Just looking at some validation rules for names in this IT system. It’s got rules that say ‘first name’ and ‘last name’ must be present.

Fair enough for Westerners, but don’t some Asian cultures have three names, and the first one is the family name? Presumably you have to have three, you can’t simply have two like we can here?

I know that some people pick a ‘western’ name, but does that constitute a legal name?

This is a bloody minefield. I read an article about it somewhere, I’ll see if I can dig it up.

Here:

The name riddle

This is also worth a read:

http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2008/06/international-address-fields-in-web-forms.php

I know Koreans have three names (family name first, then two first names). Japanese usually family name first then personal name, although English speaking Japanese usually write their romanised name first name first, family name second.

Not 100% sure about the Chinese.

Lol – Cougar’s first link basically destroys every one of these validation rules 🙂

My Chinese wife had 2 names with surname first, now gone UK stylee.

Our Nigerian staff choose an English name (to help us Westerners). I was chatting (by email) to someone called “Divine”, who I assumed was a woman, until someone told me it was a bloke…

Everytime I get am email from him, this image always pops in my head…

I know that some people pick a ‘western’ name, but does that constitute a legal name?

Legal where?

I find the Chinese adoption of Western names quite curious. Not the practice per se, that makes perfect sense, rather that the choice of names seem to be ‘old’ names. “Hi, I’m Mavis, and this is my friend Ethel.” I wonder where they get them from? Is there some Bumper Book of English Names that was published in 1930?

Here.

This particular database needs real actual official names.

Chinese names are written in this order = Family/surname first follows by personal name.

Chinese Family/surname can be represented in One (common) and/or Two (less common) Chinese characters.

Chinese name can be represented in one (seldom) or two (common) or three (very seldom) Chinese characters.

Chinese Do Not have second or third name. They have one or two Chinese written characters to make up their name.

Therefore, in Chinese the family name always come first follow by the person’s name.

There are nearly (or slightly more) than 5000 Chinese characters and all those characters can be used to create new names with their own meaning.

However, when they come to the West the Chinese adopted the name order by naming themselves Tom, Dick and Harry for ease of recognition not Ku Fu Chop Choi etc …

The arrangement or name order for Japanese and Koreans are the same with the Chinese.

It is also a no no for people with same surname to get married although some do it is still not encouraged.

If I were to have a Western name I shall be named as Merciless Chewkw. 😆

There is a website that a youngish girl invented to help chinese people choose western names. It was on TV a while ago. it was creating quite the revenue stream! I was very impressed

A friend of mine regularly has Japanese staff working for short periods at her hotel/tea-room, and the current visitor was introduced to me as Natalie, which struck me as a bit odd, someone who was clearly ethnic Japanese having such an obviously Western name.
Then it turned out that ‘Natalie’ was given that name by a mutual friend who employed her in Japan gives all her staff Western names, her name is actually Miho, which I’m much more comfortable using!
Japanese do have a real fondness for using western typography or Romanji, they find it more aesthetically pleasing, so perhaps that ties in to the occasional use of western names.
Next time I see Miho I’ll try to remember and ask her, I find Japanese society and how it adopts western styles fascinating.
What some people accuse us Westerners of doing, and calling it ‘cultural appropriation’ 🙄

Footflaps total gold haha!

there some Bumper Book of English Names that was published in 1930?

Something like that. When I was a teacher in Taiwan a new child would be given the choice of a couple of English names that roughly sound like their Chinese one from a book. I did try to explain to one teenage girl that perhaps WeeWee was not the best idea as an English name but she was adamant.

Miho as in Sin City

Chinese I worked with all used a Western name (becasue quite rightly we are too stupid to adjust to their names) and a “second name” which was part of their Chinese name.

It used to be when working in our emigrating to Canada, if you had a non English name you could choose one.

I went to school with a Bobby and a Frank.

Bobby from India and Frank from China. Both had chosen their names coming through immigration.

Thais have quite long names, and it is rare to use the whole name, usually a nickname is used day to day. Which only works on emails if someone remember to add it to their emails address.

I work with teams across APAC, including China, Japan, Taiwan, SK…..

If you just ask for first and second/family names, that will be fine. BUT you also need to leave the space for a “chosen first name, if different” in your database.

My current company didn’t do this and it’s a flippin nightmare. All our reports run off their chinese names, but they use their western names in all their correspondence….. nowhere do the two meet. Which one of these 12 “Parks” is Betty? Drives me up the wall.

To make it worse – I work in a highly regulated industry – looking forward to the auditors walking in and demanding to know why Betty doesn’t appear to have been trained 🙁

I find the Chinese adoption of Western names quite curious … the choice of names seem to be ‘old’ names.

There’s a lot of that in Hong Kong, but also some zingers. I sometimes buy chocolate milk from a man who wears a name-badge marked “Dinosaur” and it is amazing. A lot of what I tend to think of as stripper names as well: loads of Candys and Cindys as well as Irenes.

🙂

I loved being able to give kids their first English name in Korea.

Most went on until their adult life and changed often stayed with them forever.

Good luck to, Buzz, Giles, Sony, Megadrive, Quincy, Betty, Carrie, Christine, Penny-wise and many more

Megadrive 🙂

The Chinese couple opposit us have a son called Kevin, I always wondered what that was about..
They’re very nice, when I fixed his bike (Halfords new bike rebuild) his granny (who lives with them) came out and gave me a blue silk tie with gold dragons embroidered on it.. 😀
[insert cool starry bra pic here]