English Polymorphs of Chinese Personal Names
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by PolyU Institutional Repository VARIETIES 2 English polymorphs of Chinese personal names LI LAN discusses variation in six years ago when I was engaged at the Uni- Chinese names as used in English, versity of Exeter in the UK in the literature search for my doctoral thesis. I noticed an following on from Peter Tan’s increasing number of publications by Chinese ‘Englishised names? – An analysis of scholars in international journals and in fact naming patterns among ethnic- that, through the way a name is spelt, one can tell where an author is from: a Chinese name in Chinese Singaporeans’, in ET68 English bears information of one’s origin. I did (17:4), Oct 01 some research in databases of different sub- jects and was surprised by the great variety In its global spread, the English language has not among the same family names. However, this only exercised a profound influence on other lan- interest remained idle until I read Peter Chan’s guages but also created mosaics in nomenclature article in ET68, in which he described Chinese – a phenomenon that has however been largely names in Singapore. I would like to respond neglected. In 1995, in his book Japan’s Name Cul- here to that article, with regard to Chinese Eng- ture: The Significance of Names in a Religious, lish names in other places. Political, And Social Context, H. E. Plutschow My data has been collected through the fol- found it surprising that names have received lit- lowing sources: publications related to the tle or no attention, despite being so significant romanization and pronunciation of Chinese; in social, political, economic and religious life. electronic databases on the Internet; the CD- Chinese names as used in English are a good case ROM interlibrary network; Chinese–English dic- in point, especially because they can have dif- tionaries published in different ethnic Chinese ferent versions when translated into, or simply communities; reports of government population presented in, English. By and large, there are censuses; and the staff directory of Hong Kong three reasons for this: Polytechnic University, where I work. 1 the different systems of romanization avail- able for use Varieties of Chinese names in 2 the different pronunciations in different Chi- English nese dialects The international publication in English of 3 the kinds of hybridization that can occur scholars with Chinese backgrounds started between English and Chinese. about two decades ago, after China opened its This paper discusses the use and translation of door to the world in 1978. I have searched 33 Chinese names in terms of the four systems of databases of both natural and social sciences, romanization adopted for Chinese at different in terms of 10 unique mainland Chinese sur- times and in different places. The question names1 that are among the top 50 most com- raised is whether there should be a unified mon in China: Zhang, Zhao, Zheng, Zhou, Zhu, form for all such names in both English in par- ticular and romanization in general, so as to reduce difficulties and confusions for govern- LI LAN is currently a Research Fellow at the mental and financial institutions, for foreign Department of English, Hong Kong Polytechnic learners of Chinese, and for Chinese people University, and holds M.Phil. and PhD degrees in seeking to use a consistent version of their applied linguistics from the University of Exeter name for international purposes. (1989, 1998). She has taught English at university level in mainland China and Hong Kong for over 15 years and has published a range of papers, Personal experience especially on both lexicography and English for My interest in Chinese names in English started Specific Purposes. S0266078402002080 English Today 70, Vol. 18, No. 2 (April 2002). Printed in the United Kingdom © 2002 Cambridge University Press 51 Fig 1: Percentage of total publications by 10 Chinese family names 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 MATHS MADLINE BIOLOGY LLBA ERIC INSPECT Zen, Xiao, Xie, Xu, and Xue. I worked out the Differences in word order and above chart with the data from six leading capitalization databases (MathSciNet, MadLine, Biological Abstract, LLBA, ERIC, and INSPECT), so as to The first confusion arises from word order. Tra- demonstrate the surge of publications by ditionally, a name in Chinese consists of a fam- Chinese scholars in international journals from ily name followed by a given name, but in Eng- 1980 to 2000. lish this ordering becomes uncertain. I always Before the year 1978, few mainland Chinese tell people ‘My name is Li Lan’, but when I fill in would have imagined their names appearing in a form with a separate surname and given English-language documents and were hardly name, it will automatically become Lan Li in an concerned with how they would – or could – English document. As a result it becomes diffi- occur other than in traditional Chinese charac- cult to be consistent: from different data ters. In the last twenty years, however, over sources, 12 distinct name-styles can, as it were, 270,000 Chinese students and scholars have be generated from Chinese names rendered studied in about 100 countries, where in many into English. They are: instances their families also joined them. As a 1 names, composed of two characters, that result, bearing an English or romanized name follow the Chinese pattern, surname first: Li has become commonplace. Lan Chinese characters used worldwide in ethnic 2 names composed of three (or more) Chinese groups are the same, whether in their characters represented by three (or more) simplified or complex forms. However, when a roman words, family name first, in open form: Gao Xiao Ping name is presented in English, the words repre- 3 hyphenated disyllabic personal names, the sented by those characters tend to have several second character in lower case: Gao Xiao-ping spellings. Such Anglicized (or, more properly, 4 hyphenated disyllabic names, the second romanized) names may come from a govern- character in upper case: Gao Xiao-Ping ment registrar, the recommendation or deci- 5 the family name and the given name in sion of a teacher, a bilingual dictionary, or reverse order, in open form: Lan Li, Xiao Ping some other such source. In addition, individu- Gao als sometimes change the spelling of their 6 the family name and the given name in names when they see one that better suits their reverse order, the given name as one word: personal inclination – or even whim. The fact Xiaoping Gao 7 the combination of a Christian/English name, that a single Chinese character can have sev- then a Chinese given name, then the family eral spellings in English and other Western lan- name: Jane Fung Yee Mok guages often causes confusion, and for this rea- 8 the combination of a Chinese given name with son has become a significant matter for a Christian/English middle name in middle immigration departments, banks, insurance position: Sao-yin Connie Lam companies, and other such institutions. 9 the Christian/English name first, then the 52 ENGLISH TODAY 70 April 2002 family name, then the Chinese personal name: 2 National Romanization Robert Law Chung-hung 10 the Christian-cum-English name first, then During the period 1912–49, the first Chinese initials for the disyllabic Chinese given name, system of romanization, the National phonetic then the family name: Tracy S.Y. Wong alphabet (guoyin zimu) was devised by Lin Yu- 11 the use of only one initial for the disyllabic tang and Chao Yuen-ren and based on the Bei- Chinese given name: Tracy S. Wong (where jing dialect. It was approved by the govern- the S stands for Siu-Ying) ment in 1918 and became obligatory in the 12 increasingly commonly, in (especially teaching of Chinese at secondary schools. In academic) institutions and publications, the 1930, its name was officially changed to zhuyin family name (in whatever position) presented fuhao, using phonetic symbols. It continues to in upper case and the given name(s) in lower case: GAO Xiaoping., Jane MOK Fung Yee, be used in teaching Chinese in Taiwan. Zhuyin Sao-yin Connie LAM. fuhao has been regarded as an unhappy com- promise: it employed symbols derived from the In addition, married women now tend to use traditional script, and in reality is not a writing both their husbands’ family names and their system at all. Its drawbacks were obvious: it maiden names. Thus, after marriage, adding was hard to learn, hard to write, hard to the husband’s surname Lam, Susan Mok Fung remember, and hard to print. ‘In short, it was in Yee may become Susan Lam Mok Fung Yee. One outmoded and cumbersome nuisance’ (Nor- fortunate thing is that, however confusing the man, 1988:259). When it comes to interna- overall system may be, individuals tend to be tional communication, this system still needs consistent with regard to the English/roman interpretation. The parallel National Roman- form of their names (much as most Euro-Amer- ization also had complicated spelling rules to icans are consistent about their own names, so indicate four tones, and was regarded as more that for example Sarah Macdonald does not difficult to learn. The government paid little suddenly become Sara McDonald (unless it is attention to it and it failed a few years after its someone else’s mistake). creation. Differences derived from spelling 3 The Yale system systems During the Second World War, Yale University In addition to differences in word order and introduced an intensive programme of Chinese among individual preferences, a name written training for Air Force pilots and introduced a as a single Chinese character may have differ- new system, related more clearly to American ent roman spellings because four distinct sys- pronunciation.