The Most Satisfying Feeling I Get from Learning Chinese
One of the most satisfying feelings I’ve experienced in learning Chinese is the feeling I get after hearing a new word and just *understanding* it. This isn’t that hard when reading (and that’s why we love 汉字), but when it comes to listening, it’s a whole different story. So the moments when I’ve heard a new word and intuitively known what 汉字 it consists of plus its meaning of have made me feel so accomplished. Over time I’ve jotted down some of these words, and I thought they would make a fun post.
迷失 míshī - to lose (one’s bearings) / to get lost I was able to understand this word thanks to knowing words like 迷路, 迷茫, 失去, and 消失. I first remember identifying this word in Escape Plan’s song 夜空中最亮的星.
旅途 lǚtú - journey / trip I know a lot of words with 旅 like 旅游, 旅行, and 旅程, and I was also familiar with 途 via 路途 and 前途. So 旅途 was very easy for me to understand.
心愿 xīnyuàn - cherished desire / dream / craving / wish / aspiration 心愿 is similar in meaning to 愿望 and 意愿, which I already knew. I believe I first heard this word in the song 有点甜 by 汪苏泷 and BY2.
高傲 gāo'ào - arrogant / haughty / proud I heard this word in the song 寻宝 by 沈以诚. I’ve listened to this song many times, and one day it just clicked! It’s all thanks to the similar words 骄傲 and 傲慢.
安稳 ānwěn - smooth and steady There are so many words with 安 like 安定 and 平安. I also know some 稳 words, such as 稳定 and 平稳. So I was able to put two and two together for 安稳.
还原 huányuán - to restore to the original state / to reconstruct (an event) The meaning of 还 here is very familiar from 还给 and 还清. Also, I know a lot of words with 原: 原来, 原本, 原始, 原先.
选拔 xuǎnbá - to select the best There are so many 选 words I see all the time like 精选, 选举, and 选择. I also know 拔 from 拔苗助长 and 自拔, so I was able to piece together the overall meaning of 选拔.
解压 jiěyā - to relieve stress I’ve already learned the word 缓解 which is related in meaning. Also, I’ve learned 施压 (or 施加压力), which is basically the opposite of 解压.
感人 gǎnrén - touching / moving I think this word is pretty easy to put together if you know similar words like 感染, 感动, and 动人.
认输 rènshū - to concede / to admit defeat I distinctly remember hearing this word in the Tanya Chua song 救生圈. I think I was able to understand it thanks to knowing that 认 can mean to admit like in the words 承认 and 公认.
Here’s to many more of these satisfying moments in 2022!
Since making this post, I’ve been taking note of other instances. Below are 15 more words I was able to get from hearing alone.
离散 lísàn - (of family members) separated from one another / scattered about / dispersed Of course, I know many words with 离, such as 离开 and 脱离. I also know some words containing 散, like 分散 and 散发. So it’s not a big leap to figure out what 离散 means.
星体 xīngtǐ - celestial body (planet, satellite etc) I was able to guess the meaning of 星体 because I am already familiar with 星球, which has a very similar meaning. I know it from Star Wars, aka 星球大战! But 星体 is from the EXO-C version of History.
堆积 duījī - to pile up / to heap / accumulation I basically understand 堆积 as 堆满 plus 累积. These are two words which I’ve learned previously.
魅惑 mèihuò - to entice / to charm Here’s another example where I know two similar words that I can essentially “combine” to get 魅惑. The words I already knew are 魅力 and 诱惑.
插播 chābō - to interrupt (a radio or TV program) with a commercial insert, breaking news etc / to put a call on hold I know 播 from words like 广播 and 播放. I also know 插 primarily from the expression 插一句. And thanks to the context (I heard 插播 used while watching a Chinese TV show), I was able to put two and two together.
杂乱 záluàn - in a mess / in a jumble / chaotic 乱 is such a common character, I see it all the time. As for 杂, I know the word 嘈杂, and my brain seemed to think that was somehow similar, and I guess I was right? There aren’t many characters pronounced za after all.
掩埋 yǎnmái - to bury 埋 is a 多音字, and I know the mái reading from the word 埋葬. I don’t know 掩 as well, but I’ve encountered the word 掩盖, so I was able to guess that the yan I was hearing was probably 掩.
期盼 qīpàn - hope and expectation / to anticipate / to look forward to / to await expectantly 期盼 is very similar to the words 期望 and 盼望. I hear 期望 all the time. 盼望 is not a word I encounter as often, but I’m familiar enough with it.
任一 rènyī - any / either Don’t quote me on this, but I understand 任一 as essentially meaning 任何一个. They at least seem to be interchangeable in the contexts I’ve heard 任一 in so far. I either heard it in 青春有你3 or 创造营2021, I can’t remember.
见证 jiànzhèng - to be witness to / witness / evidence I already knew 证据, meaning proof or evidence, and I was vaguely aware of 证 being used in other words having to do with evidence and witnessing.
打散 dǎsàn - to scatter / to break sth up / to beat (an egg) Not gonna lie, I wouldn’t have guessed the beat an egg meaning, but I was able to approximate the other meaning(s). There are so many words starting with 打, so it’s a familiar structure.
支撑 zhīchēng - to prop up / to support / strut / brace If you watch the 创造营 series, you have heard the words 支持 and 撑腰 about five million times: party girl之道 姐妹为你撑腰~ 支撑 is very similar in meaning.
自律 zìlǜ - self-discipline / self-regulation / autonomy (ethics) / autonomic (physiology) I kinda know the word 纪律, meaning discipline. I think being familiar with how 自 is used in words like 自卫, 自学, etc. helped as well.
方位 fāngwèi - direction / points of the compass / bearing / position I think I heard this word in a song, but I can’t remember what song at the moment. I connected it to the words 方向 and 位置. And 百科 defines 方位 as 方向位置, so I was spot on!
停歇 tíngxiē - to stop for a rest I know many words containing 停, including 停止, 停留, and 暂停. I don’t think I actually know many words with 歇, but I was aware of its dictionary definition for some reason. Must have looked it up at some point.
Too many of these are from survival shows…I guess that shows that I am learning from them!
I’ve been trying (admittedly not very hard) to read a full book in Chinese for a couple years now. I think I’ve tried 2 or 3 times? Well now I’m trying again with the book 《少女哪吒》 by 绿妖 (Shàonǚ Nézhā by Lǜ Yāo). I’m posting this in hopes that it will help hold me accountable so I actually finish this book!
Why have I picked this book?
It’s only about 200 pages long
The pages are physically small, and the text isn’t dense
It’s a short story collection
At least so far, the stories are slice of life and set in recent times
From my past attempts at reading a book, I know that I’ll feel discouraged if it’s taking me forever to get through a page. Also, I’m hoping that having six short stories ensures I don’t get bored or bogged down. Lastly, I didn’t want to make things harder for myself by picking a historical or fantasy novel.
One thing that I struggle with with reading in Chinese is resisting the urge to use Pleco. The problem is when I encounter characters that I don’t know. I can guess the pronunciation of course, but I can’t stand the thought of being wrong and then “learning” an incorrect pronunciation! I don’t mind guessing the meanings of new words if I recognize the characters (I try to just look up those words if I’m getting confused or if they repeat a lot so I want to learn them better). But I just don’t see myself ever being able to resist the urge to look up unknown characters! I’ve tried not looking them up and always end up going back after because I can’t take it. Wish me luck~
More recently I have wanted to revisit the idea behind those posts but with a different, more in-depth approach. I also made some decisions while compiling data for those posts that I now regret. So in late summer 2021, I set out to completely redo my data collection with the eventual goal of creating this very post.
About the Data
I will include more information about my data collection process at the end of this post for those interested.
I gathered 3,277 names (1602 male, 1675 female) from idol shows and groups. In the grand scheme of things, this is not a lot of names at all. But I think it’s enough that we can explore names, observe some generalities, and have fun! These names belong to individuals roughly 15-30 years old. Most names belong to individuals from Mainland China, but there are some Hong Konger and Taiwanese names as well.
Some of the name sources include:
偶像练习生/青春有你
创造101/创造营
明日之子
以团之名/少年之名
SNH48
快乐女声/快乐男声
菱格世代DD52
Various groups like 时代少年 and SING女团
I also wanted to note something important: the definitions I am using (via MDBG) are only the surface. For example, a name containing a character meaning jade might also have implications of beauty and virtue. So the meaning is more than just “jade.” However, it just isn’t practical to go into all the nitty gritty here. I encourage you to seek out more resources if you are interested.
Some Thanks
Thanks so much to @liu-anhuaming,@meichenxi, and my friend Tiffany for their help and advice during the process of creating this post! 非常感谢你们，你们是最棒的！
Given Names (Overall)
First let’s look at the most common characters for ALL the given names in the dataset. There were 1093 total unique characters across all the given names. I’m going to include more characters (almost rounding out the top 100) at the bottom of this post for those interested. There is also some information broken down by gender below.
Top Given Name Characters
宇 yǔ - room, universe / 87
子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point / 82
佳 jiā - beautiful, fine, good / 68
雨 yǔ - rain / 63
嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend / 59
泽 zé - pool, pond, (of metals etc) luster, favor or beneficence, damp, moist / 43
琪 qí - fine jade / 40
婷 tíng - graceful / 39
鑫 xīn - prosperity / 38
晓 xiǎo - dawn, daybreak, to know, to let sb know, to make explicit / 35
浩 hào - grand, vast (water) / 35
晨 chén - morning, dawn, daybreak / 34
恩 ēn - favor, grace, kindness / 33
博 bó - extensive, ample, rich, obtain, aim, to win, to get, plentiful / 32
慧 huì - intelligent / 32
明 míng - bright, clear, to understand, wise / 32
轩 xuān - pavilion with a view, high, tall / 32
辰 chén - 5th earthly branch, 3rd solar month, year of the Dragon, ancient Chinese compass point / 32
Top Given Name Characters (Female)
佳 jiā - beautiful, fine, good / 56
雨 yǔ - rain / 50
欣 xīn - happy / 49
怡 yí - harmony, pleased / 44
婷 tíng - graceful / 39
嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend / 37
琪 qí - fine jade / 35
思 sī - to think, to consider / 33
慧 huì - intelligent / 31
梦 mèng - dream, to dream / 30
Top Given Name Characters (Male)
宇 yǔ - room, universe / 68
子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point / 55
There were 668 single-character names, which is about 20% of the total names. I know that 单名 are pretty rare in Taiwan (I’m not sure about Hong Kong), so that’s something to keep in mind. More of the top 单名 are at the bottom of this post.
Top Single-Character Names
鑫 xīn - prosperity / 12
欣 xīn - happy / 10
洋 yáng - ocean, vast, foreign, silver dollar or coin / 9
静 jìng - still, calm, quiet, not moving / 7
丹 dān - red, pellet, powder, cinnabar / 6
娜 nà - graceful, elegant, beautiful / 6
恩 ēn - favor, grace, kindness / 6
敏 mǐn - quick, nimble, agile, clever, smart / 6
昕 xīn - dawn / 6
雪 xuě - snow / 6
颖 yǐng - head of grain, husk, tip, point, clever, gifted, outstanding / 6
Female Single-Character Names
欣 xīn - happy / 9
鑫 xīn - prosperity / 8
静 jìng - still, calm, quiet, not moving / 7
丹 dān - red, pellet, powder, cinnabar / 6
娜 nà - graceful, elegant, beautiful / 6
敏 mǐn - quick, nimble, agile, clever, smart / 6
雪 xuě - snow / 6
倩 qiàn - pretty, winsome / 5
洁 jié - clean / 5
颖 yǐng - head of grain, husk, tip, point, clever, gifted, outstanding / 5
Male Single-Character Names
洋 yáng - ocean, vast, foreign, silver dollar or coin / 7
超 chāo - to exceed, to overtake, to surpass, to transcend, to pass, to cross, ultra, super / 4
鑫 xīn - prosperity / 4
鹏 péng - large fabulous bird / 4
Two-Character Names (双名)
For the lists below, I removed all 单名 and just looked at 双名 characters. One of the things I was most excited to examine in this post was what characters tend to be found in the first vs. second positions. As you will see reflected below, some common characters used in names tend to occur more in one position, like 子 which is more prevalent in the first position. Others are more balanced. I bolded characters appearing in both positions.
Additional top 双名 can be found at the end of this post.
Top Two-Character Names
俊杰 jùnjié / 7
佳怡 jiāyí / 5
嘉欣 jiāxīn / 5
天宇 tiānyǔ / 5
浩然 hàorán / 5
婷婷 tíngtíng / 4
子杰 zǐjié / 4
安琪 ānqí / 4
Top First Characters
子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point / 72
嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend / 49
佳 jiā - beautiful, fine, good / 48
思 sī - to think, to consider / 44
一 yī - one, 1, single, a (article), as soon as, entire, whole, all, throughout / 40
俊 jùn - smart, eminent, handsome, talented / 40
雨 yǔ - rain / 36
天 tiān - day, sky, heaven / 34
宇 yǔ -room, universe / 34
晓 xiǎo - dawn, daybreak, to know, to let sb know, to make explicit / 34
子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point / 54
俊 jùn - smart, eminent, handsome, talented / 35
一 yī - one, 1, single, a (article), as soon as, entire, whole, all, throughout / 26
浩 hào - grand, vast (water) / 24
泽 zé - pool, pond, (of metals etc) luster, favor or beneficence, damp, moist / 22
宇 yǔ - room, universe / 20
明 míng - bright, clear, to understand, wise / 20
天 tiān - day, sky, heaven / 19
嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend / 18
泽 zé - pool, pond, (of metals etc) luster, favor or beneficence, damp, moist / 14
鑫 xīn - prosperity / 14
龙 lóng - dragon, imperial / 14
Comparing Characters by Position
After examining the most popular characters by position, I was curious to look more specifically at which characters appear in one position but not the other. In this section I decided not to include lists separated by gender because it was getting to be too much information.
Exclusively First Characters
Below are the top characters that never appeared in the second position.
晓 xiǎo - dawn, daybreak, to know, to let sb know, to make explicit / 34
小 xiǎo - small, tiny, few, young / 24
紫 zǐ - purple, violet / 16
美 měi - beautiful, very satisfactory, good, to beautify, to be pleased with oneself / 15
若 ruò - to seem, like, as if / 14
智 zhì - wisdom, knowledge / 13
书 shū - book, letter, document, to write / 11
婉 wǎn - graceful, tactful / 11
振 zhèn - to shake, to flap, to vibrate, to resonate, to rise up with spirit, to rouse oneself / 11
永 yǒng - forever, always, perpetual / 11
秋 qiū - autumn, fall, harvest time / 11
Largest Deltas (First Position)
I also wanted to see characters that were found in both positions but for which there was a big difference in occurrence. I bolded characters that appeared both here and in the list above.
The math is formatted: # times first position - # times second position = difference
子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point / 72 - 10 = 62
思 sī - to think, to consider / 44 - 4 = 40
嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend / 49 - 10 = 39
晓 xiǎo - dawn, daybreak, to know, to let sb know, to make explicit / 34 - 0 = 34
佳 jiā - beautiful, fine, good / 48 - 15 = 33
一 yī - one, 1, single, a (article), as soon as, entire, whole, all, throughout / 40 - 9 = 31
This section is more experimental and exploratory. There are probably better ways to examine the gender association for characters, but I just wanted to take a quick look for fun, not develop a whole new analysis technique.
Gender Neutral Characters
Here I simply took the average of the ranks of each character for male names and female names. If a character was only found in male names or only found in female names, it would just end up with the overall rank of N/A.
The math is formatted: (Female names rank + male names rank) ÷ 2 = average rank
子 zǐ - son, child, seed, egg, small thing, 1st earthly branch, midnight, 11th solar month, year of the Rat, fourth of five orders of nobility, ancient Chinese compass point (12th + 2nd) ÷ 2 = 7th (82 times)
嘉 jiā - excellent, auspicious, to praise, to commend (6th + 18th) ÷ 2 = 12th (59 times)
For this section, I looked at characters in female names that did not appear in male names. This isn’t a perfect technique, but I think it is still interesting to see the results.
依 yī - to depend on, to comply with or listen to sb, according to, in the light of / 35th (17 times)
妍 yán - beautiful / 36th (17 times)
媛 yuán - beautiful / 40th (16 times)
月 yuè - moon, month / 41st (16 times)
紫 zǐ - purple, violet / 43rd (16 times)
Male-Leaning Characters
Likewise, for this section I chose characters that appeared in male names but not female names. I actually know women with 龙 and 伟 in their names, so it’s important to remember that leaning male =/= only found in men’s names. There are always exceptions!
豪 háo - grand, heroic / 3rd (48 times)
浩 hào - grand, vast (water) / 7th (35 times)
龙 lóng - dragon, imperial / 28th (17 times)
伟 wěi - big, large, great / 36th (14 times)
峻 jùn - (of mountains) high, harsh or severe / 38th (13 times)
成 chéng - to succeed, to finish, to complete, to accomplish, to become, to turn into, to be all right, one tenth / 48th (12 times)
振 zhèn - to shake, to flap, to vibrate, to resonate, to rise up with spirit, to rouse oneself / 53rd (11 times)
飞 fēi - to fly / 54th (11 times)
While looking at gender was fun, in the future I’d really like to look at tones/tone combinations, open vs. close syllables, and more. I’m still thinking about the best way to do this.
Surnames
Since surname rankings are actually known, I thought it would be interesting to briefly compare my dataset to the true populations.
What stood out to me most was 林 making #7 on my list. I suspect this is due to the inclusion of Taiwanese names. In Mainland China it actually ranks around #16 I believe. 赵 didn’t make the top 10, but I think it was actually #11, so that’s not too far off.
About the Data Cont’
For my original posts 1.5 years ago, I had difficulty maintaining a gender balance and decided to add male names from other types of sources as a supplement. I have since regretted that choice, so this time I worked hard to maintain balance without using unrelated sources. One result of this is that there are names in the original dataset that do not appear in this dataset, so even though the new dataset has more names, it’s possible that there could be fewer occurrences of some characters.
I did my best to remove duplicate individuals (not duplicate names!) and remove stage names that do not sound like real names (or replace them with real names). However, I did not try to swap out all stage names for birth names because that would have been too difficult and time consuming. I also made the assumption that any four-character name could be segmented into two surname characters and two given name characters.
It’s important to note that these names are not necessarily representative of the 15-30 population as a whole. Idols or trainees might change their names to something sounding more cool or hip, and like I mentioned, it simply wasn’t feasible for me to find everyone’s birth name. And my data collection didn’t take into account things like geography/population spread or keep track of ages (but I did for the most part avoid any shows older than 5 years and groups with members 30+).
Extended Lists
Top Given Name Characters
28 星 xīng - star, heavenly body / 31 29 梦 mèng - dream, to dream / 31 30 倩 qiàn - pretty, winsome / 29 31 涵 hán - to contain, to include, culvert / 29 32 艺 yì - skill, art / 29 33 雅 yǎ - elegant / 29 34 雪 xuě - snow / 29 35 君 jūn - monarch, lord, gentleman, ruler / 28 36 翔 xiáng - to soar, to glide / 27 37 霖 lín - continued rain / 27 38 哲 zhé - wise, a sage / 26 39 梓 zǐ - Catalpa kaempferi (type of tree), printing blocks / 26 40 羽 yǔ - feather, 5th note in pentatonic scale / 26 41 诗 shī - poem, poetry, verse / 26 42 凯 kǎi - triumphant, victorious / 25 43 家 jiā - home, family / 24 44 小 xiǎo - small, tiny, few, young / 24 45 洋 yáng - ocean, vast, foreign, silver dollar or coin / 24 46 铭 míng - to engrave, inscribed motto / 24 47 奕 yì - abundant, graceful / 23 48 柏 bó - cedar, cypress / 23 49 静 jìng - still, calm, quiet, not moving / 23 50 馨 xīn - fragrant / 23 51 丹 dān - red, pellet, powder, cinnabar / 22 52 安 ān - content, calm, still, quiet, safe, secure, in good health, to pacify, to harbor (good intentions), security, safety, peace / 22 53 洁 jié - clean / 22 54 然 rán - correct, right, so, thus, like this / 22 55 瑶 yáo - jade, precious stone, mother-of-pearl, nacre, precious / 22 56 心 xīn - heart, mind, intention, center, core / 21 57 扬 yáng - to raise, to hoist, scattering (in the wind), to flutter / 21 58 玉 yù - jade / 21 59 阳 yáng - sun, male principle / 21 60 源 yuán - root, source, origin / 20 61 琦 qí - curio, valuable stone / 20 62 瑞 ruì - lucky, auspicious, propitious, rayl / 20 63 莹 yíng - luster of gems / 20 64 丽 lì - beautiful / 19 65 宁 níng - peaceful, to pacify / 19 66 语 yǔ - dialect, language, speech / 19 67 云 yún - cloud / 18 68 敏 mǐn - quick, nimble, agile, clever, smart / 18 69 琳 lín - gem / 18 70 睿 ruì - astute, perspicacious, farsighted / 18 71 菲 fēi - luxuriant (plant growth), rich with fragrance / 18 72 辉 huī - splendor, to shine upon / 18 73 颖 yǐng - head of grain, husk, tip, point, clever, gifted, outstanding / 18 74 依 yī - to depend on, to comply with or listen to sb, according to, in the light of / 17 75 妍 yán - beautiful / 17 76 希 xī - to hope, to admire / 17 77 昊 hào - vast and limitless, the vast sky / 17 78 超 chāo - to exceed, to overtake, to surpass, to transcend, to pass, to cross, ultra, super / 17 79 龙 lóng - dragon, imperial / 17 80 东 dōng - east , host / 16 81 凡 fán - ordinary, commonplace, mundane, temporal, of the mortal world, all, whatever, altogether, gist, outline, note of Chinese musical scale / 16 82 媛 yuán - beautiful / 16 83 宏 hóng - great, magnificent / 16 84 志 zhì - aspiration, ambition, the will / 16 85 昕 xīn - dawn / 16 86 月 yuè - moon, month / 16 87 瑜 yú - excellence, luster of gems / 16 88 紫 zǐ - purple, violet / 16 89 航 háng - boat, ship, craft, to navigate, to sail, to fly / 16 90 钰 yù - treasure, hard metal / 16 91 雯 wén - multicolored clouds / 16 92 元 yuán - currency unit, first, original, primary, fundamental, constituent, part, era / 15 93 廷 tíng - palace courtyard / 15 94 承 chéng - to bear, to carry, to hold, to continue, to undertake, to take charge, owing to, due to, to receive / 15 95 晴 qíng - clear, fine (weather) / 15 96 美 měi - beautiful, very satisfactory, good, to beautify, to be pleased with oneself / 15 97 言 yán - words, speech, to say, to talk / 15 98 逸 yì - to escape, leisurely, outstanding / 15
Well, if you made it to the end, congratulations! You are a brave soul. But seriously, thanks so much for reading all of this monster of a post. I hope you leave knowing at least a bit more about Chinese names.
Some of my past posts about Chinese names seem to have become popular among people in the writing community (writeblr???) as references. I’m very happy that people are interested in learning about Chinese names to name their original characters! However, I’m sure some people are also interested in creating characters of the Chinese diaspora. The diaspora is HUGE, but I wanted to shed some light on Chinese American names.
Disclaimer: I am just one Chinese American drawing on the stories of my family, friends, and classmates. This can’t certainly represent all Chinese Americans, so keep that in mind. My focus is primarily on people born and/or raised in the US as opposed to adult immigrants. I imagine a lot of this post also applies to Chinese Canadians, Chinese Australians, etc.
Name Formats
Our lovely “model” for today will be the fictional character of Jane/Jiayi Wang (王佳怡). Here are some basic name structures I’ve encountered throughout my life:
Jane Jiayi Wang One very typical name format would be Western first name, Chinese middle name, last name. I don’t have any actual data on it, but if you told me that this format was the most common for US-born Chinese Americans, I would believe you. Today, it feels like I’m seeing more and more people use their Chinese middle names alongside their Western first names professionally or on social media.
Jiayi Wang Some Chinese Americans do not have a Western-style name. This could be the case for someone born in the US or someone who immigrated. Often people with this name format may go by a Western name like Jane even if it’s not part of their legal name. They could also go by an abbreviation of their Chinese name or a nickname derived from their Chinese name.
Jane Wang / Jane Amelia Wang Not all Chinese Americans have a Chinese name as part of their legal name. Some might have Western first and middle names. Someone without a Chinese name as part of their legal name might still have a Chinese name that just isn’t “official,” or they might not have a Chinese name at all.
Jiayi Jane Wang I don’t think this name format is as common as the ones above. I’ve definitely seen people who immigrated as adults use this format, maybe if they adopted a Western name for convenience but still want to use their native name. However, the name they go by may not reflect their legal name.
Jane Li-Wang / Jane Li Wang These examples (which are rarer in my experience) incorporate both parents’ surnames, one by hyphenating and the other by making one parent’s surname the middle name. I’ve read that recently in China, a growing number of parents (but still a small number) are passing on both surnames (like 李王佳怡).
While I don’t personally know many people who fit this description, sometimes parents will select Chinese and Western names that are similar. This could be a loose similarity like Jane/Jiayi or a closer similarity like Lynn/Lin(g). Take for example the pair Eileen/Ailing, as in Eileen Chang (张爱玲) or Eileen Gu (谷爱凌). Another example of a close match is Wilber Pan/Pan Weibo (潘玮柏).
Another option is a Chinese name as a first name that was picked to be easy for English speakers to pronounce. Names like Ming or Kai are short and easy to pronounce.
More on Chinese Names
As I said, not all Chinese Americans have a Chinese name. For some, this might not be a big deal, but for others, it could be a sensitive issue.
Some have a Chinese name but may not know how it’s written, what it means, etc. A lot of Chinese Americans are mostly illiterate in Chinese and may not feel very comfortable speaking the language either. In my experience, it’s not uncommon for Chinese Americans to only be able to write their Chinese name and nothing else. There’s literally a whole song about this phenomenon.
Sometimes one may not know their Chinese name at all. Some Chinese Americans rarely if ever use their Chinese name. They may even feel little or no connection to the name. If their parents were born in the US or immigrated at a young age, it’s likely the Chinese name was given by grandparents. In this situation, it’s possible the parents don’t know the Chinese name of their child either.
Some Chinese Americans are interested in reclaiming their Chinese name. I’ve seen people add their Chinese names to their social media or even consider switching to going by their Chinese name.
Others don’t like being made to feel like a Western name such as Jane isn’t their real name (perpetual foreigner stereotype, anyone?). Acting like Jane isn’t someone’s “real name” and you must uncover their “more authentic” Chinese name is very icky. Jane and Jiayi are both real and valid.
Important: Due to some of the reasons above (and probably others) some Chinese Americans may not like it when others ask them about their Chinese names. It may be something very personal that they prefer to keep private, something they feel no connection to, something they don’t have in the first place, etc.
Also, someone isn’t turning their back on their heritage because they prefer going by Jane over Jiayi. While it’s true that some people feel pressured into going by a Western name that’s easier for others to pronounce (and this SUCKS), no one should be forced to go by their Chinese name if they don’t want to. People should respect and learn to pronounce others’ names, but as I’ve seen pointed out on Twitter, some people would rather go by Jane than have to hear Jiayi butchered day after day. So always respect personal choice and don’t pressure others to adopt a Western name or go by their Chinese name against their will.
Adopting Mispronunciations: Liu, Wang, Zhang, Zhao, etc.
I know Chinese Americans who pronounce their names or surnames “incorrectly” to conform with American English pronunciations of these names. For example, take Bowen Yang (杨伯文) or Lucy Liu (刘). I’ve also observed bearers of common surnames Wang, Zhang, and Zhao going by the Americanized pronunciations of their surnames.
Sometimes this can be a little confusing because I’m honestly not sure if I should pronounce their name the Americanized way or the native Chinese way. For instance, I had a classmate who reluctantly pronounced her surname Liu more like Lu but wished people would say it more accurately. But I also had another classmate with the last name Wang who didn’t seem to care about the pronunciation.
Romanization
This post wouldn’t be complete without mentioning that Chinese American names are diverse when it comes to romanization system used. First of all, there are many Chinese languages. Secondly, you have people immigrating from different countries with different romanization standards. Additionally, practices change over time, so people whose ancestors immigrated decades ago might have a name that uses a romanization system no longer in use. I’m sure there are even people whose full names contain traces of multiple romanization systems.
After writing most of this post, I came across an interesting piece by Emma Woo Louie, Name Styles and Structure of Chinese American Personal Names. (She also has a whole website about Chinese American surnames!) The article is almost 30 years old, but it was an interesting read and still relevant today. It includes a discussion on the different ways to write two-syllable names.
Separated by a space
With a hyphen between
No separation
For our example Jane Wang, you might expect to see:
Jane Chiayi Wang
Jane Chia Yi Wang
Jane Chia-yi Wang
Jane Chia-Yi Wang
I used Wade-Giles style romanization above because that’s what I typically see used alongside hyphens. Learn more about it by reading another post of mine!
Emma Woo Louie’s article also mentions the use of initials (like J.Y. Wang/C.Y. Wang for our example). I initially did not think to include this name format—I think it’s less in style now and it didn’t occur to me—but I have encountered it before.
I have also met Chinese Americans whose surnames were altered accidentally during the immigration process, thus leaving families with “misspelled” surnames. Certainly makes for an interesting family story!
Adoptees
Disclaimer: I’m not an adoptee and do not want to speak over adoptees. But I wanted to add a section on adoptee names. Thinking back, most Chinese adoptees I’ve met do not have anything in their legal name that is Chinese, but there are exceptions to this—I do know some who have names of the format Jiayi Smith or Jane Jiayi Smith.
A former classmate of mine knew the story and meaning behind her name (it was given by the workers at the orphanage she was adopted from), but I don’t know how common her experience is. My assumption is that most adoptive parents don’t know Chinese, so they probably won’t know much about their child’s Chinese name, and thus the child might not know much either.
I’ve read some essays and other thoughts by adoptees about their relationships with their Chinese names that I’ll link below. I encourage you to check them out!
For multiracial Chinese people, there is a whole world of other possibilities for names, but a lot of what I wrote above can apply as well. Every person and family is different! Here are just a few general trends I’ve observed:
Non-Chinese first name plus legal Chinese middle name *
Has Chinese name that isn’t part of legal name *
No Chinese name at all *
Has mother’s maiden name as a middle name +
Hyphenated surname
I’m sure there are multiracial Chinese people with Chinese given names, but in my experience, it’s not common here
*Surname may or may not be of Chinese origin +If mother is Chinese and father is not
Following typical naming conventions here, it’s more likely someone has a Chinese surname if their father is Chinese, but this isn’t true in all cases. In the case that someone has their father’s non-Chinese surname, they might use their mother’s Chinese surname in situations where they are going by their Chinese name. Like Jane Jiayi Smith might use her mother’s surname 王 and go by 王佳怡 in Chinese class, even thought Wang doesn’t appear in her legal name.
Fellow Chinese diaspora folks, feel free to add on with contributions about names of the diaspora in your country/community/family/etc.!
Whoops! I accidentally published a draft of this post early a few weeks ago, and some people liked and reblogged it. If you saw it…pretend you didn’t.
I’ve kind of inadvertently started a Cross-Strait series on this blog comparing Mandarin Chinese in Mainland China and Taiwan. This post is a continuation of this unofficial series. It is NOT intended to be comprehensive. For example, some of the characters below can be surnames but are not marked as such because I’ve never encountered them (meaning they are likely very rare). More obscure variants aren’t indicated either.
Definitions are from MDBG. Please let me know if you notice any errors.
發、髮 → 发
发 | 發 fā - to send out / to show (one’s feeling) / to issue / to develop / to make a bundle of money / classifier for gunshots (rounds) >> 发送 | 發送 fāsòng - to transmit / to dispatch / to issue (an official document or credential)
只 zhǐ - only / merely / just / but >> 只要 zhǐyào - if only / so long as
只 | 隻 zhī - classifier for birds and certain animals, one of a pair, some utensils, vessels etc >> 一只猫 | 一隻貓 yì zhī māo - one cat
游、遊 → 游
游 yóu - to swim / variant of 游 | 遊 >> 游泳 yóuyǒng - swimming / to swim
游 | 遊 yóu - to walk / to tour / to roam / to travel >> 游览 | 遊覽 yóulǎn - to go sightseeing / to tour / to visit
塗、涂 → 涂
涂 | 塗 tú - to apply (paint etc) / to smear / to daub / to blot out / to scribble / to scrawl / (literary) mud / street >> 糊涂 hútu | 糊塗 hútú - muddled / silly / confused
当 | 當 dāng - to be / to act as / manage / withstand / when / during / ought / should / match equally / equal / same / obstruct / just at (a time or place) / on the spot / right / just at >> 相当 | 相當 xiāngdāng - equivalent to / appropriate / considerably / to a certain extent / fairly / quite
当 | 當 dàng - at or in the very same… / suitable / adequate / fitting / proper / to replace / to regard as / to think / to pawn / (coll.) to fail (a student) >> 适当 | 適當 shìdàng - suitable / appropriate
別、彆 → 别
别 | 別 bié - to leave / to depart / to separate / to distinguish / to classify / other / another / don’t …! / to pin / to stick (sth) in >> 离别 | 離別 líbié - to leave (on a long journey) / to part from sb
别 | 彆 biè - to make sb change their ways, opinions etc >> 别扭 bièniu | 彆扭 bièniǔ - awkward / difficult / uncomfortable / not agreeing / at loggerheads / gauche
胡、鬍 → 胡
胡 hú - surname Hu / non-Han people, esp. from central Asia / reckless / outrageous / what? / why? / to complete a winning hand at mahjong (also written 和) >> 胡说 | 胡說 húshuō - to talk nonsense / drivel
面 miàn - face / side / surface / aspect / top / classifier for objects with flat surfaces such as drums, mirrors, flags etc >> 面对 | 面對 miànduì - to confront / to face
干 | 乾 gān - dry / clean / in vain / dried food / foster / adoptive / to ignore >> 干脆 | 乾脆 gāncuì - straightforward / clear-cut / blunt (e.g. statement) / you might as well / simply
干 gān - to concern / to interfere / shield / stem >> 干扰 | 干擾 gānrǎo - to disturb / to interfere / perturbation / interference (physics)
干 | 幹 gàn - tree trunk / main part of sth / to manage / to work / to do / capable / cadre / to kill (slang) / to fuck (vulgar) / (coll.) pissed off / annoyed >> 树干 | 樹幹 shùgàn - tree trunk
余、餘 → 余
余 yú - surname Yu / (archaic) I / me / variant of 余｜餘, surplus >> Author 余华 (Yu Hua)
余 | 餘 yú - extra / surplus / remaining / remainder after division / (following numerical value) or more / in excess of (some number) / residue (math.) / after / I / me >> 多余 | 多餘 duōyú - superfluous / unnecessary / surplus
于、於 → 于
于 yú - surname Yu / to go / to take / sentence-final interrogative particle / variant of 于 | 於 >> Singer 于文文 (Yu Wenwen/Kelly Yu)
于 | 於 yú - in / at / to / from / by / than / out of >> 对于 | 對於 duìyú - regarding / as far as sth is concerned / with regards to
台 | 臺 tái - platform / stage / terrace / stand / support / station / broadcasting station / classifier for vehicles or machines >> 舞台 | 舞臺 wǔtái - stage / arena / fig. in the limelight
里 lǐ - ancient measure of length, approx. 500 m / neighborhood / ancient administrative unit of 25 families / (Tw) borough, administrative unit >> 公里 | 公里 gōnglǐ - kilometer
範、范 → 范
范 | 範 fàn - pattern / model / example >> 模范 | 模範 mófàn - model / fine example
范 Fàn - surname Fan >> Actress 范冰冰 (Fan Bingbing)
並、併 → 并
并 | 並 bìng - and / furthermore / also / together with / (not) at all / simultaneously / to combine / to join / to merge >> 并且 | 並且 bìngqiě - and / besides / moreover / furthermore / in addition
并 | 併 bìng - to combine / to amalgamate >> 合并 | 合併 hébìng - to merge / to annex *合并 also exists as a variant
丑、醜 → 丑
丑 chǒu - clown / 2nd earthly branch: 1-3 a.m., 12th solar month (6th January to 3rd February), year of the Ox / ancient Chinese compass point: 30° >> 小丑 xiǎochǒu - clown
松 sōng - pine >> 松树 | 松樹 sōngshù - pine / pine tree
松 | 鬆 sōng - loose / to loosen / to relax / floss (dry, fluffy food product made from shredded, seasoned meat or fish, used as a topping or filling) >> 放松 | 放鬆 fàngsōng - to loosen / to relax
准、準 → 准
准 zhǔn - to allow / to grant / in accordance with / in the light of >> 不准 bùzhǔn - not to allow / to forbid / to prohibit
准 | 準 zhǔn - accurate / standard / definitely / certainly / about to become (bride, son-in-law etc) / quasi- / para- >> 标准 | 標準 biāozhǔn - (an official) standard / norm / criterion
曆、歷 → 历
历 | 曆 lì - calendar >> 日历 | 日曆 rìlì - calendar
历 | 歷 lì - to experience / to undergo / to pass through / all / each / every / history >> 历来 | 歷來 lìlái - always / throughout (a period of time) / (of) all-time
吁、籲 → 吁
吁 xū - sh / hush >> 吁吁 xūxū - to pant / to gasp for breath
吁 | 籲 yù - to implore >> 呼吁 | 呼籲 hūyù - to call on (sb to do sth) / to appeal (to) / an appeal
須、鬚 → 须
须 | 須 xū - must / to have to / to wait >> 必须 | 必須 bìxū - to have to / must / compulsory / necessarily
表 biǎo - exterior surface / family relationship via females / to show (one’s opinion) / a model / a table (listing information) / a form / a meter (measuring sth) >> 表面 | 表面 biǎomiàn - surface / face / outside / appearance
致 zhì - to send / to devote / to deliver / to cause / to convey >> 导致 | 導致 dǎozhì - to lead to / to create / to cause / to bring about
儘、盡 → 尽
尽 | 儘 jǐn - to the greatest extent / (when used before a noun of location) furthest or extreme / to be within the limits of / to give priority to >> 尽早 | 儘早 jǐnzǎo - as early as possible
尽 | 盡 jìn - to use up / to exhaust / to end / to finish / to the utmost / exhausted / finished / to the limit (of sth) / all / entirely >> 尽头 | 盡頭 jìntóu - end / extremity / limit
*There are some words like 尽量 where 盡量 and 儘量 are both possible.
制、製 → 制
制 zhì - system / to control / to regulate / variant of 制 | 製 >> 控制 kòngzhì - control / to exercise control over / to contain
制 | 製 zhì - to manufacture / to make >> 制造 | 製造 zhìzào - to manufacture / to make
注、註 → 注
注 zhù - to inject / to pour into / to concentrate / to pay attention / stake (gambling) / classifier for sums of money / variant of 注 | 註 >> 注重 zhùzhòng - to pay attention to / to emphasize
注 | 註 zhù - to register / to annotate / note / comment >> 注定 | 註定 zhùdìng - to foreordain / to be bound to / to be destined to / to be doomed to / inevitably
了、瞭 → 了
了 le - (completed action marker) / (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now) / (modal particle intensifying preceding clause) >> 为了 | 為了 wèile - in order to / for the purpose of / so as to
了 liǎo - to finish / to achieve / variant of 了 | 瞭 / to understand clearly >> 了不起 liǎobuqǐ - amazing / terrific / extraordinary
了 | 瞭 liǎo - (of eyes) bright / clear-sighted / to understand clearly >> 明了 | 明瞭* míngliǎo - to understand clearly / to be clear about / plain / clear * Can also be written 明了 in traditional Chinese.
Thank you everyone for 2500 followers <3 I haven’t been posting as much lately because I’ve been busy. But this post is quite long and took a long time to write, so consider it a token of my thanks.
Here the infinitive marker is -ta/-tä, if the vowel before the marker is an i. The t stays, but is followed by -se- and the personal ending.
häiritä
häiritsen - häiritsemme
häiritset - häiritsette
häiritsee - häiritsevät
tarvita
tarvitsen - tarvitsemme
tarvitset - tarvitsette
tarvitsee - tarvitsevat
lukita
lukitsen - lukitsemme
lukitset - lukitsette
lukitsee - lukitsevat
NOTE:I am leaving out hän (3.ps. sg) and he (3.ps. pl) here, but in written/spoken Finnish there needs to be a subject going with the third person (both singular & plural)
Here the infinitive marker is -ta/-tä, if the vowel in front is any vowel other than i. The t is removed, thus resulting in two vowels following after each other. The personal ending is added after both vowels
tavata
tapaan - tapaamme
tapaat - tapaatte
tapaa - tapaavat
juoruta
juoruan - juoruamme
juoruat - juoruatte
juoruaa - juoruavat
hypätä
hyppään - hyppäämme
hyppäät - hyppäätte
hyppää- hyppäävät
määrätä
määrään - määräämme
määräät- määräätte
määrää - hyppäävät
NOTE:I am leaving out hän (3.ps. sg) and he (3.ps. pl) here, but in written/spoken Finnish there needs to be a subject going with the third person (both singular & plural)
ends in KK+a/ä, K+a/ä is the infinitive marker, meaning that the first K belongs to the stem; to form the present tense, K+a/ä is removed and an e is added after the stem and then the personal endingfollows
mennä
menen - menemme
menet - menette
menee - menevät
kävellä
kävelen - kävelemme
kävelet - kävelette
kävelee - kävelevät
urheilla
urheilen - urheilemme
urheilet - urheilette
urheilee - urheilevat
purra
puren - puremme
puret - purette
puree - purevat
NOTE:I am leaving out hän (3.ps. sg) and he (3.ps. pl) here, but in written/spoken Finnish there needs to be a subject going with the third person (both singular & plural)
NOTE 2: K stands for consonant, thus KK stands for two of the same consonant following after each other
with tehdä/nähdä, which belong to verbityyppi 2, the forms are built slightly differently. for one, the h disappears, and for two, the 3rd ps. singular/plural are in strong form (seeastevaihtelu), and they dotake the -V ending. other than that, though, they are conjugated like the rest of group 2 verbs
tehdä
teen - teemme
teet - teette
tekee - tekevät
nähdä
näen - näemme
näet - näette
näkee - näkevät
NOTE:I am leaving out hän (3.ps. sg) and he (3.ps. pl) here, but in written/spoken Finnish there needs to be a subject going with the third person (both singular & plural)
ends in -da/-dä, which is the infinitive marker; the infinitive marker disappears and instead the personal ending is added (see here)
example:
syödä
syön - syömme
syöt - syötte
syö - syövät
löydä
löyn - löymme
löyt - löytte
löy - löyvät
saada
saan - saamme
saat - saatte
saa - saavat
voida
voin - voimme
voit - voitte
voi - voivat
NOTE:I am leaving out hän (3.ps. sg) and he (3.ps. pl) here, but in written/spoken Finnish there needs to be a subject going with the third person (both singular & plural)
NOTE 2: in this group of verbs, the ending -V is notadded to the 3rd ps. singular, except for in tehdäandnähdä, which are formed slightly differently than the rest (see here)
in Finnish, intonation doesn’t (necessarily) change when a sentence is a question from the way it is intonated when the sentence is a statement. Instead, Finnish has a small particle expressing uncertainty, a -ko/-kö suffix.
It is mainly used to mark a question as such,
(example: Voit auttaa minua - You can help me
Voitko auttaa minua - Can you help me?)
but can also be used to mark uncertainty in other sentences.
(example: Kysyin, voitko auttaa minua - I asked ifyou can help me; literally: I asked, can you help me?)
NOTEthat if a question is asked with -ko/-kö you do notneed the personal pronoun in the 3rd person singular/plural in the reply, eg. Voivatko he auttaa minua? Voivat.
BUT if a question word (1,2,3,4) is used you doneed the 3rd person pronoun, eg. Miten se tarkoittaa? Setarkoittaa x
Kumpi means which of both, and can be found in singular and plural. As with the other question words it can be declinated into almost all cases to fit the meaning of the sentence.
Kumpi - Kummat(Nominatiivi)
Kumman - Kumpien(Genetiivi)
Kumpaa - Kumpia(Partitiivi)
Kummassa - Kummissa (Inessiivi)
Kummasta - Kummista(Elatiivi)
Kumpaan - Kumpiin(Illatiivi)
Kummalla - Kummilla(Adessiivi)
Kummalta - Kummilta(Ablatiivi)
Kummalle - Kummille(Allatiivi)
Kumpana - Kumpina(Essiivi)
Kummaksi - Kummiksi(Translatiivi)
NOTE: I am not sure if there is also an Abessiivi or an Instruktiivi form of kumpi, please do tell!
NOTE 2: Kumpi shows the same flexion as the comparativeof adjectives!
NOTE 3: kumpi in singular is which of both when it is about singular concepts, and in plural forms when it is about concepts which include only two groups of things, but the group includes several. an example my finnish friend gave me:
kumpi hevonen? this- or this- as opposed to these- or these- - kummat hevoset?
как жаль - what a pity ехидно - (adv) maliciously; mockingly, sarcastically любопытный - (adj) curious, inquisitive; interesting кстати - (adv.) by the way; to the point; as a matter of fact; apropos посочувствовать - to sympathize (with) сказанное - (n, decline as adj.) what has been said
New Words/Hовые Cлова
наиболее - (adv) the most, above all, most of all ляп - (n) flub, slip-up болтать - (v) (colloq.) to blabble, talk needlessly or endlessly; (colloq.) to converse; to dangle; to shake, rock, stir толк - (n) sense, judgement; talk, rumor
The -овать suffix can be used to turn nouns into verbs, e.g. штраф (fine, penalty) becomes штрафовать (to fine). When conjugating, drop the -овать in the present tense. For example, ревновать (to be jealous) becomes я ревную, ты ревнуешь, etc.
Review/Oбзор
чувствовать - (v) to feel торговать - (v) to trade жаловаться/пожаловаться - (v) to complain иронизировать - (v) to speak ironically переставать/перестать - (v) to stop, cease, quit голосовать/проголосовать - (v) to vote; to give voice
New Words/Hовые Cлова
использовать - (v) to use доставать/достать - (v) to reach, to be able to reach; to take out; get, procure, obtain требовать/потребовать - (v) to demand, request; to need, call for рисовать/нарисовать - (v) to draw, design; to paint
or, I had this list of words I couldn’t categorize easily
Review/Oбзор
который - (pronoun) which, who, that некоторый - (adj) some, certain каждый - (adj) each, every никто - (pronoun) nobody любой - (determiner) any, either, whichever one wants сам - (pronoun) myself, yourself
New Words/Hовые Cлова
там - (adv) there тут - (adv) here, now, then ничто - (pronoun) nothing несколько - (pronoun) a few, several, some; (adv) somewhat, slightly, some
I’ve mentioned Language Reactor on here before, which is a language learning chrome extension, but I’ve been introduced to another useful extension by a friend of mine which I’d also like to recommend.
It’s a feature called Toucan, which allows you to input the language that you’re learning and then as you browse, it changes random words on your webpage into your target language to help you discover new vocabulary. You can see it in your native language when you hover over the word and make lists or play games to improve your vocab skills. I’d definitely recommend it if you want an easy way to find new vocab!
