Fanta-stic Names

Chinese people’s names are endlessly interesting. Most consist of two or three syllables (although there are a few exceptions). The first syllable is the family name. Most people take their father’s family name although it is possible to take the mother’s name or to join the two parents names to make a new two syllable family name. This is still unusual though. Even Chairman Mao's daughters took their mother's name as their family name. Note, women do not change their family names on marriage as in the West.

The next one or two characters is the given name. These can be very interesting. Girls are usually given quite poetic names or the names of flowers etc. Two of my favourites are “Dawn Piano” and her best friend, “Dream Far Away”.

Boys tend to be given more heroic names or names wishing them prosperity in the future. During the Cultural Revolution, kids were often given highly patriotic and revolutionary names. I have one friend called “Pride of the Army”.

I have even heard that the well known Chinese preference for boy children to carry on the family line, one poor girl was called “Hope for Boy Next”. But that may be apocryphal.

Last night, I amused by a tale told to me by a close friend who decided to explain her name. She has one of the common family names but her given name was the source of amusement. She has two younger brothers and each of their names have three syllables, the family name being the same and the final syllable being common to all three siblings. Only the second syllable varies.

The middle character in her name is . This means 'fragrant'. Her first brother has  as his middle character. This can mean 'distinguished'.

My friend went on to explain that her father had given his two eldest children these names because of his liking for that well known soft drink, Fanta!

Like many brand names, Fanta has been translated into Chinese by using phonetically similar characters. In this case . So, taking his daughter and first son together we have Fanta! Luckily, he didn't like Scotch on the Rocks.

Later, a younger brother arrived. By this time the ‘one child policy’ had come into force and her father was fined ¥8,000. To celebrate this, father named the boy . This means ‘expensive’.

Together, they say 'Fanta is Expensive!' 

tags: liuzhou  china  chinese  names  fanta  

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