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Chinese name

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Personal names in Chinese culture follow a number of conventions different from those of personal names in Western cultures (to use our era's globally dominant cultural practice merely for the purpose of easy comparison). Most noticeably, a Chinese name is written with the family name (surname or last name) first and the given name next. For instance, the basketball player who is commonly called Yao Ming would be addressed as "Mr. Yao", not "Mr. Ming".

Note, however, that some Chinese people 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"). Other Chinese people sometimes take a combined name, consisting of Western first name, surname, and Chinese given name, in that order ("Fred Yao Ming"), mostly in Hong Kong, or in the order of Western first name, Chinese given name, and surname ("Fred Ming Yao").

Traditional naming schemes often followed a pattern of using generation names as part of a two-character given name; however, this is less used today, especially in the mainland of the People's Republic of China, where many given names use only one character. However it is still the norm among the Chinese populations of Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

When generation names are used as part of a two-characters given name, it is generally inappropriate and can be 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 Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong 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 hypenated or adjoined.

In addition to the given name, many Chinese have various kinds of nicknames.

Family names

Main article: Chinese family name

The Chinese name system is the original pattern of names in Eastern Asia. In fact, all countries in Eastern Asia have followed the Chinese name 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 character, but there are a few with two; see Chinese compound surname 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 Zedong is Mao (毛), and his given name is Zedong (traditional: 澤東, simplified: 泽东).

Married Chinese women usually retain their maiden names as their family name, rather than the adopted name of their husband, and children usually inherit the father's family name. Historically, it was considered taboo 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

Main article: Chinese given name

Generally speaking, Chinese given names have one or two characters, and are written after the family name. When a baby is first born parents often give him or her a "milk name" or "little name," such as Little Treasure (小寶/ 小宝). The given name is then chosen somewhat later: in China, parents have a month before having to register the child. The parents may continue to use the nickname.

With a limited supply 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 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 Ma (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 poem listing the names. Also, siblings' names are frequently related, for example, a boy may be named pine (松, considered masculine) while his sister may be named plum (梅, considered feminine).

Chinese personal names also may reflect periods of history. For example, many Chinese born during the Cultural Revolution have "revolutionary names" such as strong country (強國, 强国) or eastern wind (東風, 东风). In Taiwan, it used to be common to incorporate one of the four characters of the name "Republic of China" (中華民國) into masculine names.

Romanization of Chinese names

In mainland China, Han names are romanized in pinyin, usually without tone marks. The name order is the same as in Chinese, with the surname first followed by the given name. Two character given names or surnames (much less common) are written as one word, a hyphen or space is not used. The first letters of the surname and given name are in capital letters, but sometimes capital letters are used for the whole surname, especially for official purposes.

For example:
Gong Li or GONG Li (one character surname, one character given name)
Mao Zedong or MAO Zedong (one character surname, two character given name)
Sima Qian (two character surname, one character given name)

Alternative names

Nicknames are usually an alteration of the given name, sometimes based on the person's physical attributes, speaking style or even their first word. A nickname may consist of the diminutive ā (阿), followed by part of the given name (usually the last character). The ā (阿) diminutive is more commonly found in the southern regions of China than in the north. Nicknames are rarely used in formal or semi-formal settings. One exception to this is Chen Shui-bian, who is commonly known as A-bian (阿扁) even by himself and in newspaper articles.

In former times, it was common for educated males to acquire courtesy names. The two most common forms were a zi (字), given upon reaching maturity, and a hao (號), usually self-selected and often somewhat whimsical. Although this tradition has lapsed, authors' use of pen names is still a common phenomenon. For more information, see Chinese style name.

For prominent people, posthumous names (諡號, 谥号) have often been given, although this is uncommon now. Sun Yat-sen was given the posthumous name of Guófù (國父, Father of the Nation), the name by which he is most frequently known in Taiwan. Emperors were also ascribed temple names (廟號, 庙号).

For the emperor Era name.

Regional variations

Many Chinese who live or work in Western cultures have a Western name in addition to their Chinese name. For example, the Taiwanese politician Soong Chu-yu (宋楚瑜) is also known as James Soong.

Among Chinese Americans, it is common practice to be referred to primarily by the Western name and to use the Chinese given name as a middle name; 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 Tony may also be written as Tony Tan Keng Yam, and individuals are free to indicate their official names in either format on their identity cards. General usage tend to prefer placing the Western name first due to the popularity of referring to individuals simply as "Tony Tan" and dropping the given Chinese name entirely. For administrative purposes, however, government agencies 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 comma 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 Cards, 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 transliterations of their Chinese given names in their names in English record, such as Henry Lee or Peter Vincent Cheng. In Macau, ethnic Chinese individuals who have Portuguese given names may have their names written in the Portuguese name order, such as Carlos do Rosário Tchiang.

Another variation is whether the form used in romanization is the Mandarin form or the one using local dialect. In general, ethnic Chinese in Mainland China and Taiwan will romanize the Mandarin form of their name, and those in parts of southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Macau will romanize the local dialect form. Although not a Chinese dialect, ethnic Chinese in Vietnam romanize their names in Vietnamese pronunciation using quoc ngu, making them almost indistinguishible from Vietnamese names. 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 pinyin) are both depicted on the person's NRIC, unless the bearer chooses to drop either of them. In Macau, Chinese names are usually transliterated based on Portuguese orthography. Chinese from Mainland China are generally recognizable from the Hanyu pinyin romanization used which includes "x", "zh" and "q" which are not found in other romanization systems and which does not use hyphens.

An example of the difference amongst dialects is the name Gar-Wei, which in Mandarin is pronounced "Jia Hui". In Cantonese, however, it is pronounced "Gah Wye."

There are also naming conventions which are peculiar to Taiwan, which give rise to distinct Taiwanese names.

Forms of address

Within families, adults are rarely referred to by their given names. Rather, the relationship is stressed, so each member is known by this connection. Thus, there is big sister, second sister, third sister and so on. These connections are also distinguished by what side of the family they are on. Generally speaking though, the family title is only used when the relative being called is older than caller. It is considered highly inappropriate and sometimes extremely offensive if a person from a younger generation calls someone from an older generation by his/her given name. Younger relatives are normally only called by their relational title in formal situations. Children can be called by their given name, or their parents may use their nickname.

When speaking of non-family social acquaintances, people are generally referred to by a title, for example Mother Li (李媽媽, 李妈妈) or Mrs. Zhu (朱太太). Personal names are used when referring to adult friends or to children. It is common to refer to a person as lao (老, old) or xiao (小, young) followed by their family name, thus Lao Wang (老王) or Xiao Zhang (小張, 小张). Note that because old people are well respected in Chinese society, lao (old) does not carry disrespect, offense or any negative implications even if it's used to refer to an older woman.

See also

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