Chinese name
This article contains Chinese
text. Without proper rendering
support, you may see question
marks, boxes, or other symbols
instead of Chinese characters.
Personal names in Chinese culture follow
a number of conventions different from those
of personal names in Western cultures. Most
noticeably, a Chinese name is written with
the family name first and the given name
next, therefore "John Smith" as a Chinese
name would be "Smith John". For instance,
the basketball player Yao Ming should be ad-
dressed as "Mr. Yao", not "Mr. Ming".
Some Chinese people who emigrate to, or
do business with, Western countries some-
times adopt a Westernized name by simply
reversing the "surname–given-name" order to
"given-name–surname" ("Ming Yao", to follow
the previous example), or with a Western
first name together with their surname,
which is then written in the usual Western
order with the surname last ("Fred Yao").
Some Chinese people sometimes take a com-
bined name. There are 3 variations: Western
name, surname, and Chinese given name, in
that order ("Fred Yao Ming"). Western name,
Chinese given name, and surname ("Fred
Ming Yao"). Or surname, Chinese given
name, followed by Western name ("Yao Ming
Fred"). The Western name, surname and then
given name practice is most common in Hong
Kong, for example Donald Tsang Yam-kuen;
the surname, Chinese given name and
Western name is most common in Singapore,
for example Lee Kuan Yew, Harry.
Traditional naming schemes often fol-
lowed a pattern of using generation names as
part of a two-character given name. This is
by no means the norm, however. An alternat-
ive tradition, stemming from a Han Dynasty
law that forbade two-character given names,
is to have a single character given name.
Some contemporary given names do not fol-
low either tradition, and may in some cases
extend to three or more characters.
When generation names are used as part
of a two-character given name, it is highly in-
appropriate and confusing
to
refer
to
someone by the first part of their given name
on