Our native names(chinese, vietnamese, english, etc...)

[seventhfairy]

Tell us your native name and tell us the meaning of the name if it has one, please

My native hometown is Beijing, China and my chinese name is 王莹红（Wang Ying Hong)

王：Wang，my last name
莹：florescent （also meaning bright and transparent)
红：red color

Literally meaning "a transparent and bright red color". Doesn't it give you an image of the chinese flag?My parents wanted me to remember that where ever I steps lead me to, that my root is from China. Sometimes when I go back to Beijing for vacation, people in the same neighborhood as my grandparent's house would often call me 红红，红儿，or小红. (Sweet!)

I am living in the America right now. My mother asked me the question as to

"If America and China had a war, which side are you choosing to go to war if you have no choice to join an army."

I answered, "Its a tough question!!!"

Really, I dont know the answer..

[PJ]

My hometown is Neijiang, Sichuan province.

The name I was given at birth is 李果 (Li Guo).

李 = Li, the last name
果 = Guo, fruit, result

After my parents divorced, my name was changed to take on my mom's surname, and she changed the name to 林宇豪 (Lin Yuhao).

林 = Lin, the last name
宇 = Yu, universe
豪 = Hao, chivalry, heroic

Literally meaning hero of the universe, my new name expresses the successful person my mom wanted me to become.

[ByTmE]

I don't have a Chinese or Khmer name...hmm well I guess I'm just not as cool as y'all who do...my hometown is eRr what should I write? I was born in Takoma Park, Maryland.

My name is..Linda Marie lol

Linda: Spanish for "beautiful or pretty"...I've heard of different degrees of both
Marie: French for "beloved" or "star of the sea"

My parents didn't want to give me a nice Chinese or Khmer name for fear that people would laugh at me. My mother had a cousin named "Mei Li" ...but the girl was ugly. My daddy had a cousin named "Panha" which means clever or smart...but he wasn't either. So, in their infinite wisdom, they decided to pick "foreign" names and hoped that no one would notice.

How ironic.

[remember_Cedric]

I don't have a Chinese or Khmer name...hmm well I guess I'm just not as cool as y'all who do...my hometown is eRr what should I write? I was born in Takoma Park, Maryland.

My name is..Linda Marie lol

Linda: Spanish for "beautiful or pretty"...I've heard of different degrees of both
Marie: French for "beloved" or "star of the sea"

My parents didn't want to give me a nice Chinese or Khmer name for fear that people would laugh at me. My mother had a cousin named "Mei Li" ...but the girl was ugly. My daddy had a cousin named "Panha" which means clever or smart...but he wasn't either. So, in their infinite wisdom, they decided to pick "foreign" names and hoped that no one would notice.

How ironic.

You want a Chinese name? I'll suggest this.... Ling2 mei3 or Ling2min3. The idea comes from your LIN-da and the sound of Marie. If you would like, we can discuss about the characters lol

I hope your Queen won't come after me.

[remember_Cedric]

My hometown is Neijiang, Sichuan province.

The name I was given at birth is 李果 (Li Guo).

李 = Li, the last name
果 = Guo, fruit, result

果-er

[PJ]

果-er

Haha, now I remember telling you about the coincidence

My family calls me that sometimes, but the similarity with He Who Must Not Be Named never occurred to me!

[remember_Cedric]

Haha, now I remember telling you about the coincidence

My family calls me that sometimes, but the similarity with He Who Must Not Be Named never occurred to me!

The 果儿 instantly strike me. We should swop then... I'll be 小聋女 ..... I'm quite deaf on ears sometimes.

果儿 sound really cute, you should keep it as a petname. I have one too - 小白.

[seventhfairy]

I don't have a Chinese or Khmer name...hmm well I guess I'm just not as cool as y'all who do...my hometown is eRr what should I write? I was born in Takoma Park, Maryland.

My name is..Linda Marie lol

Linda: Spanish for "beautiful or pretty"...I've heard of different degrees of both
Marie: French for "beloved" or "star of the sea"

My parents didn't want to give me a nice Chinese or Khmer name for fear that people would laugh at me. My mother had a cousin named "Mei Li" ...but the girl was ugly. My daddy had a cousin named "Panha" which means clever or smart...but he wasn't either. So, in their infinite wisdom, they decided to pick "foreign" names and hoped that no one would notice.

How ironic.

We are not all that cool, we are just different from other people when we have two offical names in two different languages. It ok to be different. So don't get...sad. "Linda Marie" is a b-e-a-u-ti-ful name. Really positive!!!

[seventhfairy]

[quote=seventhfairy;940436]Tell us your native name and tell us the meaning of the name if it has one, please

My native hometown is Beijing, China and my chinese name is 王莹红（Wang Ying Hong)

王：Wang，my last name
莹：florescent （also meaning bright and transparent)
红：red color

Literally meaning "a transparent and bright red color". Doesn't it give you an image of the chinese flag?My parents wanted me to remember that where ever I steps lead me to, that my root is from China. Sometimes when I go back to Beijing for vacation, people in the same neighborhood as my grandparent's house would often call me 红红，红儿，or小红. (Sweet!)

I am living in the America right now. My mother asked me the question as to

"If America and China had a war, which side are you choosing to go to war if you have no choice to join an army."

I answered, "Its a tough question!!!"

Really, I dont know the answer...

updated post

[remember_Cedric]

My paternal family, which extends to my relatives and grandparents, appear to have a liking for names with "Yu4" - 育, 钰, 昱, 煜, "Chen2" -晨, 辰, Kai3 - 恺, 楷, 凯.

[sniffles]

I have a great admiration for Chinese names. They are meaningful in a way that is not longer true of most English names. My given name is Rachel, which is a Hebrew word meaning 'peace'. But no one would use my name as a word to mean peace. English-language names have become far removed from their original meanings.

Of course, the fact that Chinese names still retain their original meanings means it's awfully hard to recognize proper names when you're learning to read Chinese.

My first Chinese teacher gave me the Chinese name 袁美华.
I really like it. I think it sounds nice. For me it's preferable to one of the phonetic Chinese names that a lot of people end up with, like 玛丽.

[kidd]

When my parents named me, they just went by the sound. Didn't really bother much with the meaning. But, somehow, when one read my name, one can still deduce meaning from it.

I prefer the one decided by my parents. It sound more unusual. But, my grandma want to switched the 2 characters around and it became a really old fashion name.

[Lucre]

my parents put in great effort to get me a 'nice' chinese name, to which im rather fond of, but nobody really used it; not my parents, nor the school teachers, classmates, friends, colleagues....most find it hard to remember, prefering my 'not so exciting western' name.

it was only in the recent years when i gained more chinese friends that i introduced myself to them in my chinese name, so they would use it.

[luv4xia]

If I might add my two cents to this fascinating subject. I've always loved Chinese names but not being Chinese I know that I'd be stuck with whatever name my mother gave me. I remember asking Mommy when I was about 11 years old why she gave me the name Michelle (who is like god - French origin). And she said that when she gave me my name, no one else had it. Of course by the time I got to high school there were seven Michelle's in my class alone.

Yes I know that I can always change my name but being with it so long, its become a part of me. Now because I'm writing a martial arts novel, my mentor thinks it might be best for me to have a Chinese pen name and while I agree with her suggestion, I never realized until I started researching how important and difficult it is to choose the best name. So right now I'm in limbo without a clue about what to do.

I thought initially I'd choose names with the same first initials as my first and last name but then I got married, kept my maiden name and hyphenated my married name so you can see just how much problems I've caused for myself.

I guess I don't have to use all the initials so I've been looking at first names that start with M and last names that start with either H or W. The search continues...

[kidd]

luv4xia,

Here is a pretty neat site that can help you. You key in you english name, your birthdate, your gender and what meaning you want your chinese name to have. The tool will generate a name for you. If you don't like the name, you can try generate another. It will generate different names even though you key in the same english name every time.

http://www.mandarintools.com/chinesename.html

[kidd]

I tried the chinese naming tool with my english name and my surname and I get the following.

Essence: Mind & Intelligence

尹慧師 - Yan Hui Shi (mando), Wan Wai Si (canto)
禹慧爍 - Yu Hui Shuo (mando), Yu Wai Seuk (canto)
晏翰諧 - Yan Han Xie (mando), Ngaan Hoi Haai (canto)
嚴翰設 - Yan Han Se (mando), Yim Hon Chit (canto)
袁翰神 - Yuan Han Shen (mando), Yun Hon San (canto)
楊翰遜 - Yang Han Xun (mando), Yeung Hon Seun (canto)
燕慧爽 - Yan Hui Shuang (mando), Yin Wai Song (canto)

When I was generating the names, I thought to myself 'the names seem to get more and more masculine sound'. Luckily, the names get more feminine again.

I like 楊翰遜 the best.

I read all the names in Cantonese. So, my opinion of them is based on their Cantonese sound.

Will try some other essence later.

[kidd]

You can also use this to help you create an auspicious name.

http://www.name321.com/chest/name.php

[Guo Xiang]

You can also use this to help you create an auspicious name.

http://www.name321.com/chest/name.php

Thanks for the link. It is very interesting, even though it gave me a less-than-inauspicious result for my name (without Bazi calculations).

My paternal family, which extends to my relatives and grandparents, appear to have a liking for names with "Yu4" - 育, 钰, 昱, 煜, "Chen2" -晨, 辰, Kai3 - 恺, 楷, 凯.

They are good characters and I like them.

[kidd]

Thanks for the link. It is very interesting, even though it gave me a less-than-inauspicious result for my name (without Bazi calculations).

My name is also less-than-auspicious. Only got 66 points. But, I've already have 4 people told my/my parents that my name is not auspicious because of a certain character in my name. But, I happen to like that character in my name because not many people use that character in names.

[mawguy]

I like 楊翰遜 the best.

don't mean to rain on your parade, but if you say the name with slightly different pitches, it sounds like "poor, destitute" in canto, so not very auspicious!