Chinese name

Chinese personal names follow a number of conventions different from those of Western personal names. Most noticeably, a Chinese name is written with the surname first and the given name second. For instance, the basketball player Yao Ming is Mr. Yao, not Mr. Ming.

Regional Variations

Many Chinese who live or work in Western cultures have a Western name in addition to their Chinese name. For example, the Taiwanese politician Soong Chu-yu (???) is also known as James Soong.

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Among Chinese Americans, it is common practice to be referred to primarily by the Western name and to use the Chinese given name as a middle name, which would give us James Chu-yu Soong. In a more recent effort to combine Western names for those with native Chinese names, the Western name is placed directly in front of the Chinese name so that both the Chinese and Western names can be easily identified. The relative order of family name-given name is also preserved. Using this scheme, Soong Chu-yu would be James Soong Chu-yu. This is also a fairly common custom in Hong Kong.

Related Topics:
Chinese American - Middle name - Hong Kong

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Another variation is whether the form used in romanization is the Mandarin form or the one using local dialect. In general, ethnic Chinese in Mainland China and Taiwan will romanize the Mandarin form of their name, and those in southeast Asia and Hong Kong will romanize the local dialect form. Chinese from Mainland China are generally recognizable from the Hanyu pinyin romanization used which includes "x", "zh" and "q" which are not found in other romanization systems and which does not use hyphens.

Related Topics:
Mainland China - Hanyu pinyin

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For more information about naming conventions which are peculiar to Taiwan, see the article on Taiwanese names.

Related Topics:
Taiwan - Taiwanese name

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