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Chinese name for me?


Alleluia

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I think 夏 sounds really beatiful for a surname, but 石 matches your real surname better. And there must be loads of girls called 石, it's a surname, not a first name.

To me, 安娜 sounds very foreign, but it is possible. 安 is a surname (more common in Korea than in China, but still, a Chinese surname), and 娜 is also very possible as a first name.

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Thanks for your interest and suggestions, all. :D

I still think I'll stick with 安娜 even if it sounds a bit foreign. Even though the connotation to Vietnam in 安南 sounds nice, I don't want people to think of Kofi Annan when they hear my name. :lol: Besides, I like the obvious femininity of 娜.

夏 is a good one, I'll have to consider it too. Maybe I'll just sound out the different options in my mind and see which I like most.

How is 石 pronounced in Cantonese? What about 安娜?

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石安娜 -- Sek On Na

夏安娜 -- Ha On Na

夏 is prettier than 石。But 石 in both Putonghua and Cantonese starts with an S, whereas 夏 does not in either case. Hard to decide ~~ 8)

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Well, 夏 is pronounced as shya, so in pronounciation it does start with an S. And that is what counts, I think, not the pinyin. Pinyin is only a tool.

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I hear ngon too for the first pronunciation on that site, and the second one is....... wayyyyy too exaggerated. 安's correct pronunciation should be Ngon. It's like 我 -- o and ngo... On is 懒音。Try to say 办案,按照. well at least I say them with an "ng" sound in front, just like the other words -> 牛, 我, 岩, 眼,硬 etc. It is more acceptable in HK when people ignore the "ng".

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No, I don't agree. I have now used four dictionaries to check this word (commercial press, longman, 中華書局 and the on-line one), and they all give the pronunication "on". Only the link I've given above also lists "ngon" as an alternative pronunication. But of course you can go on to pronounce it in your way and I in mine. No big deal. :wink:

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Anna,

I don't mean to confuse you more, but I want to give you some more options.

桑 (Cantonese) SONG1 / (Mandarin) SANG1 : It means mulberry tree and it's a traditional Chinese name though not as common as Xia and Shi but it matches your name in both Cantonese and Mandarin. (And mulberry is delicious~)

I've checked the meaning of your name, Anna, it means grace or favor. So A can be translated as

"雅": (Cantonese) aa1 or ngaa5; (Mandarin) ya3: grace or elegant.

桑雅 is a good name, and I think it's indeed better than 夏安娜 ... IMHO.

But in that case, you'd better not to add "na3" at the end because 桑雅娜......... people may make some fun of you by omitting the character in the middle... sauNA!

Anyway, 雅 is better to be used as a single-character name in your case because 雅娜 sounds a little bit unclear, and people may add one more character between the two to make fun of you.... 雅典娜 (Athena~)

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Thanks, everyone, for your time and attention!

Now I'm so confused that I think I'll just write all the suggestions down and decide later, when my own Chinese is better. :roll: I'm going to Beijing this summer (first time in China!), but I guess it isn't critical if I don't have a Chinese name quite yet.

Pazu: a friend of mine is called Sanna and she's really having a hard time trying to find a way to transliterate her name into Chinese without the result sounding too much like the Chinese word for sauna. :lol: So compared to her, I have no problem at all...

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haha

I was fans of 冼拿 when I was only about 10 years old.

But in Mainland Mandarin we called him 塞纳 sai4 na4

冼娜 will be a girl's name.

There was a famous musician in the 1940's named 冼星海, who was as famous as 聂耳

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OH then I still think the best translation for a girl named Karen is "驚雲", better to have a surname with something beginning with "P" or "B", then her name could be 步驚雲........... she can give a name to her boyfriend as "聶風" too. 004.gif

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