Why do Chinese People use "Western" Names?

Being here, I — and I’m sure the rest of the Chinese community as well — always get asked the question, “So why is your name Michelle?” or “Why don’t you use your Chinese name?”... So why exactly is it common for Chinese people to have English names and what are the implications behind them?

Chinese people started giving themselves English names after 1970s after the Reform and Opening Up policy, and it has created an additional identity for many. This is largely due to the inability of non-Chinese people to pronounce Chinese names, as some names start with ‘x’, or with ‘c’ which is pronounced as ‘tz’, or find it really hard to pronounce ‘sh’. In addition, if the incorrect tones are used to pronounce our names, the words would no longer have the same meaning.

According to the Culture Trip Post: Chinese names that are perfectly beautiful in Chinese may have misleading meanings if the Mandarin Pinyin is directly used as the English name. A classic example is ‘诗婷’, a girl’s name that means ‘poetic and graceful’ in Chinese. Sadly, its pinyin is ‘Shi ting’.

Likewise, it’s extremely hard for people to pronounce my name - and I don’t expect anyone to. My parents chose the name Michelle because they liked the name itself. Thus, even though it’s not written on my passport, it is an essential part of my identity.

Now, Chinese names have inherent meanings, and hence, they are impossible to be directly translated into English. Most parents go through thousands of characters just to choose a name; I know my parents did. My name is 王裕昕, 王 (wáng) being my last name, 裕 (yù) meaning a ‘sense of richness in life’, and 昕 (xīn) meaning ‘dawn’ and thus ‘hope’ because I was born while the sun was rising.

Moreover, there are also nicknames, a special element in Chinese families. Parents typically choose the last character of the names as nicknames, but sometimes it can be entirely arbitrary. They are created out of love and are widely used by family members and close friends.

Both Chinese and ‘Western’ names play important roles in the Chinese community and their identities. Even though such a name might not be written in one’s passport, it doesn’t make it any less authentic than the Chinese one.

©️ Written by Michelle Wang 王裕昕. Edited by Suyin Chan 陈素茵