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Help[Opinions] Picking a Chinese name
I'm living in China right now as some of you might know. I'm taking language classes and on the first day we were all given Chinese names by the teacher. Now in Chinese you can pick whatever word you want as a first name. The same sounds can be transcribed as all sorts of different ideograms, so names have obvious meanings.
My first name is Francesca, which is hard to pronounce plus would require about one billion ideograms to write (most words include 1 or 2, maximum 3). So right now my Chinese name is a part of my surname which coincides with a different girl's name (and which people confuse with my first name sometimes), trascribed in ideograms which have neutral, not particularly pretty meanings.
Anyway I was fiddling with a language app the other day and found some characters corresponding to Fu Lan, which would sound a bit like "Fran" (one of my nicknames) and mean "Happiness Orchid". I also found on BtN another "Fu" meaning "Lotus" which would go with the flower theme of "Orchid". Another alternative would be find characters for Francesca, which then would anyway be somewhat mispronounced as "Furancisca" or "Furansesca". Bear in mind that the ideograms have to have nice, or at least neutral meanings, and there would be loads of them in this case.
So, what is best:
a) use my surname.
b) Fu Lan "Happiness Orchid"
c) Fu Lan "Lotus Orchid"
d) some version of Francesca
e) none of the above is satisfactory, look for some other solution.
- Formerly known as Murasaki-
italianlaowaigirl.blogspot.com
My first name is Francesca, which is hard to pronounce plus would require about one billion ideograms to write (most words include 1 or 2, maximum 3). So right now my Chinese name is a part of my surname which coincides with a different girl's name (and which people confuse with my first name sometimes), trascribed in ideograms which have neutral, not particularly pretty meanings.
Anyway I was fiddling with a language app the other day and found some characters corresponding to Fu Lan, which would sound a bit like "Fran" (one of my nicknames) and mean "Happiness Orchid". I also found on BtN another "Fu" meaning "Lotus" which would go with the flower theme of "Orchid". Another alternative would be find characters for Francesca, which then would anyway be somewhat mispronounced as "Furancisca" or "Furansesca". Bear in mind that the ideograms have to have nice, or at least neutral meanings, and there would be loads of them in this case.
So, what is best:
a) use my surname.
b) Fu Lan "Happiness Orchid"
c) Fu Lan "Lotus Orchid"
d) some version of Francesca
e) none of the above is satisfactory, look for some other solution.
- Formerly known as Murasaki-
italianlaowaigirl.blogspot.com
Archived Thread - replies disabled
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Replies
I think a Chinese speaker might better answer these questions for you, as, correct me if I'm wrong, but the aesthetics of the name depend in part on how the tones for each part of the name sound with each other. Just putting two hanzi symbols together might lead to a good meaning or something that looks or sounds nice in English, but doesn't work as well in Chinese. I might be wrong, but if not, a Chinese-speaking friend might give you more accurate opinions and ideas. You've probably asked them already, though.
I don't know what your surname-based name is, and wouldn't ask you to reveal it, so I can't comment on it.
I like 'Happiness Orchid' better than 'Lotus Orchid'. The latter is too flower-y, and the former feels more descriptive and therefore more natural.
One avenue that might be worth looking at is taking inspiration from the meaning of your name. Francesca means 'French', and the interwebs tell me that the Chinese for French/France is 法国人/法国. 法 (Fà) doesn't only mean 'France' but 'law, dharma, rule, way', so if Fu doesn't work, maybe Fa could be an alternative, if it's used in names. Eh, that idea sucked a bit, I must admit.
So, I tried finding inspiration from Chinese/English names of celebrities:
Ideas:
Based on F-
菲 (Fei). It means 'humble' and is the Chinese name of Faye Wong. I don't think the meaning's great, though, as it can also mean unworthy.
芬 (Fen)? This is also Fang, apparently.
法拉 (Fa La)? Like Fala Chen. Admittedly the meaning isn't stunning and the name doesn't work amazingly in English.
风 (Feng)? (Wind, as in, air, I imagine, style)
Based on C/Ch-:
Ching/ Jing - 瀞 - Ching may be a regional pron.
Chang?
Zhu (朱) - sounds like Chu - means 'scarlet', 'vermillion', and is kind of cool.
Chun?
I don't know what your surname-based name is, and wouldn't ask you to reveal it, so I can't comment on it.
I like 'Happiness Orchid' better than 'Lotus Orchid'. The latter is too flower-y, and the former feels more descriptive and therefore more natural.
One avenue that might be worth looking at is taking inspiration from the meaning of your name. Francesca means 'French', and the interwebs tell me that the Chinese for French/France is 法国人/法国. 法 (Fà) doesn't only mean 'France' but 'law, dharma, rule, way', so if Fu doesn't work, maybe Fa could be an alternative, if it's used in names. Eh, that idea sucked a bit, I must admit.
So, I tried finding inspiration from Chinese/English names of celebrities:
Ideas:
Based on F-
菲 (Fei). It means 'humble' and is the Chinese name of Faye Wong. I don't think the meaning's great, though, as it can also mean unworthy.
芬 (Fen)? This is also Fang, apparently.
法拉 (Fa La)? Like Fala Chen. Admittedly the meaning isn't stunning and the name doesn't work amazingly in English.
风 (Feng)? (Wind, as in, air, I imagine, style)
Based on C/Ch-:
Ching/ Jing - 瀞 - Ching may be a regional pron.
Chang?
Zhu (朱) - sounds like Chu - means 'scarlet', 'vermillion', and is kind of cool.
Chun?
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No that's helpful! You've done more research than I have!
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I like Fu Lan "happiness orchid" best. But IIWY, I'd ask a Chinese speaker, if I could get one who'd be honest with me.
I think I would not want to pick something too unique ... I'd want to use a name that had some precedent as a girl's name, and didn't seem made up and foreign to my Chinese acquaintances (I'd worry that it might be comical without me realizing it). That'd be more important to me than approximating the sound of my real name.
I think I would not want to pick something too unique ... I'd want to use a name that had some precedent as a girl's name, and didn't seem made up and foreign to my Chinese acquaintances (I'd worry that it might be comical without me realizing it). That'd be more important to me than approximating the sound of my real name.
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Well, the thing is, technically all Chinese names are "made up" since you can pick any word you want as your child name. Lan as Orchid at least as a history of usage as a girl's name. When Chinese people choose English names for themselves, the results are sometimes, well, surprising. Some are normal enough names, but I've come across "Apple", "Albus" (as in Dumbledore), "Shoulder". Stuff that wouldn't really pass in an English speaking country. And one of my American colleagues' Chinese name translates as "Orange" (it started as a joke and then stuck).
So it's pretty much a free-for-all. It's not immensely important since I don't do business in Chinese and won't really be using it in any official capacity.
So it's pretty much a free-for-all. It's not immensely important since I don't do business in Chinese and won't really be using it in any official capacity.
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I like Fu Lan for Happiness Orchid. It's a nice approximation of your actual name, and has a cool meaning.
I love how Chinese names tend to be more expressive. My friends from China actually know their names' meanings and have told me beautiful stories about why they were given them.
I love how Chinese names tend to be more expressive. My friends from China actually know their names' meanings and have told me beautiful stories about why they were given them.
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"Happiness Orchid" makes me smile, so it gets my vote.
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