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

[Raging Deadstar]

dogscoff said:
2: Is New York completely flat, or does it have any hills? I'm kind of hoping for a hill somewhere within a few km of the Empire State. If there is such a hill, what would the views be like from the top?

Lol, I was writing something once like this (not in new york) and i needed a small hill in a city near a certain landmark. I blamed it on a Government Project to create more greenery in cities to grab votes from enviromentalists

[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' (=-/

[geoschmo]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_name
Interesting stuff. Not my area of expertise, but might but be helpful if you haven't already done a web search.

[sachmo]

Will the Bengal Chengs continue with the hybrid names, or will they lean to one side or the other.

My limited knowledge of Chinese culture leads me to believe that the Chinese family unit was historically matriarchal, so maybe they would begin to take Indian names.

There are always exceptions to the rule, but you could use the kids to emphasise the strength of personality of the mother or the father in the story.

[dogscoff]

Heh, the mother is certainly a forceful personality, but then the father certainly isn't a pushover.

Damn, I just can't wait for all you guys to read this.

This page also has quite a few interesting links about names.

Thanks, but as you so rightly point out...

At any rate, I would advice to check with a Chinese speaker before settling on a full name,

Which is kind of what I was hoping to achieve by posting here. We have a very diverse community on the forum here, and I was hoping someone would pipe up with "Oh yeah, I'm chinese, I can help."

Once more, I beg everyone's indulgence in my never-ending quest to avoid actual research.

On another note, age is counted differently in Chinese than in our societies: a baby is born one-year-old, and your age increases on the New Year. The actual birthday is still on the day of the birth. I do not know if this will have any influence on your book, however.

Not at the moment, but worth knowing. THanks.

[Alneyan]

Deccan may be able to help you, but he is currently on holidays. Perhaps he is reading his mail, but I wouldn't know for sure.

There were a few other Chinese speakers on the Dominions boards, but I do not think they are still around. Still, it might be worth it to make another post there, if nobody can help you on the SEIV forums.

[dogscoff]

Aha! Why make up a name when I can steal one? My brother's superlative idea.

www.phonebookofhongkong.com

[Alneyan]

Disclaimer: I am not a scholar on the topic either, so you will probably want to make sure what I say is correct. *Grumbles* Chinese studies would make for a nice addition in our universities.

This page also has quite a few interesting links about names. At any rate, I would advice to check with a Chinese speaker before settling on a full name, in case you run into a very odd combination. Or perhaps you could consider using a name from a Chinese novel, which would be easier and could make for a nice reference of some sort.

On another note, age is counted differently in Chinese than in our societies: a baby is born one-year-old, and your age increases on the New Year. The actual birthday is still on the day of the birth. I do not know if this will have any influence on your book, however.

[TerranC]

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"

http://www.zhongwen.com/ gives 2 matches for "warrior": Zhuang Shi and Wu Shi. Since Shi seems to mean "officer", I suppose you could call him Zhuang or Wu instead of Cheng.

He's probably from the more northern regions of China, if that makes a difference.

It could; China has 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the PRC government, and then some. Some ethnic groups could have their own family names.

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.

Don't know much about indian names, sorry. You can always choose the easy way by saying she adheres to the Sikh religion and give her the name of (something) Kaur.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikh#Sikh_Names