Comments on: Chinese Names

By: Lance

Lance — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 05:20:31 +0000

Thanks for the suggestions, 超君!

You can see in my comment above that I’ve decided to go with 王蓝 for my Chinese name. 王 is the family name of my cousins in YueYang, so I decided to keep that name.

By: 超君

超君 — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 04:03:56 +0000

Hereby, I list some widely used Chinese family names which sound like Webel魏，唯，卫，韦，蔚. I will go for 岚，兰，蓝。If 斯，思is attached at hte end, it sounds more like a foreigner’s name translated based on its pronounce

By: Wicker

Wicker — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 22:59:04 +0000

Why wouldn’t you change your name to “microwave basket” if you had the chance, I know I would. Or at least “taste orchid”

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 16:45:56 +0000

It was my understanding that some Chinese and other Asians who come to live in the States will actually invert the order of their names to follow the typical “American” pattern of First, Last. Did Yao Ming already do this? Which is more typical of a Chinese family name?

By: Sarah Beall

Sarah Beall — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 00:29:16 +0000

I think lan1 wei2 bo2…

…blue microwave!!!!

By: Lance

Lance — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 04:08:04 +0000

Thanks for all of your great suggestions, including your very helpful email, Dana.

I never even thought about that fact that my family already has a family name … so to honor Steve’s famly (who lives in YueYang, Hunan), I will choose the family name Wang (王).

The chosen name was a bit harder. Of all of the suggestions, lan (蓝) both makes the most sense, because (as Kim so kindly pointed out) my eyes are blue, and because I dearly miss seeing blue skies (which I’ve been told is the exact color of 蓝)

So 王蓝 it is!

By: Zhan Li

Zhan Li — Sat, 02 Sep 2006 13:23:11 +0000

I will go for Wei4 魏 lan 1 (orchid) 兰 si 1 斯 or lan1(blue) 蓝 si 1 斯. Wei4 is very a common chinese family name and it has been the name of the country for several times. Usually, Chinese family name doesn’t very meaningful; first name carries more information. lan 1 (orchid) si 1 斯 might be the best for Lance but it sounds and writes feminine. lan1(blue) 蓝 si 1 斯 is a little bit better. Anyway, Lance itself sounds feminine in Chinese:).

By: Val

Val — Sat, 02 Sep 2006 01:45:39 +0000

“outside blue”= wai bu lan= webel land?

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 17:13:05 +0000

I suggest you go with one of the dozen or so common family names, otherwise your name is going to sound really ridicoulous to most Chinese. (kinda like when a movie star names their kid “Apple” or something like that)

A good Wang, Li, or Chen will work nicely. The Webels over in YY go by the family name of Wang ( 王 )

Wang means “King” - you could have some fun with that if you wanted. The word for “blue” ( 蓝色 ) in Chinese sounds just like Lance - I’m not sure how that would work as a name though…

I personally think it’s more important to have a ‘normal’ sounding Chinese name than to have a Chinese name that sounds like your English name… However, if you can get BOTH, it’s a bonus!

What does your English name mean? That could help you pick your Chinese name…

By: HP

HP — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 12:04:46 +0000

not sure i would use “small” to describe “Webel”…

what about “obi wan kenobi”???