A Fun Website - Determine Your Chinese Name

While I have never been a fan of Asian-influenced artwork, I have always loved the simple elegance of Chinese and Mandarin symbols.

Which is why I am amused by the number of people who have Chinese symbols tattooed on their bodies, as the people receiving this permanent body work must have great faith in the artists placing it on their bodies: Does the symbol on your arm really say “Peace and Love,” or does it roughly translate to “I’m with Stupid”?

So if you want to verify your current body art is accurate, or if you have a few moments and are curious as to what your Chinese name might look like, check out The Mandarin Tools website link at www.mandarintools.com/chinesename.html.

Simply provide your first and last name, gender, select from one of five ‘desired essences of your name’ (personal character and skill, mind and intelligence, beauty and appearance), enter your birth date and select “Get a Name!”

The next screen will display your Chinese name that was inspired by your English name: Your surname, given name middle and last characters (both in written and symbolic form), and the Zodiac year in which you were born.

As Chinese uses characters rather than an alphabet, your name can’t be directly translated from English to Chinese. However, Chinese characters can be chosen which approximate the English pronunciation, which is what this website’s program does.

Don’t like what your name sounds or looks like? The website’s program chooses the surname and given names according to the spelling of your name and the characteristics you choose, so the selection is not unique. Every time you use the tool, you will most likely get a variation on the first name. So if you don't like the first name you get, try it again!

Rather than my real name, I opted to see what Zen Shark would translate to: My alter-ego’s name in Chinese is Xu Zhinu, and it represents someone who is wise, knowledgeable and intelligent, and is constantly exerting, striving and making efforts to achieve excellence.

This was the first definition that popped up, so I opted to not exert myself and quit while I was ahead (and besides, the symbols were quite pretty).