How to pick up a good English name which fits me well?
I'm an extrovert with tall sature and yellow skin, I like smile, and I like music and math as well, I don't know how to pick up a suitable English name for me. Do anyone have some suggestions?
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Answers · 8
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To add to Peter's comment above, English naming customs are very different to Chinese ones. English names do not 'mean' anything (with a very small number of exceptions). The meanings you see listed on websites and in books are actually etymologies and speak about how the name was originally derived. They do not mean those things in the present day. English speakers are completely unaware of what a name supposedly 'means.'
We do not pick names based on meaning, so while the information you gave might be very helpful if someone wanted to pick a Chinese name it is not useful in terms of picking an English name. Parents pick their children's names because they like the sound of them. There are other reasons, like naming people after family members or people that they admire but parents will not give their children a name that they don't like the sound of.
I don't see anything wrong with people retaining their Chinese name when they speak with English-speaking people, but I understand some people like to do that. In which case you might like to think about English names that sound similar to your Chinese one. If you don't care about that then you have so many options. Pick a name that you like the sound of. It's what native English speakers do. As Yalqun advised it's probably best to ask native speakers of their opinion just to make sure it isn't really old-fashioned or has any strange connotations, but other than that have fun choosing a name!
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Oh you have lots of choices. I recommend searching a baby name website like this one: http://nameberry.com/search/advanced or this one http://babynames.net/girl/english it will tell you a name's meaning, how popular it is and mention any other famous people who share that name.
You could also try keeping your Chinese name if it doesn't have an x, zh, or ang in the pinyin then Americans will probably be able to pronounce it. Or you might be able to translate your Chinese name into English. I know a woman named 小风 who calls herself Phoenix. It's perfect. When you pick a name I would run it by some native speakers to make sure it doesn't seem to weird, but we tend to be pretty liberal about names here in the states.
Good luck!
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I'm going to call you....... "Halsey"
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