Dumbest Chinese names

[Ah-Bin]

I have come across some really weird "English names" in Taiwan. A boy called "Ox", a girl called "Money", a mother who proudly told me her three children were "Chocolate", "Coca", and "Cola". also (adults) "Bark", "Wiseman", "Batman" and "Monkey". I was wondering if anyone had come across any Chinese names chosen by a non-Chinese that sound or mean something really silly?

I remember a 西門人 (ximenren) where the surname was Ximen (west gate) and the ren was "person".That made our teacher laugh

[in_lab]

The ones that seem silliest to me are the ones that are foreign names that are not Chinese and not English. Why would you pick Yuko or Hans as your "English name"?

I've gotten to kind of like the names that are literal translations of people's names. For example, a guy with 冰 in his name is Ice, or a guy with 來 in his name is Coming. No kidding.

[roddy]

I used to work with two guys who had awarded themselves the Chinese names '何咖啡‘ and 猴子.

[beirne]

I wanted to call myself 熊 since my first name means "bear" but everyone told me that was a bad idea, so I guess I was spared some embarrassment.

[zhwj]

There's a movie about a Beijing Baozi restaurant that plays an exhibition soccer game against foreign exchange students who all have weird names. It stars Eric Tsang; maybe someone can fill in the name or provide some of those names...

[wushijiao]

Here are some of the stupid names I've thought for myself (a white American. My surname is Nee):

毛泽西

倪大平

倪建国

If I were a woman, I'd almost certainly name myself:

倪翠花

Anyway, my supposed name here is what I thought 50cent's name was:

五十角, until I found out later, to my horror, that his name translates as 50分.

[bhchao]

I have always perceved your name 'wushijiao' as sounding like '50 feet' (as in human foot)

[wushijiao]

I have always perceved your name 'wushijiao' as sounding like '50 feet' (as in human foot)

That would be even better!

[self-taught-mba]

I personally have met girls that are named Diamond, Emerald, Rainbow, Sapphire etc...

They are attempting to take something that it is beautiful in nature but it ends up sounding like a stripper's name:mrgreen:

[Tsunku]

I've taught a couple of Chinese students with wierd English names -- Big Tree, Wizard, and my favorite, Fhkides.

Strange Chinese names? The wierdest one I've heard here is wazi (this machine has a wierd IME I can't use), as in "socks." I asked him why he chose it and he said just to be different. I think that is the strangest one I've heard. Most of the foreigners I know try to capture some part of their English name, whether it is the sound or the meaning, in their Chinese name.

[atitarev]

I chose myself the Chinese name - 吉托力 Jí Tuōlì - first syllable of my last name (Titarev) + abbreviated first name Anatoli -> Toli (Australian version, not Russian ). Ti- is pallatalised (soft) in Russian, so it's closer to JI, than to TI or DI in Chinese.

They say it's OK but I need to make sure I pronounce it OK, especially the last name. How does it sound/look to you?

In my signature 阿纳托利·提挞勒夫 is the transcription of my name, probably should change it to: 阿纳托力·吉挞勒夫 - will it still be OK? Your advise is appreciated. Please don't laugh.

[Ah-Bin]

I was hoping that a native speaker might be able to comment on how strange some names sound. 牧麥可 was a name I had for about a day before actually telling a Chinese person about it.....

For a Chinese does 麥可 make them think of McDonalds?

One person in my Chinese class had chosen a name that meant "long legged antelope", but I can't remember what it was. She changed it soon after going to China, I think.

Just for fun I gave my friend Steven the name 駟踢糞 but I was kind enough to tell him the meaning though.

[in_lab]

I didn't read the original post carefully. A strange Chinese name was 史艷文. It's the name of a famous 布袋戲 character. Like naming yourself Robin Hood.

I've been tempted to give myself a new Chinese name. I was thinking of going for a 5- or 6-character transliteration of my name.

[Ah-Bin]

Yes, I should have included that sort of name in the first post.

If anyone lives in Fengyuan, near Taichung in Taiwan, check the name of one of the ticket sellers at the station. There was a 吳承恩 (Wu Cheng enthere. The author of 西遊記 is alive and well and selling train tickets in Taiwan! It doesn't really count as a silly name though, because he didn't choose it himself.

[Jim]

I've got a rather stuffy but sensible Chinese name (魏友敦 - sounds like my surname) given me by one of my teachers back in London.

I'd thought of going for 胡东来 as in 'the barbarian who comes to the East'; 王克 as it's a perfectly acceptable name in Chinese buts sounds similar to 'wanker' so good for a childish laugh at my own expense; and lastly 丁东 - again, fine in Chinese (and easy to pronounce and write) but evocative of the great English comic actor Terry-Thomas's leery response to the sight of a pretty girl.

However, as a basically dull person, will doubtless stick with the name I've got.

[atitarev]

A bunch questions in this thread but no answers

[Ah-Bin]

That's why I was hoping a native speaker would comment, Anatoli. Some names sound all right to a non-native speaker and really weird to a Chinese.

I would keep 提 if only because the 吉 character loses all similarity to the sound "ti" in Cantonese, where it becomes "get"

[Yang Rui]

I once taught a girl whose English name was Tunar. When I asked why, she said it was just a word she had made up and she thought it sounded beautiful. I've always felt a bit guilty for not telling her it sounds like a type of fish.

I think problems really start when non-native speakers start coming up with their own names, because even common names can sound funny in the wrong combination. For example Yang 杨 is a common surname, and Wei 伟 is a common given name, but together they sound like yang2wei3 阳痿， which means impotence. So that would be a pretty dumb name that you could perfectly easily come up with on your own.

I know it's not really on-subject, but the coolest Chinese surnames have to be 爱新觉罗 and 叶赫那拉 （sorry, characters probably wrong, but it should be pronounced yehenala). Sticklers might point out they are Manchu, but if you believe the government, the Manchu are Chinese, so i'm counting them.

[chenpv]

I wanted to call myself 熊 since my first name means "bear"

Well, '熊' can be used as a surname.

Here are some of the stupid names I've thought for myself (a white American. My surname is Nee):

毛泽西

倪大平

倪建国

If I were a woman, I'd almost certainly name myself:

倪翠花

WoW... how can i comment on those?

my supposed name here is what I thought 50cent's name was:五十角

I took for granted that your name means '武士教' and havent the fainst idea that it is after that singer. BTW. we translate 50 cent as '五毛' here.

I personally have met girls that are named Diamond, Emerald, Rainbow, Sapphire etc...

They are attempting to take something that it is beautiful in nature but it ends up sounding like a stripper's name

This is quite useful, thank you.

In my signature 阿纳托利·提挞勒夫 is the transcription of my name,

hehe, i think 阿纳托利·提挞耶夫 reads better.

I'd thought of going for 胡东来 as in 'the barbarian who comes to the East'

I think it means 'the barbarian who comes from the East' according to that name.

[beirne]

Well, '熊' can be used as a surname.

So what's wrong with it as a first name?

I used 马 as my last name, since that is the main meaning I can get out of my Polish surname.