Chinese-American Baby Boy Names

[matthe1]

Chinese-American boy on the way and looking for help narrowing down his name. He's going to have an english first name and two middle names (one english and one chinese). When spending time in China with family he'll go by his Chinese name.

Aidan (David Rui) Matthews
Drake (David Rui) Matthews
Dylan (David Rui) Matthews
Gabriel (Colin Zhui) Matthews
Kai (David Rui) Matthews
Logan (Colin Zhui) Matthews
Lukas (Colin Zhui) Matthews
Ryder (Colin Zhui) Matthews
Silas (Colin Zhui) Matthews
Taio (David Rui) Matthews

Rui pronounced "Ray"
Zhui pronouned "Dre"

[applepieinthesky]

Out of those I prefer either Aidan or Dylan.

I don't think Silas Colin Zhui Matthews flows very well. It's a bit of a mouthful.

[Wildwaterfalls]

Prefer David to Colin which means Rui works better as the second middle name. Aidan is my favourite of your first name suggestions.

[matthe1]

I do like Aidan, however i'm very concerned in how popular it is these days how if it's on the verge of becoming over-used. My primary goal with the name is for it to be fairly unique and fairly strong sounding.

Middle names i can massage if it doesn't flow well, really looking to narrow down first names.

[poppydaisy]

I really like Taio.

[CaoNiMa]

In what dialect is Zhui pronounced Dre?

[OneLittleBabyTerror]

I'm also struggling to see how Zhui is Dre (as in Dr Dre). I thought it's more like choo. I'd romanise the spelling, instead of using the standard mainland chinese spelling with lots of tognue twisting zh and x. I prefer English speakers actually able to say it in a way that's similar to how the Chinese name sounds. His chinese relatives won't look at the English name anyway.

[OneLittleBabyTerror]

The last sentence really was aimed at the fact that names are lost in translation. Which characters you choose is very important in a chinese name, and all of that are lost when you put it down in English.

[matthe1]

The Chinese name is more the name he'll go by when spending time with family in Asia so i'm not overly concerned with how easily pronounceable it is in the west. I can't speak to the spelling, the name came from his Chinese grandparents so i have to assume they know what they're talking about.

[mathanxiety]

How about Ray (middle name) (middle name) Matthews? That way he could have the same name no matter where he was.

[matthe1]

"Ray" honestly feels a bit boring.

[ComposHat]

Not really taken with any of the combinations, but why Colin? Is it his grandfather's name? It seems a bit old fogeyish - most of the Colins I know are 60 plus.

Of the bunch i'd say Gabriel. Least favourite is Ryder. Ryder Matthews sounds like a male porn star or the hero.of a Tom clancy.novel.

[CherryBlossom27]

Hi Op, my DS is half Chinese, I think Colin sounds like a Cantonese name, so you might want to double check with the family if it's ok to use? Not sure if your family speak Cantonese, Mandarin or another dialect?

My little ones Chinese name is Yat Kit which is a Cantonese name, but since joining MN discovered a lot of people like the name Kit as a shortened nickname for Christopher!

For the first names, I like Aidan or Dylan best!

[lopsided]

Ray is a great name, underused and strong imo. I realise not that many people probably agree with as it isn't in the top 100 but I love it and would go with the Chinese spelling to reflect his dual heritage.

[mathanxiety]

I know of a recently born Ray August -- I think it has a sort of retro charm.

[ComposHat]

Ray is the name of a cheerful coach driver or publican. Probably into line dancing in their spare time.

[matthe1]

haha you guys are awesome.

Anyways, Colin was my brothers name so its more in there in his honor then it is to spice up the name.

[mathanxiety]

V nice to honour someone that way imo.