Opinions please on Chinese middle name...

[Purplelooby]

OK so... DH is half-Chinese and he has a Chinese middle name: Twanhaw, which was picked by his Chinese family and follows some confusing genealogical naming system.

Neither DH nor I can decide whether our children should or should not follow this family tradition (the family would like it but really don't mind if we don't). For a girl it's OK as we like Mei or Lili or something like that, but for a boy the names are more obviously Chinese. It's not that we don't want to use a Chinese name - I love using family reasons to choose names, but our children will not look very Chinese and to confuse matters, their surname is actually Indonesian.

Argh help! Opinions? Or even ideas for Chinese boy names?

Personally, I love China and Chinese names. The only trouble is that what sounds pretty may not mean something nice and vice versa! For example when I was a teacher I had a student whose name was Hua, which I pronounced WHOA (almost sounds rude) but actually means flower!

I just googled and got
www.babynamesorigins.com/chineseboys.html

Name Meaning
An Peaceful
Chen Great, Tremendous
Cheung Good Luck
Chun Spring
Dingbang Protector of the Country
Fai Beginning
Ho Good
Hu Tiger
Jin Gold
Jun Truthful
Kong Glorious
Kueng Universe
Liang Good
Manchu Pure
Po Sin Grandfather Elephant
Quon Bright
Shen Meditation
Shing Victory
Wang Hope, Wish
Wing Glory
Yong Courageous
Yu Universe

The other thing is that if the name is rather difficult to pronounce it could be hard. So if you want to go with the Chinese name I would chose the word which means something nice/good/strong but which is easy to pronounce and does not sound strange to a western ear if he/she will be living in the west. Just my humble opinion.

An example of the sound being nice meaning not so good might be Feng (meaning) silent wind (apologies to any Fengs and Huas reading this!

A longer list is at
www.ourbabynames.co.uk/chineseboys.php

Good luck, 祝你好運 (zhù nǐ háoyùn)

Sorry that was Chinese characters at the end from the omniglot website and they just turned into numbers. Just says good luck in Chinese.

www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/mandarin.php

I would, just because it's a nice family connection. Remember, middle names hardly ever get used except for filling in forms, so you don't need to stress about it too much. As long as it's easy to spell for officialdom, and doesn't sound rude in English so other kids won't tease about it when they find out, then don't worry.

My sisters three children all have two chinese middle names, all picked by her dh's side of the family also with the weird system you speak of that we had no clue about. For one of her children, one of the names sounded a bit daft so she stepped in and another one was chosen. There is a book, but I don't know what it's called.

Could you not pick them yourselves rather than using 'the system'?

It doesn't sound to me that you want to do it. With my sister I think it was that she didn't want to stamp on that side of their culture. All her children look more like her than her dh for a start and I think that that is a reason to do it rather than a reason not too.

I really like their middle names and feel no qualms yelling them across the park if necessary!

My (admittedly very possibly imperfect) understanding is that all the children in one generation have a variation on a single name. E.g. all the cousins will have a name that uses the character for "dragon" or something, and then another character particular to each child (so you'll have cousins Bright Dragon, Pearl Dragon, Ocean Dragon, Spring Dragon, etc etc etc). Has the root already been chosen in your DH's family? Or will your DC be the first child of the new generation. You would get Very Good DIL Points for asking your PILs what they would suggest.

Thanks for all these comments and the lists - I'm impressed how much other people can tell me about this!

ninedragons yes that sounds exactly like what DH has got - Twan in the part that all of his generation has. He thinks (but can't remember) that the next one is Gao which I think sounds OK. FIL has Cock so I should count us very lucky!!

I like Gao Wing. Perhaps it would be easier just to let the family choose though!

Gao Wing's sibling could be Ku Ming?

I would go with the "system". Children usually, in my experience have a stronger relationship with their mother's culture than their father's, and this would be a good way to redress the balance a bit.

Oh, and don"t be too sure about not looking Chinese - my blond, blue eyed very Western looking friend has a Chinese partner, and theri children look as if she had nothing to do with the making of them at all!!!

Unusual names are absolutely fine in the middle - as long as it's not obviously rude in English I'd go for it, especially if it gives you brownie points with the family.

My DCs have unpronounceable/unspellable middle names reflecting my family background, and the pleasure it gave my grandmother and great aunts is well worth a bit of trouble explaining them in later life.

Aw true DilysPrice - my FIL probably won't be that bothered but I think it would make his sisters and the GMIL extremely pleased, especially as they live far away and rarely get to see us.