What's in a (Chinese) Name?

I was once asked why Malaysian chinese (also, Singaporean chinese too) have - and I quote him - "Western" English sounding names, as if we're not proud of our own given chinese names. Let's clear the misconception:

A chinese individual can have many different names. Here in Malaysia, there are several:

- Their given Christian name(s), if they are Christian
- Their English version of their name, if they are not Christian
- Their English (phonetic) pronunciation of their Chinese names

And finally,

- Their actual chinese names (written in Chinese characters - which are their "one true" name)

And we are proud of our names, most notably the surname sticks quite strongly as most people can tell you but that usually takes the form of the last one from the list above; the English versions can be less "stringent", because they don't so accurately represent the meaning of chinese characters to begin with, and people who call them by the phonetical romanized version of their chinese names usually get it wrong anyway. We all know how annoying it is to have someone get your name so wrong.

Their Christian name(s), if they are Christian

This is extremely common, and as such are used by chinese of Christianity religion. Such names are "John", "Jonathan", "Patrick", etc. They are normally easily associated well with by all types of people since they are mostly easiest to remember because they are rather common. These are usually used before their surname, immediately followed with their English phonetic version of their chinese name.

Their English name, if they are not Christian

Chinese individuals also can have non-christian "English-sounding" names, because they just want to have an English name that has nothing to do with their chinese name or purely because their chinese names sound a bit like their English counterparts.

For example, common names like "Zao Wei" (phonetically pronounced "Jao Whey", a feminine name) can automatically be called "Zoe" or in the case of masculine names "Jia Wei" can be known as "Joey", and so on. Another example would be "Fae", or "Faye" a direct pronunciation of the a common chinese character name "Fei". Sometimes this is by design when the name is given to the individual, other times it is purely coincidental.

Other examples are not followed phonetically but rather are the actual meanings of the words used in the chinese characters. If the chinese name "Guang", or commonly in Malaysia/Singapore "Kwong/Kong/Guan" which may mean, "light" or "beam of light" the person could use the name "Ray" to associate himself with it (ray of light, ray of sunshine).

My name falls into this catergory - my name "Ian" sounded almost exactly like my chinese name, calling it one way or another (English, Irish, Chinese) didn't matter so much.

It is usually used in the same manner as a Christian name, in that it goes before the surname, but some cases it can be swapped either side whichever way to suit the occasion (e.g. Zoe Chin / Chin Zoe / Chin Zao Wei).

Their English (phonetic) pronunciation of their Chinese names

To put it simply, the English pronunciation of chinese names are just that; a phonetic pronunciation. But sometimes they aren't very accurate either.

So why are some names spelled as it is?

Well, back in the British colonial times of South East Asia, when the ancestor immigrants of the chinese community were required to register their names, there was just no way for them to write their names in Chinese characters, and there was also no way to "translate" their names into English properly, therefore the (mostly British) officers doing the registration had to make something up as best as they could using Roman alphabets.

Keep in mind the different dialect backgrounds of these early immigrants from China these people use, and that is why some surnames are written as the same characters when read in Mandarin, but are spelled very different in English (ie. Wong / Bong, Yeo / Yong, etc.) because in - different dialects - are phonetically different.

The end result is that Malaysians / Singaporeans having such English version of chinese names that you seldom find used in China.

Most English version of chinese names in China are not phonetically pronounced; rather, they follow the Pin Yin version, which are the romanization system for chinese characters common with writing out characters with computers. Commonly associated with Pin Yin, amongst other quirks, is that when written, the alphabet "Z" is pronounced as a "J" (see examples above), "U" is pronounced as "E" with some exceptions, and so on.

In Malaysia, this is not followed through.

Take for example, the word "Tze" as common in some Malaysian/Singaporean chinese names (for example if a person is named "Lim Tze Kwok" - anyone with this name is purely coincidental), how does one pronounce it?

"Teezee"? "Tuh-Zeh"?

No. It's more accurately read as a quick "jrrr" if you read it in English phonetically. Or in PinYin / Mandarin his English name would most probably be spelled "Lin Zhi Guo" in China.

Just don't start reading it as "Lin Zzzz Guo" because it's written as "Zhi" in pinyin. That's still wrong, plus there's no way to get the pitch of the sound right for his actual name unless you know PinYin.

Their actual chinese names (written in Chinese characters)

It is common for Chinese names to have two characters and a surname character in front. Not so common are that some have one name character, one surname character, or surnames with two characters. They mean a variety of words and when combined, can mean a lot of things, which can never be carried over into romanized / English versions.

So as you can see, it's rather complicated. And the romanized alphabetical names are just a way of officiating it for registrations - taking into account different dialect pronunciations and perception of "spelling" (not all chinese know PinYin, which is just *one* way of "pronuncing"), Malaysian chinese have so many ways to go about their names, there is not one "wrong" way.

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_surname
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_given_name
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_style_name

Above article uses fictional names for examples. Any person with the same name as above is purely coincidental.