how to name a child graceful in english

[shuangnick]

I live in China and my boy has been 2years old and it's time for him to have an English name now, a real English name which doesn't look like be given by chinese such as Jack, Peter. his chinese name is Reipeng which pronounced closely as Ray Pun in english, I'd like to name him a little bit similar to his chinese name in pronunciation, or maybe something else meaningful. would u give me any advice? thx a lot.

I can't see why English people would have a problem with Reipeng. He shouldn't need another name imo!

I've got a lot of Chinese colleagues in America, many of them have chosen to use an English name. I think that apart from making it easier for others, their original name would be a transliteration anyway which will never get pronounced quite right. It's a very normal practice.

Google tells me that the meaning of Ray in scotland is 'grace',

It isn't alwasy as simple as 'English people can't pronounce Chinese names'

I used to work alongside a lot of Koreans. They all had English alternative names, but I wanted to learn their real names, Korean names and made a great effort to do so.
But then one day in a long conversation about cultural differences, one of my Korean friends explained, that for them every name should come with a title. The title is a honorific word used with your name that denotes the status between the speaker and listener.
So for example, oldersisterSteppe, and I would reply youngersisterFriend.
When their name was used without the pre-title bit, it felt to them extremely rude, it was particularly bad if you were an older person being addressed by a younger person or even a child. It is a bit like how some older people in the UK don't like being called their first name, but prefer to be Mr A or Mrs Y, only more extreme, it feels like a slap in the face.

If you used an English name, then the title doesn't matter and it is fine, it is only an issue with their own Korean name.
One family got round this by giving themselves Korean pseudonyms, which we all used, thinking it was their Korean names, when it wasn't!

So, I know nothing about Chinese culture, but the reasons for choosing an alternative aren't always that simple.

Thanks for you all, I'd never expected that the MNers here are so hospitality and thoughtful before. And you really give me a lot of advisable and sensible idea, and I even can't restrain a laughter when reading the sentence that "Ray Pung sounds WAY too like raping".how humourous you guys are. Now it clears a lot in my mind. And to answer someone's confusion, more and more 1-3yrs old children lived in China get to learn English as a part of early childhood education in preschool, kindergarten or some sort of institution like that, before enjoying the class, they need to be given an English name for a better situational entry. Thank you all so much indeed

shuangnick - I understand that the school will insist on an English name, but no-one in England would ever expect you to use any name other than your own. So if he travelled to UK, he would call himself Reipeng, and that is what we would call him
(it doesn't sound anything like raping, that was a really odd comment)

Ray is a really nice nirmal English name, and very close to his own name, so I would use something like that.

Rupert
Ronald
Reggie

Redmund

shuangnick that comment made me laugh too! Hope you find a name that you find suitable.

So if he travelled to UK, he would call himself Reipeng, and that is what we would call him

Unless his preference was to be known by his English name - it would be entirely his choice.

Ray or Ryan

'Quinlan' certainly doesn't mean 'graceful'!

As said above it is very unusual in China to use a person's actual given name when talking to them. An honorific based on status would be used instead, or a diminutive for children. So if a person is going to speak English or operate in the English speaking world it is far more appropriate to choose an English name. Also the meaning of Chinese names is very important, and the meaning is conveyed by the character rather than the sound. This is completely lost when transliterated into English.

I believe most modern businesses in China operate on an English Name only basis for 2 main reasons. 1, it's so difficult to know the status and therefore correct address of everyone in the company and other companies that you may be working with, and 2, Chinese names do not work on email addresses.

Call him "grace" lots of male grace about.

I'd also go with Rei or Ray as a shortened version of Reipeng.

Other names with nice meanings:

Rufus = Red (red-haired)
Maximus (Max) = Greatest
Alexander (Alex / Alec / Sandy / Xander) = defender of mankind
Aaron = mountain of strength

Rufus = Red (red-haired)

nice meaning if the boy is a redhead ... which seems unlikely.

Ralph. Pronounced Rafe.

Yes, it's maybe a bit of a specific meaning isn't it?

Well the red part is a nice meaning for anyone anyway! I'm sure Rufus Wainwright is a brunette.

❤️ Raymond (Ray).

Rei, pronounced ray, is lovely; fits in with the current slightly retro fashion of Frank, Alf et al and has the undoubted benefit of being his actual name!

Ryan works imo. Sounds like a young person's name.

Ray is perfect.

I worked in China and some of the staff there chose the best English names! I knew two guys when went by Rainbow and Rocky . Basically I think you can pick anything you want, but if you want it to relate to his Chinese name, Ray is probably your best bet (unless you're adventurous and fancy Razor!)

mollyhuacha I appreciate for ur attentive advice, so many MNers here suggested for Ray and u give me a pretty nice reason. I love these portray so much!

We have a lot of Chinese people in Auckland,New Zealand and sic I've come across a lot of people with English names. There was an experiment done here where CVs with an English First name and Chinese family name were much more likely to get asked to job interviews. ( I think similar has been done in other countries)

steppemum

Sorry to correct you a little!

The honorofic in Korean comes after the name not before eg 'JohnOppa' not 'OppaJohn' (oppa is big brother.)

In Korea, if someone is younger than you, you don't need to add any kind of honorific title. Just the name is fine, unless they are a total stranger, or if you have a fairly distant relationship, or at work, in which case you should add 'ssi'. Honorifics are for people older or higher in rank than you, there's no honorific like 'friend' or 'little sister', you just refer to such people by name.

There was really no reason why your colleagues couldn't have just asked you to use 'ssi' after their name, or to have used their job title, which is the common way to refer to people at work eg 'team leader' or 'director' or 'teacher' or whatever.

I don't think the Koreans using English names thing necessarily has anything to do with the use of honorifics. Sometimes it is used to get away from the rigid hierarchy of Korea when they're working with westerners - some Korean companies even use English names to avoid feeling like they can't make suggestions to those higher than them because the use of honorifics places barriers between you.

But the biggest part of it, in my opinion, is that they feel westerners can't learn their names, or if they do, they can't pronounce them properly. In my opinion, the first part is a real shame, because there is no reason not to learn Korean names - they are generally two syllables and have roughly the same phonemes as English. It's wuite easy to learn them, especially once you get used to common names like 'min' or 'woo'. As for feeling non-Koreans can't pronounce them - a lot have of Koreans have said this to me, but I don't get the problem, because it's not like the British can pronounce European names exactly correctly.

I think there is a degree of shame Koreans feel around their country too, as well as feeling that America is 'cooler' and that it is 'cool' to have an English name. I have noticed a trend with some younger Koreans keeping their names, so I hope this will contine.

Anyway, sorry to correct you...