What is the meaning of these names - is there translation

[TheEditor]

What is the meaning of these names - is there translation - or description as to what each word means. thanks.

names in question ... "Ming" "Zhi" and is there a different meaning if they are together ... "Mingzhi" ???

[mandarin123]

名　（ming2) is given name when a baby is first born.

字　(zi4) is one of common form of "courtesy names" acquired by educated males in former times.

字　(zi4) also known as 表字(biao3 zi4), it is a name traditionally given to Chinese males at the age of 20, marking their coming of age. It used by adults of the same generation to refer to one another in formal occasions or writings. Adoption of 字　(zi4) is rarely in practice today.

名字　（ming2 zi4) is a general term for name or given name.

for example: 你叫什么名字？　what's your name?

[TheEditor]

Thank you for the reply. I am a little puzzled. The definitions seem to be relative to male names. Why would a girl have the name "mingzhi" ?

barbara

[skylee]

It is impossible to tell what "Ming" "Zhi" means unless you give us more clues, such as the characters. According to this online dictionary, there are 16 homophones for "ming" and dozens for "zhi" (although only some are commonly seen in people's names).

It could be 明志, 明智, 明治, 銘志, 明芝, 茗芝, 茗芷, etc.

[gougou]

Actually, that was a misunderstanding, what mandarin123 explained was the word mingzi, meaning "name". It has nothing to do with the name you are looking for.

Nobody is going to be able to help you on that, though, if you can't provide characters, as every syllable has tons of meanings.

PS: Roddy, if you see this, how come TheEditor started with -1 posts? Database problems again?