frequency of foreigners with chinese names grows, but not every moniker is created equal as some have strong unforeseen connotations
越来越多的外国人起中文名，但并非每个名字都合适，因为其中有些名字具有意想不到的深刻含义
having a standard chinese name is becoming increasingly popular among non-native chinese speakers.
拥有一个标准的中文名越来越受到非汉语母语者的青睐。
meaning is essential to a chinese name, so it is easy to make a social blunder if one does not know the chinese culture well.
中文名的含义非常重要，对于不了解中国文化的外国人来说，起名字很容易犯错。
giving oneself an english name has been in fashion among the chinese for decades. however, as chinese language and culture become more known among foreigners, the reverse - foreigners getting chinese names - seems to be the increasing trend.
过去几十年来，中国人给自己起英文名一直是一种潮流。随着中文与中国文化越来越为外国人所熟知，情况出现了逆转，外国人也开始起中文名，而且这种趋势越来越明显。
but just as chinese youth may give themselves funny, awkward or sometimes embarrassing english names, non-native chinese speakers are also very likely to fall into names traps when it comes selecting a chinese name.
但正如中国年轻人可能会给自己起有趣的、奇怪的、甚至令人尴尬的英文名一样，非汉语母语者在选择中文名的时候，也很可能会掉入名字陷阱。
what's in a name?
中文名有什么含义？
chinese names have a family name, which comes first, and then a given name, which is usually a single character or two chinese characters joined together. international politicians such as former australian prime minister kevin rudd whose chinese name is lu kewen and current us ambassador to russia jon huntsman (hong bopei), to celebrities like us literary translator howard goldblatt (ge haowen) and stars like nigerian-born singer uwechue emmanuel (hao ge) and french-born hostess and actress aventurina king (jin xiaoyu) all have chinese names that follow this pattern.
中文名最前面的文字为姓氏，随后是名字，名字通常为一个字或两个字。很多国际政客、知名人士、明星、主持人、演员等都遵循这一规则给自己起了中文名，例如，澳大利亚前总理kevin rudd的中文名为陆克文；现任美国驻俄罗斯大使jon huntsman的中文名为洪博培；美国文学翻译家howard goldblatt的中文名是葛浩文；尼日利亚籍歌手uwechue emmanuel起名为郝歌，而法籍主持人兼演员aventurina king则选择了金小鱼这样一个名字。
this more authentic structure is very different from the easier and more common way of creating a chinese name based on the sound of the inpidual's real name. for example, former us president barack obama is simply written as balake aobama. the same goes for soccer star david beckham as dawei beikehanmu and the russian president vladimir putin whose chinese name is pujing in pinyin.
还有一种更简单、更常见的起名方式，即：根据外国人的真实姓名发音起名，这两种名字的结构有很大不同。例如，美国前总统barack obama的名字会直译为巴拉克·奥巴马；足球明星david beckham的名字为大卫·贝克汉姆；俄罗斯总统vladimir putin的中文名音译为普京。
like in the west, a person's surname often comes from their family. however, given names are usually created by parents and grandparents and carry meanings that the older generation wishes for the child's future.
与西方相同，一个人的姓氏来源于家族，而名字一般则由父母及祖父母取名，承载着老一辈人对孩子未来的期望。
for a foreigner who wants to look for a chinese name, it is usually easier to choose a surname since there is a book called baijiaxing (a classic chinese text composed of more than 500 surnames) where one can find the most commonly used surnames and pick anyone they like. however, because given names are a free combination of any one or two characters, it will be more problematic as the meaning is crucial.
对于一个想要起中文名的外国人来说，选择姓氏通常比较容易，因为《百家姓》（中国经典书籍，内含500多个姓氏）可帮助他们找到最常用的姓氏，从中挑选自己喜欢的即可。然而，名字是由任意一个或两个文字自由组合而成的，其意义非常重要，所以选择什么样的名字就成了个问题。
if one does not know chinese culture and phrasing well, they are very likely to come up with improper combinations that can refer to an unsavory meaning.
对于不了解中国文化和习语的外国人来说，他们很可能会想出不恰当的文字组合，令人啼笑皆非。
for example, on chinese question-and-answer website zhihu, a chinese language teacher shared an experience where a male student in her class named himself li caihua unaware that the word caihua is often used to refer rapists and not its literal meaning of picking flowers.
例如，在中国问答网站知乎网上，一位中文老师分享过这样的经历：班上的一位男同学给自己取名为李采花，却不知道“采花”这个词在中文语境中通常用来指代强奸犯，而不是简单的字面意思。
another netizen posted that one of her foreign colleagues' name is adam power, which he translated into an dengpao. though the pronunciation and meaning of his chinese and english names are similar, the chinese characters imply that he is an electrician who installs lamp bulbs, which is almost certainly not what he was going for when he chose the name.
另一个网民发帖称，她的一位外国同事名为adam power，但这位同事自己将名字译为安灯泡。虽然中文名与英文名的发音相似，但中文名含义却暗示他是一个安装灯泡的电工，这肯定不是他选择这一名字的初衷。
there are also a few chinese taboos that do not exist in western culture. for example, in the english speaking world, giving a person a parent's or grandparent's name is often seen as something good and respectful, but in china, giving a person of the younger generation the same character used by someone of the older generation can be regarded as disrespectful.
有一些中国文化禁忌在西方文化中并不存在。例如，在英语国家，取一个与父母或祖父母相同的名字通常被认为是件值得尊敬的好事，但在中国，给后辈取一个和老一辈相同的名字会被认为是不尊重的表现。
an example of this misstep was posted on zhihu by a chinese woman whose friend chose her father's name as his chinese name because he wished to have a daughter as smart as his friend. to locals, this may seem disrespectful to her and her family.
一位中国女性曾在知乎上发布过一个这样的例子，她的朋友选择她父亲的名字作为自己的中文名，因为“他朋友希望有一个和她一样聪明的女儿。”对当地人来说，这是对她和她家人的一种不尊重。
a name generator is the most convenient tool non-native chinese speakers can use to create their chinese names. but it too does not always work.
名字生成器是非汉语母语者起中文名可用的最便利工具，但这个方法并不总能奏效。
a foreigner named harry asked chinese users on reddit for feedback on his chinese name xiong huarou.
名为harry的一个外国人在reddit网站上请求中国用户对其中文名熊花柔给出反馈。
i'm clueless as to what makes a name a good name in chinese apart from how i identify with the meanings, he explained.
他解释道：“除了含义之外，我不知道什么样的名字才能算一个好的中文名。”
the characters in his name, xiong huarou, mean bear, flower and tender respectively.
他取的中文名熊花柔的每个字分开来看，分别为熊、鲜花和温柔。
i am not sure if it works as a man's name, but a name generator came up with it, and i loved the meaning. i am about as soft and feminine as you can get. and the syllables sound somewhat like they are derived from my english name harry. he said.
他表示：“我不知道这作为男性名字是否合适，名字生成器是这样显示的，并且我也喜欢它的含义。它代表着我温柔又柔弱，音节听起来也有点像我的英文名字harry。”
harry added that he chose the surname xiong because his frame resembles what the gay community may call a 'bear,' and he thinks bears are extremely cute, and xiong sounds more elegant than other names.
harry补充说，他之所以选择熊这个姓氏，是因为他的外形酷似“同性恋群体所称的‘熊’”，他认为熊是非常可爱的，熊比其他姓氏听起来更高雅。
however, to a native chinese, his name would be considered a weird name for a man because characters related to flowers are seen as women's names. the same goes for the character rou.
然而，对中文母语者来说，这是一个奇怪的男性名字，因为与“花”有关的文字适用于女性名字，“柔”也是。
what not many foreigners might know is that while the chinese language, in general, does not distinguish between masculine and feminine, a few characters are often used in male and female names.
许多外国人可能不知道，尽管总体而言中文没有阴阳性之分，但有少数文字还是约定俗成地在男性或女性名字中使用。
is a chinese name necessary?
有必要起一个中文名吗？
there is an old saying that goes, when in rome, do as the roman do. so, when foreigners live in china, do they need to have a chinese name like the chinese?
常言道：“入乡随俗”。那么对居住在中国的外国人来说，他们需要一个地道的中文名吗？
metropolitan interviewed a few expats and chinese in beijing, and their answers differ.
《都会》杂志采访了一些居住在北京的外籍人士和中国人，他们的回答不尽相同。
sandra eberling (pseudonym) is from the us and has lived in beijing for two years, but still has not been in any situation where [she] 100 percent needed to have a chinese name.
sandra eberling（化名）来自美国，已在北京居住了2年，但仍然没遇到“（她）必须要有一个中文名的情况。”
eberling has given herself the name bingbing because she is addicted to ice, but when she tells her chinese friends her name, they often ask whether she named herself after the chinese actress fan bingbing.
eberling给自己起了“冰冰”这个名字，因为她对冰有一种迷恋，但当她把名字告诉她的中国朋友时，他们经常问，她是在效仿中国女演员范冰冰给自己起名字吗？
i guess it doesn't matter that much because i once met a chinese guy named melon because he said he loved watermelons. guess we think alike when choosing our foreign names, she told metropolitan.
“我想这没什么，因为我曾经遇到一个英文名叫melon的中国人，名字的由来是他喜欢西瓜。我猜我们在选择外文名时的想法是一致的。”她对《都会》如是说。
chris from the uk has a similar opinion. he has lived in china for seven years and got a chinese name but forgot it.
来自英国的chris也持相同观点。他已在中国居住了7年之久，起过一个中文名，但已记不清了。
i never used it because when you meet people and they ask what your name is, using a chinese name feels a little bit pretentious, he said.
他说：“我从不用这个中文名，因为别人问你名字时，用中文名显得有些做作。”
kevin richardson, who comes from south africa, said though he doesn't think it's necessary to have a chinese name, if you plan on staying long enough, you will find a name or get a name eventually.
来自南非的kevin richardson则表示，虽然他认为没必要起中文名，但“如果打算在中国长住，最终还是要起一个中文名。”
by contrast, fredrik vold from norway finds a chinese name necessary if a foreigner plans to get a driver's license or buy a real estate with the name on the title of the house.
相反，来自挪威的fredrik vold认为，如果外国人想取得驾照或购买名下房产，就有必要起个中文名。
yang ruoyu, a graduate student at renmin university, said for her, it does not matter whether a foreigner has a chinese name or not. she told metropolitan that she has a foreign university professor who finds chinese too difficult, so most of the time the students use their english names around him.
中国人民大学研究生杨若玉（音译）表示，对她来说，外国人是否有中文名并不重要。她在接受《都会》杂志采访时说，有一位外国大学教授觉得中文太难，所以大多数时候，他的学生都会用英文名。
however, for those who speak little english like 45-year-old wang zhi, if a foreigner wishes to be remembered by most chinese, it is necessary to have a chinese name.
但对于像45岁的王志（音译）这样英语不太好的人来说，如果一个外国人想要被大多数中国人记住，就必须有一个中文名。
most chinese do not speak english. i think that is why celebrities are more likely to have a chinese name; they wish the chinese to feel close to them, he said.
他表示：“大多数中国人不会讲英语。我认为这就是名人会给自己起中文名的原因，他们希望能够与中国人更亲近。”
英文来源：bbc
翻译：甲骨易