# Hong Kong/Cantonese Baby Names



## Rin (Apr 25, 2011)

In the piece I'm writing at the moment, I've got a half-Chinese character and I want some opinions on his name so that I don't commit a faux pas (I trust Googling quite a bit, but sometimes humans are better). [The character's father is from Hong Kong, the mother is white Australian.]

I was considering "Kai Luk" (Luk being the family name). Any foreseeable issues, or reasons the name doesn't work?


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## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

As far as I know, Chinese always mention the last name first. Also, as parent of children with many Chinese friends, almost all have a western name as well as their Chinese name. Often, these names are legal (First name, middle name, etc.)


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## Lydniz (May 2, 2013)

Patty Jansen said:


> As far as I know, Chinese always mention the last name first.


I think that's generally only if they're in China. The (few) Chinese people I know who live outside China write their names the Western way - i.e. surname last.


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## Colin (Aug 6, 2011)

If you search for 'Luk' in the Hong Kong telephone directory, it will give you an idea of how the names are structured:

Link: http://www.directory.gov.hk/basic_search.jsp?lang=eng
Good Luk!


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## Rin (Apr 25, 2011)

Lydniz said:


> I think that's generally only if they're in China. The (few) Chinese people I know who live outside China write their names the Western way - i.e. surname last.


*nodnod* This was my understanding as well.


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## Rin (Apr 25, 2011)

Patty Jansen said:


> Also, as parent of children with many Chinese friends, almost all have a western name as well as their Chinese name. Often, these names are legal (First name, middle name, etc.)


My current plan is for him to have a Chinese name, whereas his sister has a Western name (a deal made between the parents, "you the first kid, I'll name the second" kind of thing).


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## jimbro (Jan 10, 2014)

Also remember that Chinese women (at least in China) do NOT change their name upon marriage. They always keep their maiden name. If they live in the USA (or another western nation) they will often/usually follow the western custom. 
In the good old days, as a mere woman, she would be unworthy to bear the name of her husband's family, and besides, to change her own name would have been an unthinkable insult to her own ancestors.
The good old days; not that good, not that old.
Other trivia from before the revolution: girls were often not even given personal names at all. She would simply be "girl number two."


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## Kylo Ren (Mar 29, 2014)

Having been to both mainland China and Hong Kong, I can tell you that they're very different in a lot of ways. A lot of HK Chinese speak English and have a adopted Western ways of doing things, much more so than mainland China. I will say this for sure. I believe most HK Chinese speak Cantonese, rather than Mandarin. I don't know if this means names are different or not. A friend of mine from HK goes by the name Kelly Chan (I think Chan is the Cantonese version of Zhang, not sure). She definitely does have a Chinese first name; I don't remember what it is. Sorry. I do know this: an educated kid growing up in HK would most likely choose an Western first name for himself (this is true of a lot of mainland Chinese as well). The difference is that HK kids use actual names whereas mainland Chinese sometimes/often use random words for names, i.e. Apple or Happy. I'm sure this is of absolutely no help to you, but there you go.


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## Henry WK (Apr 3, 2011)

Rin said:


> My current plan is for him to have a Chinese name, whereas his sister has a Western name (a deal made between the parents, "you the first kid, I'll name the second" kind of thing).


They would (most likely) each have both, using either as the situation requires. It also depends partly on their country of (primary) citizenship is and where they grew up.

This is not counting clever things the parents can do with the name having a Chinese name that sounds kind of like their Western name or vice versa.



jimbro said:


> In the good old days, as a mere woman, she would be unworthy to bear the name of her husband's family, and besides, to change her own name would have been an unthinkable insult to her own ancestors.


Some strong colorful choice of words in your responses there.
Considering if there were any sort of official record naming records to change back in those days, for all intents and purposes the wife was considered a part of the husband's family (and subject to the family's rules and customs) and lived using the husband's family name, being referred to as the equivalent of "Madam Jones" or "Mrs. Jones".

There is a saying (and I translate very loosely); alive you're the family's person, dead you're the family's ghost/spirit. This is in reference to the wife belonging to the husband's family.



jimbro said:


> The good old days; not that good, not that old.
> Other trivia from before the revolution: girls were often not even given personal names at all. She would simply be "girl number two."


From my experience that is one of many naming styles and relatively infrequent in the general scheme of things. For my job I interact with Chinese people who are 70, 80, 90s years old, they have a variety of names and their backgrounds are from all over, from those who claim descent from the old literati (we're talking pre-pre-(pre)-revolution here, which one you talking about?) to po' peasant families. Female names from history and literature also vary, though female names tend to be officially recorded under their surname only (either their own, or their husbands). This does not mean they went by no name or a number in real life.

Also note, the "girl number two" is part of a style, a boy could just as easily be "boy number eleven", and "often" were. It's sort of the equivalent of "Guy" or "Beau" or "Missy" in the context of how it sounds/feels in English. Also, as I understand it, the form of the word/character for "girl" or "boy" is a more formal version, even a poetic version one could say.

What family members call you on a day-to-day basis can vary and there are a variety of titles, diminutives, and endearing nicknames that can be based on the given name, or the child's place/order in the family, or just a name based on a characteristic.



artofstu said:


> Having been to both mainland China and Hong Kong, I can tell you that they're very different in a lot of ways. A lot of HK Chinese speak English and have a adopted Western ways of doing things, much more so than mainland China. I will say this for sure. I believe most HK Chinese speak Cantonese, rather than Mandarin. I don't know if this means names are different or not. A friend of mine from HK goes by the name Kelly Chan (I think Chan is the Cantonese version of Zhang, not sure). She definitely does have a Chinese first name; I don't remember what it is. Sorry. I do know this: an educated kid growing up in HK would most likely choose an Western first name for himself (this is true of a lot of mainland Chinese as well). The difference is that HK kids use actual names whereas mainland Chinese sometimes/often use random words for names, i.e. Apple or Happy. I'm sure this is of absolutely no help to you, but there you go.


Not the OP, but I feel this is one of the more useful answers given.

Though I've noticed a good mix of random object names on both sides and it's particularly prevalent with celebrities/entertainers. Guess that holds true of celebrities in the US and especially what they name their kids.


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