丽叶 appendix(on choosing English names)

gab — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:34:19 +0000

In an earlier blog entry, I wrote about Chinese names. More specifically about the use of English names by Chinese people. Today I came across an article reviewing a book called In China, my name is … Two Dutch authors have done a little research into the phenomenon, presenting, through photo portraits and short interviews, some of the reasoning that lies behind the names people choose.
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Here are some quotes from interviews with the authors:

>Influencing your destiny was one of the reasons people gave for choosing their names (…)

What did you find out about the way people chose their English names?
The largest group who are adopting [English names] are the younger generation of the big cities. They are much more modern then previous generations and are used to influences from the Western world. We noticed that the choice of an English name, for Chinese, is often based upon what others like or think will fit their character. Chinese society is still built on collectiveness. People want to be an individual and express themselves but within their social group they want to be respected.

Do you think foreigners consider different criteria when choosing their Chinese names?
It is almost the same process as Chinese people go through actually. Some non-Chinese names are difficult to pronounce so foreigners choose a Chinese name for easier communication. It was great to see our foreign friends choose their names, they’re like a second identity. You want this identity to sound good and have an interesting meaning.

> Thirty years ago it was unimaginable in China to express your identity let alone have an English name. Everybody had the same identity; wearing the same Mao suit was one way to show that. The opening up policy has already had a great impact on society and culture and our book shows just that.

丽叶

gab — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:29:34 +0000

In China I often meet young people who introduce themselves by their English name, rather than their Chinese name. The difficulty a foreigner might have in pronouncing their real name, is, I guess, the main reason for this. Another reason, I suspect, is that an English name gives an air of importance. It’s like a fashionable outfit of a well-known label, an accessory contributing to the image they want to project. The names that are chosen vary from conventional names such as Anna, Phoebe, and Andrew to stranger choices like Bottle, Radio and Wing. What determines these choices? I’m not sure. Sometimes it’s loosely related to the phonetics of their Chinese name. I imagine that it can refer to the meaning of their proper name. (Chinese names often consist of characters that translate into terms like: beautiful flower, or brave warrior). But how does one come about choosing Radio as a name?

Just as some Chinese use English names, many foreigners in China are given Chinese names. This must have to do with unpronouncable consonants, and alien syllables. In my case, I was given the name li ye (part of ga-bi-li-ye) by my first Chinese language teacher back in 2005. Various characters could have been chosen to represent these two sounds, happily my teacher chose characters that have a meaning that suit me and my trade well:

丽; [lì] -> beautiful
叶; [yè] -> leaf or page
Not bad for a graphic designer.

Initially this name meant little else to me other then that it made introducing myself to Chinese speakers easier. Now, after almost 4 months of living and teaching in Guangzhou, I have grown affectionate towards it. When my name is called, which happens during teaching alot, my ears are attuned to the sound: leee-yeah.

li ye is the name I’ve been responding to the most these past months, and it feels liberating, as if it reveals to a part of my personality that I’ve been repressing. Is li ye the same person as Gabrielle?

remarks from guangzhou » (chinese) names

丽叶 appendix(on choosing English names)

丽叶