I can’t believe I’ve never written about my chinese name before (I even searched my website thinking I must have at some point) so now’s as good a time as ever!
It took me a long time to choose my current chinese name, but it was worth the time. My name just feel….right. It feels like it fits me quite well. And really, there is a lot of pressure when choosing a name. Let’s face it, I think at some point we all hate the names our parents gave us and wish we could have chosen our own. But when actually confronted with the challenge it’s hard. It’s got to be something you like, and can live with, for a long time. So gotta choose it right.
When I first came I didn’t have a name. A few people suggested some things like “beautiful rose” and generic girl names like that but I didn’t like those.
So I told my students I wanted something with the word 龙 dragon in it since I was born the year of the dragon. And I also wanted a slightly unique name. Nothing too outlandish, like some of their english names, but nothing too normal either. I didn’t want the “john smith” of Chinese names.
So in one of my classes (with my favorite students at the time) we brainstormed up a list of names. It ran the whole gambit from cute names like Little Dolphin, to historical names from famous stories. I chose the name 龙儿 Long’er. It’s from a famous wushu story and Long’er is a badass kung fu master who kicks the guys asses but has a good heart.
I really liked it, but there was one major problem. The pronunciation. The character 儿 er doesn’t really add any meaning to the name, and, for me, was kind of hard to say when combined with long. Every time I would say it, people would go “eh? What?” and I’d have to repeat it 3-4 times before they got it. Not the best for your confidence.
In Chinese, the last name goes first and including the last name a persons name is only 2 or three characters long. And there are only a few dozen family names. It’s not like english in which people can combine names, or change names. There are several family names that have been around forever and people still use them. Having the same name in no way means your related, and Chinese people don’t get all excited when they meet someone with the same family name like Americans do.
So, then, after visiting my best friends family the first time, I decided I wanted his family name which was 陈 Chen. His grandparents live in a small village of people with the same family name, and I joked that I wanted to live with his grandparents so I needed the same last name.
So then I thought Chen Xiao Long would be a good name, because xiao long means little dragon and I still wanted dragon in my name. But it turns out Xiao Long is a guys name, including a very famous guy…Bruce Lee! So it wouldn’t be appropriate.
So, I looked at other things I liked, and my favorite food is a dish called 土豆饼 tudou bing, or potato pancake. I didn’t want to be called potato, but 饼 bing, pancake, was good. So I told my students that I wanted my name to be 龙小饼 long xiao bing literally Dragon Little Pancake. But they laughed and laughed and said it was too silly. Instead they decided I should change it to 小冰 xiao bing. It’s the same pronunciation (different tones of course) and means little ice. Maybe you think it sounds just as strange, but it turns out that it is a real girls name, not totally common, but not totally wacky either.
So I liked it and that has been my name ever since. 龙小冰. Deciding my chinese name came about the same time I got to a slightly fluent level in chinese and started to make Chinese friends. I also started a renren account (chinese facebook) and decided not to use my english name, only my chinese name. So there are some people who only call me that name and I like it.
One time, I was on the bus back to my school and I got off and somebody saw me and said “Long Xiao Bing?” I didn’t recognize the speaker, and was shocked he knew my chinese name, and I nodded yes. “I’m your friend on renren!” he said (in chinese.) It wasn’t much, but it felt cool to be called my Chinese name by a total stranger.
Hello my name is photo credit
My Chinese Name: 龙小冰
I find it funny that your name means little ice and you said you are pale. Ha, great coincidence!
My husband helped me with my Chinese name and thought long and hard. Besides, who knows me more than my best friend? When I went to my first day of Chinese class in Taipei, my teacher looked at my name and later asked, “Is your husband Taiwanese?” I would hear from Taiwanese and Chinese people alike saying to me how meaningful my Chinese name is. Usually when a local look at a foreigner’s name and know they named themselves and they sometimes sigh in disbelief. xD One of my classmates went to Hong Kong for his Chinese name and hated it.
Oh, man. I am a huge fan of Bruce Lee. :O Yeah, I don’t think I can have his Chinese name either. I am glad you found a name for yourself that is meaningful to you.
Sean, not only that but I love icy drinks and ice cream. I like to freak out my students in the winter. On really cold days sometimes I like to eat ice cream. When my students see me eating a cold thing on a cold day they FREAK out and say how bad it is for me and how I’m going to make myself sick, ha ha ha.
And Eileen, thanks! I think with a name you kind of have to come to it yourself (or have someone who knows you really well, like your hubby helping you.) The names that never work are ones that casual acquaintances come up with. Because chances are it will just be generic or whatever. I should know, I have given a lot of English names to students over the years. I usually make their name sound similar to their chinese name or something they like (“What’s your favorite color? Blue? Okay, Blue is your new name!” ) But most of them will never use their names outside of class, so it’s fine. As for me, it’s part of my “chinese identity” at this point.