The Name Of The Game

Have you even muse over the meaning of your name? I mean it is something which I haven't given a thought. Guess I just take it for granted.

Well, it only hit me when a group of friends and I engaged in a discourse of our names over a cup of coffee last weekend. As a Chinese, I must say I am overwhelmed that my Chinese name^, 庄秀女我 (Hanyu Pinyin: Zhuang Xiu'e)＝庄＋秀女我 (my name) offers different variations depending on the following context:

1. Family names
2. Given names
3. Dialect names (Regional names)
4. Alternative names

1. Family names

The Chinese name system originates in Eastern Asia. As a matter of fact, all countries in Eastern Asia have adopted the Chinese name system. Nowadays, there are over 700 variety of Chinese family names. Interestingly, as few as twenty family names cover a majority of Chinese people.

Unlike Westerners where the family name usually comes last, Chinese family names are always written first. One example is renowned China revolutionist 毛澤東 (Mao Ze-dong). The family name of Mao Zedong is 毛 (Mao), and his given name is Ze-dong (traditional given name: 澤東, simplified: 泽东). The great majority of Chinese family names have only one character, but there are also some that comes with two such as 歐陽, 上官, 司馬, 司徒. Only a few of these compund surnames remain in use in modern times.

Today, some married Chinese women choose to keep their maiden names as their family name, rather than adoping the name of their husband. For children, they usually inherit their father's family name.

2. Given names

The variety in Chinese names therefore depends greatly on given names, rather than family names.

Chinese given names have one or two characters, and are written after the family name. When a baby is born, parents frequently name him or her with a "milk name" or "little name" first, such as Little Treasure 小寶/ 小宝 (Xiao-bao) or two characters that repeat 明明 (Ming-ming) after the given name is selected by the parents, customarily with consultation of the grandparents. The parents may continue to use the nickname.

When generation names are used as part of a two-characters given name, it is generally not apt to address someone by the first part of their given name only, as it is merely their generation name. Instead, the entire given name should be used ie 秀女我. This should be the case regardless of whether the surname is used for example, 庄秀女我 or 秀女我.

3. Dialect names (Regional names)

Typically, it consists of one-character family name + twin-characters given name (mainstream)

Some examples are:

李显龙 (Li Xian-long)=李+显龙 (Prime Minister of Singapore)
張國榮 (Zang Guo-rong)＝張＋國榮(singer and actor)
古天乐 (Gu Tian-le)＝古＋天乐 (actor)

One-character family name + one-character given name (few):

蔡琴 (Cai Qin)＝蔡＋琴 (folk singer)
蕭薔 (Qiang Wei)＝蕭＋薔(actress; stage name)

Two-character family name + one-character given name (even lesser):

歐陽龍 (Ou Yang-long) ＝歐陽＋龍 (actor, local politician)

My surname name, Chung or 庄, is also one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China.

4. Alternative names

Additionally, many Chinese have various kinds of nicknames. Nicknames are usually an modification of the given name, sometimes based on the person's physical attributes, speaking style or even their first word. A nickname may also consist of the diminutive 阿 (a), followed by part of the given name (usually the last character).

Such nicknames are rarely used in formal or semi-formal settings. One exception to this is Chen Shui-bian, a Taiwanese politician, who is generally known as 阿扁 (A-bian) in the newspaper articles.

Hope the above will be informative to non-Chinese folks out there:)

^http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_names