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> The prototypical Chinese name has three characters, a single surname followed by a two-character given name. A smaller number of Chinese people only have a si

> The prototypical Chinese name has three characters, a single surname followed by a two-character given name. A smaller number of Chinese people only have a single given name, and a very few have two surname characters. I'm not sure if this is correct. IIRC, in at least some areas/families, it's a tradition to alternate between giving a one or two character name from generation to generation. So if your parent has a two character given name, you'll have a one character name, and vice-versa. Another interesting characteristic of Chinese names is that given names are very diverse and varied, while family names come from a small set (something like a hundred or so). This is opposite from the West (or at least America) where given names are pretty restricted (e.g. lots of Johns and Emilys) but family names have a lot of variation (probably due to all the immigration).

9nGQluzmnq3M 7y ago
From the friendly article: "As in other languages, there are always exceptions." Wikipedia goes into extreme detail: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_name https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_name
zht 7y ago
I would not characterize the number of people who have single given names as "small". This also differs a lot by region.
morningseagulls 7y ago
>>> The prototypical Chinese name has three characters, a single surname followed by a two-character given name. A smaller number of Chinese people only have a single given name, and a very few have two surname characters. >I'm not sure if this is correct. It's not. The distribution of one- and two-character given names is pretty even in China. >Another interesting characteristic of Chinese names is that given names are very diverse and varied, while family names come from a small set (something like a hundred or so). This is opposite from the West (or at least America) where given names are pretty restricted (e.g. lots of Johns and Emilys) but family names have a lot of variation (probably due to all the immigration). You know, maybe we should change how we think about the ordering. Instead of family-given or given-family, it's clearly restricted-arbitrary.
em-bee 7y ago
it is missing one option. in some areas the middle character is a generation name. that is, that character is the same for all members of that generation. so the thee characters would be: family-generation-given name

9nGQluzmnq3M 7y ago

From the friendly article: "As in other languages, there are always exceptions." Wikipedia goes into extreme detail: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_name https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_name

zht 7y ago

I would not characterize the number of people who have single given names as "small". This also differs a lot by region.

morningseagulls 7y ago

>>> The prototypical Chinese name has three characters, a single surname followed by a two-character given name. A smaller number of Chinese people only have a single given name, and a very few have two surname characters. >I'm not sure if this is correct. It's not. The distribution of one- and two-character given names is pretty even in China. >Another interesting characteristic of Chinese names is that given names are very diverse and varied, while family names come from a small set (something like a hundred or so). This is opposite from the West (or at least America) where given names are pretty restricted (e.g. lots of Johns and Emilys) but family names have a lot of variation (probably due to all the immigration). You know, maybe we should change how we think about the ordering. Instead of family-given or given-family, it's clearly restricted-arbitrary.

em-bee 7y ago

it is missing one option. in some areas the middle character is a generation name. that is, that character is the same for all members of that generation. so the thee characters would be: family-generation-given name