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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

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Original poster

The name Pan Pan!

50 replies

VanezAJ · 14/12/2015 05:07

My dh is half chinese and I was thinking we might name our dd after a rare flower in Sichuan province. The flower's name is Pan Pan.
I love this name!
What do you think?

OP posts:

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PotteringAlong · 14/12/2015 12:27

Pandora!
I adore ya!
I implore ye!
Don't ignore me!

VocationalGoat · 14/12/2015 12:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SoWhite · 14/12/2015 12:37

I too think it is a bit much for a child that is only 1/4 Chinese.

VocationalGoat · 14/12/2015 12:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

KanyeWesticle · 14/12/2015 12:44

A male panda, or a distress alarm. Sorry, no.

whatsagoodusername · 14/12/2015 12:58

Maybe Pansy, nn Pan Pan?

BertrandRussell · 14/12/2015 13:02

PanPan Medico springs to mind.......

Is it a name used in China?

spankhurst · 14/12/2015 13:07

It sounds like a nickname for Pandora or Pansy to me. To my English ears (absolutely no offence meant to the Chinese) it sounds a bit infantile - it's the repetition.

Booboostwo · 14/12/2015 13:33

I thought of the panda too, sorry.

BikeRunSki · 14/12/2015 13:41

I knew about the distress call. Not a medic. Not in emergency services, shipping, flying or sailing, I thought it was general knowledge

Thetruthfairy · 14/12/2015 20:11

My friend has a little boy, called something like dj for short.
Let's call him Dow- James.
Could you so something like that
Pan- Juliet nn PJ
Gives her lots of options when she is older xx

BeaufortBelle · 14/12/2015 20:20

On the basis that I wondered if a sister might be called pot pot. No. Sorry.

I have a very unusual and posh English name. I spent my first 25 years taking comments on the chin. I desperately wanted to be a Susan, Jane, Fiona, Sally, Helen, Claire, Heather. Anything normal that wasn't remarked upon. Yes, I am old. No I didn't embarrass my own children.

MamaLazarou · 14/12/2015 20:39

How about Anpanman?

LynetteScavo · 14/12/2015 21:10

I like it.

It reminds me of Bam Bam in the Flintstones.

ErrinPerrin · 14/12/2015 21:25

I wouldn't. you are venturing into a culture that you are not familiar with and there is a rea danger of making a mistake. Chinese is a tonal language, so to get the meaning you want the name needs to be pronounced in the correct way. If you tell a native speaker her name when you don't speak the language you are highly likely to be saying something completely different.

Most young Chinese people who have dealing with the west choose an Anglicised name to avoid these issues and a lot of middle class parents now give Chinese and English names from birth for the same reasons.

TheHouseOnTheLane · 15/12/2015 05:40

Errin her DH is half Chinese! She's not "venturing into a culture she knows nothing about"

bobsalong · 15/12/2015 05:54

I think thetruthfairy's idea is good :)
I like pan, and if you added something more western to it you can shorten it to just pan, or they can choose the other name when they're older if they like
I like PJ a lot too!

KoalaDownUnder · 15/12/2015 06:01

It is not a name that crosses cultures well, IMO.

So no.

Georgiesgirl · 15/12/2015 06:12

I'm half Chinese and I gave my daughter a Chinese middle name. A Chinese first name seemed a bit much. I asked my mother and grandmother to help me choose and I loved what they came up with (also the name of a flower). Having said that, I love Pan Pan. I once worked with a Chinese girl who decided to pick an English sounding name to go by whilst she was over here. She chose 'Poofa'

pretend · 15/12/2015 07:02

I know a couple of little Chinese boys (under fives) whose Chinese parents also gave them English names so they would fit in. They're called Steve and Ian. Makes me

ErrinPerrin · 15/12/2015 13:19

The English name is not just 'to fit in' but because the meaning and pronunciation of the Chinese name doesn't carry into other languages. So you can have a fairly common sounding name represented by an unusual character which gives it a different meaning, for example.

3luckystars · 15/12/2015 13:24

To me it means "emergency!" But if you like it......

HopefulAnxiety · 15/12/2015 18:43

Pansy nn Pan Pan? That way her name is a flower in both names.

keely79 · 15/12/2015 18:48

I'm half Chinese myself - and I have a Chinese name but as one of my middle names. Have had a lifetime of explaining what it's doing there as I look far more Western than Chinese (luck of the dice). When it came to my kids, my grandmother provided each of them with a name, but we didn't put it on their birth certificates as, seeing as they're only a quarter, didn't want them to have same issue or worse.

So, I think I would at most put it as a second or third name rather than a first name as she may not look at all Chinese which could impact on how people react to the name.

BTW - it's traditional in Chinese families for an elder relative to choose the name so I'd be checking that by choosing a Chinese name by yourself you weren't treading on any toes.

TheHouseOnTheLane · 16/12/2015 00:57

I just love Pan Pan. And I like the idea of using Pansy too. So pretty.

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