What do Chinese names mean?

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Flag of Japan

Chinese names appear in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, and Singapore.

Vietnamese flag

 Chinese names have derivatives in Vietnam.   

The same sign language is used in Japan. 

You will also encounter these names in Chinese quarters and restaurants all over the world.

In addition you may see them in businesses online.

I shall list them alphabetically in English.

Kim/Jin means gold or money.

The Chinese character for Li
Pronunciation	Lǐ (Mandarin) Lei5 (Cantonese)
Language(s)	Chinese
Origin
Language(s)	Old Chinese
Meaning	Plum, plum tree
Other names
Variant form(s)	Lee, Lei, Lie
Derivative(s)	Lee, Ri, Yi, Rhee, Rhie, Reeh (Korean)

Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew, easier to remember if you start with the family name Lee. 

China has a Li River. Easiest to remember if you recall:

Chinese 理 (lǐ) meaning "reason, logic", 

立 (lì) meaning "stand, establish", 

黎 (lí) meaning "black, dawn", 

力 (lì) meaning "power, capability, influence" (which is usually only masculine) or

丽 (lì) meaning "beautiful" (usually only feminine).

So, if you are asking a calligrapher to write your name in Chinese, don't be surprised if another person writes your name differently.

Lim means forest.

You might also come across people named Lam or Lum.

The first name Shan is mountain. Shan Shan is plural, mountains.

Popular Family Names

 The top three—Wang (王), Li (李), and Zhang (張)—cover more than 20% of the population.

Useful Website

https://www.behindthename.com/names/usage/chinese

Facebook polyglot page

About the Author

Angela Lansbury speaks and teaches English and French and public speaking and aspires to be a polyglot (speaker of many languages.)

Member of 5 Toastmasters International speakers clubs. Join BHA as a guest. Wed Aug 5th 7 pm Singapore time. 

The Commonest Name in South Korea?

Flag of South Korea from Wikipedia.

According to Wiktionary:
The most common Korean surname (particularly in South Korea) is Kim, followed by Lee (Rhee, Yi) (second most common) and Park (Pak) (third most common). Together, these top three surnames make up slightly more than half of the Korean population (based on South Korea).

That makes it easy to remember people's names.

South Korea has a rule that you do not marry within your group. So the first question a Korean asks a potential date is their name. No point in wasting time chatting up somebody who will refuse a romantic date and won't marry you.

If you date and marry somebody from another culture, that's one problem you won't have to worry about. 

Many Koreans are Christians. My experience of Christians in Singapore and elsewhere in Asia is that they are very devout.

Useful Websites

About the author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.