Maybe it is because of most Chinese share a lot of the surnames...
And parents love to give meaningful names..
Maybe it is because of most Chinese share a lot of the surnames...
And parents love to give meaningful names..
------
At least I can be called as special, at worst, I am just weird!
------
Quiz. Do you know many countries where parents do not search for a meaningful name for their children ? Western names might be less obvious as they are no hanzi with one clear meaning, but most parents do check "babies' names books", where they explain the origin and meaning of each given name. What's interesting with Western names is that they come from different cultures and different eras (Ancient Greek, Roman, Biblical, Norse, German, Celtic...). A few examples :Originally Posted by Nicholas Tse
- 'Sophia' means "wisdom" in Greek.
- 'Rachel' comes from Hebrew and means "Ewe," or also "innocence and gentility of a rose" and may mean "lovely".
- 'Jennifer' is a Celtic name that means "white waves".
- 'Richard' comes from the Germanic elements 'ric' (meaning power, rule, leader) and 'hard' (meaning brave, hardy, strong).
- 'John' means merciful in Hebrew.
- 'Mark' comes from Latin "Marcus", derived from "Mars", the god of war, and is said to mean "martial" or "great warrior".
Visit Japan for free with Wa-pedia
See what's new on the forum ?
Eupedia : Europe Guide & Genetics
Maciamo & Eupedia on Twitter
"What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we are gone?", Winston Churchill.
Oh I see...
What does "Nicholas" means?
Why do you check it on Wikipedia or one of the thousands of websites explaininng the meaning of names ?
There is no published book on Chinese baby names to best of my knowledge,I haven't seen one yet or hear of one to this day as I often frequent a local Chinese bookstore here in northern California.Chinese parents brainstorm first names for their children,I have 2 female friends named " little little " and " smile " are unusual ones.
Only in recent years we have a few male and female Chinese first names transliterated from English ones like David,Peter and Mary are most common,otherwise nearly all Han Chinese given names are of " Chinese origins " with a handful might have transliterated from Manchu or Mongol ones.
I need to get Chinese font for my computer in order for me to type up Kanji in my posts so I can be better understand.
Europe has never been consolidated as one single continental nation ( both Napolean and Hitler have failed in this mission ),unlike China have had continuous legitimate dynasties except for several recorded fragmented periods in ancient time to present political stalemate between PRC and Taiwan.
China's long enduring history has one divine goal regardless what Mongoloid ethnicity in rule is to unify all continental tribes/clans by military force and or Sinicization.Today's Han Chinese population is an assortment of various major Asian continental indigenous peoples,Hua-Xia clan ( upper Yellow River Basin ),Dong-Yi clan ( lower Yellow River Basin/Shandong peninsula ),Bai Yue ( a collective of hundred indigenous peoples populated south of Yantze River stretched from today's Jiangsu province to Guangxi province in China's SW region ),plus Northern Nomadic hordes and Tungusic clans.
The Chinese script was the ONLY written language available back when our ancestors began taking up family surnames and given names.Nearly all Chinese first names have " meaning(s) " but DON'T IDENTIFY the clan origin as we BECAME ONE PEOPLE not numerous cultures like you described as the case for European race.Our family surnames and root books can provide some " clues " to clan origin(s).
They were regarded as continuous periods of an UNIFIED China nation,hence there has always been ONE unified Han Chinese culture not many sub-cultures like you have in Europe.
There is minor distinction on some given-names between Northern and Southern Han Chinese,regional and provincial culture and population can attribute to specific first names more common in one region or province and vice versa.
Maciamo, you have to admit there are more meaningless names in western countries than in Japan/Chinese, in which every name has a true meaning. I'm often interested in the meanings of people's names (maybe because I'm named after a sea-lion, I don't know), and I more than sometimes get the answer "I don't know what my name means".. If people are given names without a meaning, they're nothing but "sounds" aren't they?
I hate it when people around here talk about their newborns, like:
"So what name are you going to give him?" - "Oh, that sounds so cool!"
To me it isn't about the sound but the meaning. I think the same goes for the majority of the Japanese and Chinese people. (Maybe also other peoples from Asia, but I wouldn't know to be honest.)
I will never admit anything so ludicrous. Western names almost all have a meaning. Only people who don't make the effort of looking them up think that they don't have a meaning. There are plenty of books and online guides if you wonder (like this one) In the cases where there isn't a semantic meaning based on a word combination (like most Germanic names, e.g. Albert => "adal" [noble] + "beraht" [right]), there is usually a strong connotation to a famous Ancient person who bore that name, be it a Roman emperor, a Biblical character or someone else. In many cases Western names have both a meaning and a connotation or "attributes". Books of baby names usually explain the character trait, colour, star sign, or even patron saint (for Catholics at least) associated with one name. I am sure that it is at least as complex and probably more so than Japanese or Chinese names. In fact, kanji names are easier because the meaning is obvious from the kanji, while in Western names you normally need some knowledge of Ancient Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Old German, Anglo-Saxon or Old Gaelic to make sense of the name. Given the popularity of "baby names books" in all Western languages, it is fairly obvious that a lot of people do not just choose their children's names based on phonetic liking only.
87% of overall Han Chinese population worldwide share the same 100 common family names.In examples,Lee Liu Sung Wu Chen Wang Chang Lin Huang Ho Ma Soong Chu Yang Kao Han Xu Liang Jiang Chien Pang Chao etc.
I KNOW....
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks