OCs and Chinese Names

How would you react to an OC named Win Bloody?

Do you like that name? Does it sound like a plausible name in any universe whatsoever?

Probably not.

Well, how would you react to an OC named Yíng Xuèxīng?

That is the approximate equivalent, grammar and all.

For so many people professing to "appreciate and respect" Chinese culture and history, as of now I really don't see anyone putting their actions where their words are. Either stop making stuff up and pulling random names out of Chinese sounds you've heard before, or just damn well man up and say it aloud: "I actually don't care about Chinese culture- I just want my character to fit in/be Chinese."  And go ahead- there's a lot less shame in admitting it loud and proud than claiming that you "love" the culture and history but then bumbling through it like a ninny who gets all her facts from Wikipedia and Dynasty Warriors.

What if someone corrects you? They might tell you that name makes no sense, or you're using the wrong character, or it's just "not a name." And then you wonder, "Why did I not think about this in the first place?"

If you are not fluent in Chinese, the only sure-fire way to make a good Chinese name is to ask a Chinese person.

Yes, I know, how dare I suggest that? But come on, there are 3.6 million of them in the United States alone! But, you say, I don't live in an area with a lot of Chinese people? Well, I ask you back, how are you reading this? The Internet. You're on it. There are a lot of Chinese speakers on it. I'm sure one of them is willing to give you a hand.

Look, would you name your kid Sanguinus Triumphia? If not, don't name your kid Xue-Shengli. (Not only would no sane parent name their baby that, but there's nothing a little boy loves more than a name that screams, 'My parents never learned basic grammar!')  

It seems that some people are seeing "foreign language name" and thinking that it's a "name-your-character-whatever-you-want." I mean, if you name your warrior Ice Tiger, that sounds weird in English but all of a sudden you translate it to Chinese, Binghu sounds a lot lot better? NO. THINK ABOUT IT. Would a parent name their kid that? Would a parent name their kid "Sorrowful Blood" or "Tiger of War" or something like that? No!! A foreign language is NOT a blank check to give your character that super-cool name meaning you've always wanted to give but were too afraid that it sounded stupid!

How to make a bad name: think of a nice phrase in English like "Beautiful Sunshine" or "Victorious Thunder" and then shove it into Google Translate. If this doesn't work, putting two Chinese characters that have what you think are the individual meanings together is a great way to ensure that you will have a name that makes absolutely no sense.

DO use names from history. You don't have to copy the whole name- just look at what type of characters are used, general meanings, etc. If you can't find female names you're not trying hard enough. Compare: Sima Yi's wife Zhang Chunhua (张春华) to the famed poetess and woman scholar Xie Daoyun （謝道韞) Look at the difference- Spring Flower versus (roughly translated) Hidden Path (a very scholarly Daoist reference). A variety of women, a variety of names.  

Now, I understand that a lot of people want to give their characters war-like and martial names. But ask yourself: Is this culturally acceptable? Is this keeping in line with the culture you're trying to use?

DO use one-character names.

DON'T use compound (two-character) names unless you know what you're doing. If you just jam an adjective and a noun together, you might end up with a meaningful name that works. Or you could end up with something that leaves people wondering, "who was that dumbass parent who named their kid that?" Compound given names grow more common AFTER the Early Song Dynasty. During the Han dynasty, almost everyone had single-character names. Stop RIGHT now- limit yourself to ONE character for now! Billions of people have, and you can too!

DON'T use the character 'mei' 美  (beautiful). YOU WILL END UP WITH A CHEESY NAME. Come on, there are over 40,000 Chinese characters! Yes, it can be a legitimate part of a name, but no, the name you come up with will not be that legitimate name. It's even more used as a nickname. By the way, it's an adjective. It belongs in the BACK PART of a compound name, not in front, in the middle, or by itself, or in a last name. So "Ming Mei" doesn't mean "Bright Beauty," it means "HEY LOOK AT ME I CAN'T SPEAK CHINESE!" 

DO use a real Chinese last name. Don't try to be creative here! USE. A. REAL. NAME. Chinese family names are NOT like Western last names that you can make up and change at will. THEY ARE SET. SET! Do you hear? SET! (At least until the Cultural Revolution created like a few new ones.) I don't care if you claim it's "just an unusual name" or "a very rare last name," if it's not in any genealogy IT'S NOT A NAME.

DON'T come up with random sounds and put them together.
I don't care if you "heard the sounds before somewhere" or if they "sound Chinese." If you don't know the character for the name, you've got a problem.

DO read Lady Wu's passage on style names on the Scholars of Shen Zhou. kongming.net/novel/names/

DON'T mix dialects! Yes, I know, you're scratching your head and going "Hah what kind of moron does that?" Well I've seen it THREE TIMES already. Most people go off Mandarin, so unless you're willing to put in that extra effort and research for a specific minority/locality and the dialect, maybe just stick to mandarin… Here are some sounds that DO NOT EVEN APPEAR in mandarin: Shing, shin, ching, chin. If your character has one of those sounds in their name, you had better be fluent in Cantonese. [No ching-chong-ling-long-ting-tong please. That is rude and disrespectful.]  

If one of these sounds in your character's names, you have better be speaking and translating in a different dialect- don't you dare think that you can play the idiot and take one pronunciation from one dialect and just nick one from another because you don't know what it is in the first dialect!

DO use nicknames/childhood names. This is where you can get creative. Use a 'petname' like a shortening or doubled-over of their real name (Pan-Pan) or a title (Little Darky, Piggy.) Once again, I'm not going over the importance of things such as milk names and childhood nicknames- read about it on your own and think: "WHO would call my character "Beetle-Beetle" and what is the significance?"