#87364
11/20/2002 8:25 AM
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Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 2
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 2 |
I am form China, and need an English name now. My Chinese name is Wang, Guoguang. Wang is my surname, which in Chinese means King. And Guoguang is two characters. Guo means country, nation. And Guang means light, honor. So my given name may mean honor of my nation or geting honor for my nation. Please find for me an English name. Thanks very much.
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#87365
11/20/2002 10:27 AM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
An odd request - no doubt. What'cha need it for? That might help in finding the right name.
'King', much the same as 'Wang' I assume, is a common surname in the English speaking world, so your sitting pretty there, Mr. King. As for your first name, well, if 'Guang' means 'light', I might suggest 'Lucien'. I have no prove but I've always assumed the name means something like 'the enlightened one', besides it's a great name, don't you think?
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#87366
11/20/2002 12:41 PM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Lucien King is quite a dramatic name, belligerantone.
Might I suggest googling some sites on the meaning of English names? That way you could read through lists and make a decision about what you liked.
I do, however, think the suggested Lucien King is a most impressive name.
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#87367
11/20/2002 1:23 PM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
Welcome to the board, swangk - I hope you stay around and add to our cultural diversity. {smile]
Lucien King is, indeed, a powerful sounding name.
However, Guoguang is two characters. Guo means country, nation. And Guang means light, honor
Lambert, means "Bright Country" - which is even nearer to Guoguang, perhaps.
I also realise that we are assuming that you are a man, which is not necessarily the case, I suppose?
If you are a female, then I would suggest Honour as a reasonable sort of transcription.
(Or Clare - which means "light")
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#87368
11/20/2002 1:37 PM
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526 |
Interesting dilemma. First let me say that I highly disapprove of people changing their names - even moreso societal stigmas (real or imagined) that coerce people into feeling they need to. (I changed my own name - through adoption - but that's not the same.)
My wife changed her name over my objectiions from Xie Anmei (thanks quiet pretty) to Amy Green (Green being my surname). One of our family friends' names is "Di," which means "Earth" and I gotta say I just love that name and hope he never changes it. My favorite uncle was from Greece (a cretan). I always knew him as "Uncle Mike" and didn't know until after his death that his real name was Manolis.
That said, if you really want to change your name, you have a few distinct approaches (or a combination of them). One is to come up with an anglicized verion that sounds a bit like your Chinese name. My wife took this approach and it seems to me many do. Another approach is to translate your name as suggested by BY (the previous poster). Yet another approach adopted by some Chinese is to come up with a name they like or that they feel will project the image of themselves they want to project. So one of my friends is named simply "Scott" (except I keep calling him "Yi Hong" since that's all I ever knew him as).
I think "Wang Guoguang" is kinduva cool name that lilts off the tongue and an interesting meaning and I hope you'll consider keeping it and telling anyone who doesn't like it to go fornicate with himself. (People are going to mispronounce it, but that's not out of malice.)
Lucien King is actually pretty good - a common surname with a pretty uncommon (in the USA) and evocative first name. Maybe you could keep your last name - which is also pretty common and just change the first.
In case you're female, you could think about Gwen Wang, but I'm guessing you're male, so how about:
Gary Wang, Grayson Wang, Gerry Wang.... also Gene, George, Glenn, Greg, Geoffrey, Godfrey, Godwin and so on.
Or maybe you could go with alliteration. Keep the Wang and make the given name a W, like Willard Wang, or Windsor Wang (or William, Wyatt, Winston, Ward, etc).
Note if you call yourself William, most people will probably call you Bill, but Bill Wang is pretty good.
There are a number of really good choices, but none, I think so good as what you started with.
k
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#87369
11/20/2002 1:52 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Oh, swangk, just look what I found! http://www.parenthood.com/parent_cfmfiles/babynames_searchresults.cfmThis is a site that will let you search for a name by meaning! The link above will take you to the first page of the names that came up for "light". If you want to search for some that mean honor, just click Back. And--there's no reason you can't have a first, middle, and last name in English--most of us do.
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#87370
11/21/2002 2:41 AM
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Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 2
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 2 |
Thanks a lot. Lucien Wang is good enough for me. Lucien sounds very bright.
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#87371
11/21/2002 1:49 PM
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833 |
Then welcome to AWAD, Lucien Wang! - Hope you'll stick around, as someone above already said, and add to - and enjoy - the mix here on this board! 
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