)” and so on. In calling their superiors or elders, the Chinese are accustomed to the nonreciprocal or asymmetrical addressing. They use “title +surname” to address their superior or elders rather than call them surnames (e.g. Professor Wang), while the superior or elders call the addressers their names directly. The Chinese tend to abide by the principle of depreciating oneself and respecting others to show appropriate respects towards the persons being addressed. Otherwise, the addresser may be considered as ill mannered, ill educated or rude.
Hope it helps.
Any more questions related to Chinese learning, feel free to drop me a line at [email protected]
Chinese names generally consist of a surname or family name which comes from a relatively small stock of well established family names. The vast majority of the Chinese population (at least on the mainland) share just a handful of surnames. In fact, "the hundred surnames" is a colloquial way Chinese people refer to "common people" in Mandarin. Common surnames number a couple dozen, and less common surnames may run into the hundreds.
Surnames will be a single syllable, there are just a few double-syllable/character surnames that are derived from official titles or posts in ancient China.
The given name will be one or two words/syllables/characters that embody some positive characteristics or orientation that the family hopes to imbue the child with. There is actually deep superstition surrounding naming, and experts in auspicious names will sometimes be consulted to help with naming the child. However, this is rather old fashioned and nowadays naming is much like in the West: a nice sounding name, or a name with nice characters that is chosen by the parents or a grand parent.
During China's recent political upheaval in the last century, there was a period when Chinese parents chose their children's names along party lines that would reflect affiliation to "the party" or "the nation" or "communism" or what have you. So if you hear of a "zhang ai guo" (Zhang who loves his nation) or "li wei dong" (Li, who protects the East), you can get a rough idea of when they were born.
In villages and the countryside, parents will sometimes give a child an extremely common name: "little branch", "lump of clay". This is their "nursing name" and is connected to superstition. When infant mortality was very high, the idea is that you would not want to name your child "little treasure" or "precious beauty", but a common sounding name because then they would be passed over by the "spirits" of sickness or death.
Chinese parents also recently took to using extremely rare or complex names for their children's names, to make them "special", this wreaks havoc with administrative bodies however, as some characters cannot be found in computers, not good for say--marriage registration or criminal tracking.
Some parents also (for some crazy reason) have attempted to give their children off color, or poor-taste names like "naughty" or "little bastard". Both types of names are not allowed to be registered by local governments, and regulations have been put in place, not unlike in the West. This is a balancing act because: (1) a tiny pool of common surnames (which people do not change)+(2) most of the population clustering around the same common "good-sounding" names for boys and girls= a huge overlap of names in the population, it is not uncommon for the wrong "Zhang Da Wei" to be arrested or contacted in connection with something.
I could go on, and on, and on, but there you have something.
They're given to you at birth. When immigrants come they sound out their Chinese name to English. My Chinese last name is pronounced 'yeurng', when they translated it went to Young.
there is a certain list for surnames
and
any word can be used for a personal name