My Embarrassing Chinese Name

by Jeff
(Sichuan, China)

As a foreigner in China, I was often asked if I had a Chinese name. Soon, I realized that it would make my life easier, and also my Chinese friends would remember my name more easily if I had one.

On a bus tour of Jiuzhaigou, I befriended some of the children on the bus. They were surprised that I didn't have a Chinese name--and they decided to quickly remedy that situation. After much deliberation between them, they eventually agreed that "Yang Jian Long" was a good Chinese name for me.

That name means: "White Strong Dragon". I liked it.

But then I had a better idea. My Chinese zodiac sign is the Pig. And I discovered the Chinese surname "Zhu" which means crimson and sounds like the Chinese word for "Pig".

And for some reason I thought it would be clever to change my name to "Zhu Jian Long" which means "Crimson Strong Dragon".

A couple weeks later when I introduced myself to a class full of Chinese students--they laughed me right out of the classroom!

Apparently I had chosen a very silly sounding name indeed. If only I had access to a website like great-Chinese-names.com back then!

In the end, I got myself a wonderful Chinese name which I'm very happy about. You can read the rest of the story and find out my new Chinese name here.

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Ding writes:

Jeff,

Haha, you really gave me a good laugh! I love your story.

Readers, FYI on Zhu Jian Long:
朱健龙 (Crimson Strong Dragon) sounds like 猪见龙 (pig meets dragon) too.

I read the rest of your story. And I must say, I like your new Chinese name very much!

That is a very clever way of having a Chinese name for a Westerner. Most people would have just translated your name literally to 杰夫 (Jié fu).

That new name has the J and F sound in it too. It's brilliant!

Great name!