[OT] Chinese & Indian names. Need help for writing

[dogscoff]

Right, next question: Chinese & Indian names.

I got another question for everyone. Same story but a totally different part of the world.

I have a character- well, several generations of characters, actually- of chinese descent. I've looked online for authentic names, but all I have really discovered is that naming people in Chinese is somewhat more complicated than looking up a common forename & surname at random and putting them together. Does anyone have any knowledge in this area? Can anyone help me with this?

Here's what I have so far:

The character I'm most worried about is a male from a long line of military commanders, so a strong, 'warrior' name would be good. So far I'm using the family name "Cheng" because that appears to be a valid surname and it sounds about right with all of the nicknames and modifiers I attach to it. He's probably from the more northern regions of China, if that makes a difference. None of this is set too far in the future, btw.

Our man winds up in India (Bengal area) where he marries an Indian woman. I am provisionally naming her "Bhavya", which websites indicate to be a valid given name for a strong, female Indian character. I haven't gone looking for a family name for her because (a) her unmarried name is unimportant to the story and (b) I'm afraid of stumbling face-first into another cultural quagmire. However if anyone can advise on this, and perhaps suggest a sensible surname I would again be grateful. I figure her married name would probably be "Cheng Bhavya", but I doubt there would be any set rules on such 'hybrid' names, so I'm not overly worried about that.

Anyway, the 'Bengal Chengs' have seven children, genders as-yet undecided, and bring those children up in a military tradition. This lot probably won't all need to be named as far as the story is concerned (although I anticipate at least two or three names being necessary) Again, these would be 'hybrid' names and so I could probably get around many of the naming conventions of either culture. There's another generation below that, probably marrying mostly into Indian families, so this lot would only be a quarter chinese, but still being brought up with their extended family in a military tradition. At least one male descendent has to keep the surname Cheng, so that he can pass it on to a fourth generation, (via a western mother) which ends up nearly as confused as I am.

So, like I say, is anyone able to offer me advice? I did at least attempt to research this one for myself, but I think the knowledge required is a bit too specialist. As before, credits in the book when I get published for anyone who helps me.


And no, I can't just move all these characters to Europe or America and call them all 'John' (=-/