Languages
Chinese names for students
03/02/2009
One of the first things I do when students begin to study Chinese, is to assign them a Chinese name. (assuming they don't have one already)
I have had many students in my classes and it gets a bit weary trying to think of good Chinese names for every student.
Does anyone know a good resource - either online or in book form, for translating English names into Chinese? (surname and first names)
I have my old stock of common names, but I would like to find a newer resource that generates Chinese names for students.
Comments
There are a couple of resources I've already found on this site:
1) http://themandarincenter.org/websites/1000-names-chinese#comment-234
This has a long list of transliterated names from English to Chinese. I prefer to try to give students a "real" Chinese name rather than a transliterated one because it's more authentic, but if you have a large number of students, sometimes it's too difficult.
2) http://www.themandarincenter.org/materials/best-chinese-names
I've never seen this book but it sounds interesting. It seems more like it's geared towards parents, but it might work for teachers just as easily. I don't have the budget to order this just for fun, but I'd love to see if anyone has used it before, or knows of another similar book to order for this purpose.
I'm not sure how accurate it is, but www.mandarintools.com has a link on it to a Chinese name- generator, where it "creates" a Chinese name based on your English name, the year in which you were born, etc. It seems pretty cool, and really helpful, but I'd like the opinion of someone who is more familiar with Chinese names. I'd be disappointed if I used it and found later that the name was meaningless, or even worse, totally ridiculous.
The link is in the "China Reference Tools" on the Mandarin Tools website.
Yes I have used Mandarin Tools in the past, but the names generated are a bit random and sometimes the combinations are awkward and are not really genuine Chinese names, and as the site says itself...
"This page is mostly created for entertainment. Real Chinese names should be chosen by someone who knows the nuances of Chinese language and culture. Ask a native speaker if you want a Chinese name you will actually use."
Because I usually have many students, I will try the book resource suggested and see if that is of any help.
Thanks for everyone's input.
:)