By Boris Mo
Unlike
names in English, Chinese parents can put together characters that index their
wishes towards the kid to form one’s own name. Some
of the most common characters in Chinese names are 康, 恩, and謙, which means
health, blessing, and modesty. Like many other Southeast Asian cultures,
Chinese names have culturally embedded meanings passed on from the older
generation to their descendants. Surprisingly, some foreigners have this
privilege to share this part of the oriental culture.
There are ways to turn an English name into Chinese words. The easiest way
would be transcribing English sounds with Chinese words. Michael Jackson
becomes 米高積遜 [1], which is accurate in pronunciation, but does not mean much
within words.
The Chinese name of most of the British government officials are beautiful. Being the last Governor of Hong Kong, one of the very few regions that were handed over instead of having independence after decolonisation, ensuring the handover process peaceful and calm was the paramount objective of Chris Patten. This hope is woven into his Chinese name 彭定康 [2], a stable and healthy future. The name also brought Patten closer to Hongkongers. The first syllable is a common Chinese surname which brings resemblance to his English surname. The third syllable 康 is seen often in Hong Kong male’s names. This makes Patten sound like he is anyone living next door to us.
Named by the British Consulate General in Hong Kong, this naming system makes it easier for the Chinese population to remember the British officials, connects the locals with a sense of familiarity, yet retains the authority and formality.
Instead of directly transcribing their names from English to Chinese, this naming system translates English names and gives them a status alongside with a meaningful cultural entity. Take Theresa May as an example, she appears in Hong Kong Chinese media as 文翠珊 [3], having a vivid image of her in the parliament court trying to go gentle but end up being hard like a jade. The translation looks like an actual name of Chinese too, with the first syllable as the surname and the rest as given name. Even though she is on the other side of the globe, Hong Kong news readers would possibly be struck by the aura looking at her superlady name. Not only is it an elegant translation, but the name also brings up the postcolonial status of the British in Hong Kong society.
This naming culture has been a convention in
Hong Kong long from the colonial time till now. As the colonial time goes by
and the city becomes more Chinese, this naming practice has been more lenient
in recent years. Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, David Cameron 卡梅倫 [4] and Boris Johnson 約翰遜 [5], were named in Chinese phonological transcription. Instead of
giving him a culturally meaningful name, the authority settled for the
translation. One may suggest that Cameron is only a case until Meghan Markle 梅根 [6] enters the British royal family, this can be seen as a pattern
of stepping down of the English after the handover. One would have never
imagined the root of the plant can be tied to the royal family in any way, let
alone to any lady character of them. If Meghan were there 20 years earlier, she
would probably be named 美瑾 [7], a beautiful piece of jewelry instead of the root of plum.
[1] [mɐi13 kou55 tsɪk5 sɵn33] containing morphemes of rice, height, accumulate, and poor
[2] [pʰaŋ21 tɛŋ22 hɔŋ55] containing a common Chinese surname, and morphemes of stabilise and calm
[3] [mɐn21 tsʰɵy33 san55] containing morphemes of gentle, jade, and coral
[4] [kʰat55 mui21 lɵn21] containing morphemes of card, plum, and relationship
[5] [jœk33 hɔn22 sɵn33] containing morphemes of almost, feather, and poor
[6] [mui21 kɐn55] containing morphemes of plum, and root
[7] [mei13 kɐn35] containing morphemes of beauty, and jewel
Language Culture and Society in Hong Kong (and beyond) 
It’s an interesting topic to discuss the difference between the past and present to translate English names into Chinese names. I agree that it is more causal to translate English name into Chinese name in media nowadays and different media may also have different translations for one English name as they just directly translate English to Chinese by its pronunciation.
Besides, there is an increase of foreigners going to China to learn Chinese and they would pick a Chinese name which is famous but totally don’t relate to their English name by themselves. I don’t know whether they know or don’t know the meaning of the Chinese name or they just think the Chinese words are funny so they pick them as their name but for me, it is quite interesting that foreigners have these Chinese name, like Li Bai 李白 (English name: Liza Marie Hoffman) and Jin Yumi 金玉米 (English name: Jeremy Goldkorn).
Actually, I think it’s good that foreigners have their Chinese name as it brings a cordial feeling to us. But if you really want to choose a Chinese name, it will be better to know the meaning of the words or ask your Chinese friends to give suggestions to you.
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After reading your article, it makes me think of another example of foreigners learning Chinese character. Some of the foreigners loves to make tattoo on their body using Chinese character. They might think it’s cool as Chinese character seems mysterious and cool in their culture. However, there are many examples of foreigners turned out to be a joke and posted as a meme on the internet when they make tattoo. Since many of them may not fully understand what the meaning of the character they chose is. It may be a bit awkward when they make a letter means ‘idiot’ or ‘dick’ on their body, and it’s even irreversible. Chinese language is complex. More work of translation and conservation should be done to preserve out beautiful language.
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