17. Apr 2014 @ 21:41 on http://valeriamay.wordpress.com/ : Given Names in China: Male or Female?
In most European languages it is fairly easy to decide if the person is male of female by looking only at the written name. From Latin we know, that nouns or adjectives ending with an “-a” are female whereas nouns or adjectives with an “-us” are male. If that doesn’t work, as a Westerner you will have some other tricks to figure out if the name is female or male. But how to decide if to use Mr or Mrs by only seeing the written name in Chinese? Here are some hints:
Chinese given names almost always have a specific meaning, they reflect Chinese traditional and psychological characteristics. But because they should meet different expectations, which the parents or the society have, male or female names are different in China. In male given names you will often find the characters:
富 fu = rich
贵 gui = precious
寿 shou = long life
俊 jun = beautiful, talented
杰 jie = excellent
which means, that the parents hope, that their sun will have his own family, become rich, healthy and talented. Male given names often express power, sublimity, light, strength, so one of the following character might be used:
牛 niu = ox
虎 hu = tiger
龙 long = dragon
山 shan = mountain
海 hai = sea
雷 lei = thunder
Female given names instead often have some of the following characters with the radical 女 “women” as part of the character
娥 e = beautiful young lady
姣 jiao = graceful
娴 xian = chary
to express beauty and auspicousness. It is often the case that animals, plants or other natural phenomena which express beauty in China are used for female given names, like:
凤 feng = phoenix
燕 yan = swallow
莺 ying = oriole
菊 ju = chrysanthemum
兰 lan = orchis
云 yun = cloud
霞 xia = rosy clouds
Another aspect is that characters which express color (especially red) are used for female given names:
彩 cai = colorful
碧 bi = green jade
红 hong = red
素 su = white
All these express the parents’ hope, their daughter would be beautiful, tender and virtuous.
To decide, which Chinese name to use for yourself (if you don’t have any yet): John Pasden has made a list of the 100 most common Chinese surnames on his blog. You may choose a syllable which sounds similar to your surname and a given name you like and which correspond to your gender (mostly has two syllables).
Some examples: 陈大山 (male)、李富贵 (male)、王雨燕 (female)
The Linguistic Snake ~~ 