Chinese name
Businessmen and women from the UK are advised to take great care when creating your Chinese name. Generally, there is no direct translation for western names that carries the same meaning in Chinese, so two common ways to choose a Chinese name are:
- Phonetic. Appropriate Chinese characters are chosen phonetically. For example Mike will be 迈克 (pronounced 'My-Ker'), and Katherine will be 凯瑟琳 (pronounced 'Kai Ser Lin').
- New name. You can choose a Chinese first name that conveys suitable meaning and a Chinese family name that is phonetically close to your own family name. For example Chris West chose the Chinese name 魏博生. 魏 is pronounced 'Way', which is close to ‘West’, and 博生 is pronounced 'Boar Shung', which means 'knowledgeable and lively person'.
Note that Chinese names are usually given in the order of surname-forename so, using the example above, the business card would read 'West Chris' in Chinese. It is worth remembering that the Chinese place the emphasis on the first name, so you are likely to be called, for example, Mr Chris. In a work scenario, the whole name is tradionally used.