Chinese name

A personal name used in Chinese culture is expressed with the family name (surname, or last name) first and the given name (first name) last.

For instance, Feng Yun (丰 云 Pinyin: Fēng Yún) is addressed as Ms. Feng, not Ms. Yun.

Many Chinese people who immigrate to Western countries or who do business in Western countries reverse their naming order to fit the Western given name, then family name convention. Some who emigrate take a new Western given name and have their name written in the Western order.

Some Chinese people use a "combined name" composed of a Western given name, then a family name, then a Chinese given name in that order. For instance, Edmund Ho Hau Wah's family name is "Ho." His English given name is "Edmund," and his Chinese given name is "Hau Wah."

Chinese people usually do not change their family names when they marry. For instance, when Wang Hongjun married Liu Yajie, Wang did not become "Liu Hongjun," and Liu did not become "Wang Yajie." Children of a married couple usually take the husband's family name.

A number of Chinese people living outside mainland China, particularly those in Hong Kong, Macau, Republic of China (including Taiwan), and Southeast Asia, romanize their names using some Chinese dialect rather than using Hanyu Pinyin. For example, the name of the second prime minister of Singapore is romanized as "Goh Chok Tong" (Hokkien) and not "Wu Zuodong".

External links

• Wikipedia article on Chinese name

See also

• List of Chinese names
• Japanese name
• Korean name
• Vietnamese name