中文名字 Zhōngwen míng zi Chinese Names 龚江松 2013 年 9 月 3 日

1. 中文名字Zhōngwenmíngzi Chinese Names龚江松2013年9月3日

2. Name Structures • Family name first • Given name second • e.g. 龚 江 松 gōng jiāng sōng family given

3. Naming Culture • Siblings often share names (generation names) • e.g. my sisters’ names: • oldest： 龚 江 椿 gōng jiāng chūn • next： 龚 江 旭 gōng jiāng xù • me: 龚 江 松 gōng jiāng sōng • youngest: 龚 江 欣 gōng jiāng xīn Foreigners think we have the same first name, Jiang!

4. Naming Children • Parents often give their children both a formal name and a nickname (小名 – xiaoming). • Nicknames are commonly made by repeating two characters, like my son’s name: 足足 –ZuZu. • Nicknames are used by relatives and close friends, not among people in a formal setting like work or school. • Increasingly parents like to find “new” names for their children. • e.g. 李奥运– lǐ aoyùn – “Olympics” Li • For some children born in 2008 • Some parents are also making names longer, surname plus a three character given name.

5. Naming Taboos • We don’t give children the names of relatives or ancestors, living or dead. • This would be considered disrespectful and is quite different from the European cultures where it is considered an honor to have children named after you. • Part of the idea is: If you named your son after your grandfather and later you had to criticize your son for his misbehavior, it would be just as if you were criticizing your own grandfather.

6. Other Characteristics • Married women keep their own names. • But children still take their father’s surname • Some surnames are very common and don’t tell much about a person, e.g. 王 - Wáng and 李 – Lǐ. • Other surnames identify someone as belonging to a group, e.g. many Chinese Muslims (Huizu – 回族) have the surname 马 – Mǎ. • A surname could also be unique to a village, e.g. my father’s home village has many people with our surname even though it is rare in China. Some villages are called “_____ family village”.

7. 他是谁?Ta shi shei?

8. Wǒ shìLǐ Liánjié! 李连杰！

9. 他是谁?Ta shi shei??

10. Chéng Lóng! 我是成龙 你好 ！

11. What name would you like to have? Surname examples: 王wáng李lǐ张zhāng 黄huáng刘liú周zhōu徐xú 高gāo朱zhū杨yáng胡hú 马mǎ林lín罗luō

12. What should you do? • Explore the links on our website about Chinese names • Choose a Chinese name. • You can choose a family name and a given name, or just a given name, or just a nickname, or you could translate or transliterate your real name into Chinese. • Practice writing and pronouncing your new name. • By the end of the week (Thursday), you should have told me your Chinese name.