• Diss
  • Rant: Don't Butcher Chinese Names Please

yaoyueyi Did a little research again:

How are these names:

  • Zhang Guan-yin (Zhang being the last name)
  • Yang Eu-meh
  • Bo Xilai

    MishaK guanyin is highkey weird bc that's the name of a buddhist goddess. idk if that's what you're going for but that's just weird.
    eu meh is not even chinese. I have no idea what language that is... maybe korean??
    xilai is bearable

      Xiaoyiyi8 what is this name for...?? modern day no... if you wanted some title for a character in a historical fantasy fic... maybe. but really only historical fantasy is the exception.

        It's for my male character in my historical fantasy novel. oh, so I can use this! Thanks! 😄

          Xiaoyiyi8 don't use it as an actual name then. use it for a title aka position. this would make a terrible actual name. :grimacing:

            yaoyueyi I know, I find it's so hard for me to find a decent name for my character 😢 It's hard to solely depend on Google translate

              MishaK yeah no. took a brief look and 75% of the names on that site are really really terrible. some aren't even chinese. don't trust it.

                yaoyueyi It would be great if someone could suggest an authentic source. I am breaking my head and now pretty confused...

                  MishaK only authentic source = learn chinese and go on a chinese website with names. honestly. also if you scroll up enough you'll find a post where I posted some chinese names.

                  yaoyueyi
                  It's for the actual name of an character, but it would be better if it could ressemble a nickname;
                  Xiao Lang.
                  Was this fishy explanation enough?

                    This is my apology in advance.
                    My novel has more characters with names that I just think of. I have never taken name meanings into consideration but, am sorry because right now I can't change my plot.
                    am sorry for using letters to create my own names that sound like Chinese but not.
                    Forgive me this once. mostly Chinese who use this site.

                      yaoyueyi If you're not too busy, would you mind looking over a few names I had in mind?

                      Female: (they're not characters yet, I was stuck between picking a name for my female lead lol)
                      Bai Lifei
                      Chen Yueli
                      Zhao Yueling
                      Bai Lihua
                      Li Xueyue

                      THank you!

                        So, I tend to disagree here, while logically what the original poster said makes sense, my own naming conventions have actually been rather successful in the few I looked up after the fact. One turned out to be a rather prominent name in Chinese culture: Yu Chang completely by chance as I knew nothing about the Yu Chang blade before naming him. The other is a minor doctor character whose name translated White Snow (honestly very fitting for a doctor since doctors tend to wear white) but it was also random chance.

                        I know the exception doesn't make the rule, but so far my names have been the exception.

                          Xincerely those all sound pretty good!! lifei and xueyue are my personal favorites but they all work <3

                            GabrielKross honestly tho when you say white snow or baixue, you're making me think of 白雪公主 (baixue princess) and that's actually snow white the fairytale princess. oh well tho, if that's what you like and are going for. it's not the worst I've ever seen.
                            however, I did check out your novel to see exactly what you were talking about, so just a helpful tip: why would you include the accents on only bai xue's name? either do it for yu chang + all the other characters too or remove those accents. they're useless for non-chinese speaking people.
                            as for your other character names, they don't sound very good either. ang li sounds like dirty pear (肮梨) (I would highly suggest using 'an li' instead or go for 'li ang' which makes sense because then it makes their last name li and doesn't give the same connotation), ma xiong sounds like horse bear (马熊) or horse brother (马兄)... this one is much worse than ang li actually

                            so, "I tend to disagree here". don't think that your "naming conventions" are exactly the most successful. they haven't "been the exception". yu chang is the only decent one imo so good job for that?

                              Can you check on these names too? ฅ'ω'ฅ

                              Xia Meiren
                              Lu Yifeng
                              Lu Xian Yu
                              Ji Ruo
                              Zi Lin
                              Mo Jing
                              Bai Xui Ying
                              Dong Hua
                              Gu Mai Ya
                              Li Bingbing
                              Zhao Long Ji
                              Zhang Wei
                              Su Lei
                              Xia Jiamu
                              Xia Sinian
                              Jing Yue

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