pronunciation of 胡燕

[murrayjames]

How should the character 燕 be pronounced in the name 胡燕? Is it yān or yàn?

[gwr71]

燕 Yan (4th tone) is swallow (type of bird).

 

 while yan (1st) is:

燕Yan, a vassal state of Zhou in modern Hebei and Liaoning; north Hebei;
the four Yan kingdoms of the Sixteen Kingdoms, namely: Former Yan 前燕
(337-370), Later Yan 後燕|后燕 (384-409), Southern Yan 南燕 (398-410),
Northern Yan 北燕 (409-436); surname Yan.

 Source: Webster's Digital Chinese Dictionary-pinyin starter edition.

 

From there you may be able to figure it out yourself.

[murrayjames]

Unfortunately, no. The dictionary states that 燕 yan1 (first tone) is the standard pronunciation for surnames. But in the question I asked above, 燕 is not a surname.

[Publius]

52 minutes ago, murrayjames said:

The dictionary states that 燕 yan1 (first tone) is the standard pronunciation for surnames. But in the question I asked above, 燕 is not a surname.

Then it's not first tone. What's the problem?

[murrayjames]

The problem is I do not know the pronunciation of 燕 in names like 胡燕, where the character is not a surname.

 

From your reply, I gather it is fourth tone.

[roddy]

I think that gwr and Publius are assuming is that it's obvious people would name a child 'Swallow' but not ' a vassal state of Zhou', and so it's clear what the pronunciation would be. 

 

It's perhaps one of those things that's only obvious when you know it. To be honest, given the number of folk who were once named 建國、解放、愛國 etc, historical states doesn't seem that much of a stretch.

[Lu]

On the other hand, it's not uncommon to name your child Fatherssurname Motherssurname. But in this case, that would be the equivalent of naming your child Amy and insisting it's pronounced Eye-MAY.

 

A practical solution in cases like Hu Yan's is to just ask the name-haver how to pronounce their name. You'll look interested in both them and their language, and you'll come out being sure of the pronunciation. Triple win.

[889]

Yān 燕 can also represent Beijing in a name. So I agree: you just have to ask.

 

Of course, having to ask (or to listen very closely on introduction) is common enough with names in English.

 

 

[murrayjames]

Got it. Thanks everyone for your responses.