"I don't have a Chinese/Japanese name"

詹姆斯: Yeah.

I went with homophone, even if it is a bastardisation...


百暂嚏

By the way: Does Skritter have an English name?

something boring like 斯科特 (Scott)?
... or something like 死疴慝?
... or what about 师德?

Or do you derive it from 梵语 (Sanskrit)? e.g. 梵者

百暂嚏 A hundred brief sneezes! Why so mean to yourself? Have you considered 百赞倜?

I would say a missing option might be "combination" - At first a teacher assigned one to me, and then I modified it through my own research to be a closer homophone. This is a combo of about four of the given choices.

I went with "homophone" as a response.

Yeah, "own choice" for me is more like "Chinese friends". Even though I'm in reasonable shape by American standards, my students in 荆州 always told me that I was a little bit fat and needed to exercise more. When it came time to choose a name, my friends thought it would be funny to exploit that, and I agreed. The 龙 part was because it seems to be the 名字 of choice for foreign guys who think, "I wanna be named Dragon! That would be cool!"

Yeah, 胖龙 is a goofy name, but I like it anyway.

I agree that "Other" should be an option. I haven't added to the poll. I was given a name by my first semester Chinese teacher, and then my Chinese-American daughter-in-law modified it.

I also agree that "other" should be an option. My name was given me by a student, with me as the (English) teacher. She was very shy about speaking, so we spent an hour talking with chalk on the board.

My Chinese name was also given to me by a friend, but that's not an option.

Yes "other" should be added : In my case it has been chosen by some 老師 (Fortune Teller). In Taiwan/HK serious name (that will be used officially) "has" to be chosen and/or approved by a fortune teller.

yea other should be an option, mine doesnt fit. I have defaulted to the bible translation of the origional jewish name. I will probably choose something else eventually.

@Tortue, I have an official Chinese name in Taiwan but it was not chosen by a fortune teller.

"In Taiwan/HK serious name "has" to be chosen and/or approved by a fortune teller..."

Everyone I know from taiwan, and same for some Singaporian friends either parents choose the name or in some cases due to tradition the grandparents choose the name.

I'd like to be the first to have a Japanese or Chinese name given to me by Skritterlings. Have at it, guys... what's my name?!

@jcdoss how about 大麋？:)

If you transliterate my name, you get 詹姆斯　which means something like "chatty nanny". Not sure if that's the most appropriate, although I sure do like to talk.

James

James, that's the first thing I thought of, too. But if he introduces himself to someone, won't they just think he's saying he's a big fan?!

Damn Chinese puns

@James: In the bible, both James and Jacob are translated as 雅各, and “The Letter of James” is 雅各书. Then, James Bond 007 is 占士邦.

Hmmm... "Big Moose" has some personality, but I want to hear some choices! If it helps, my first name is Jason, and I'm a veterinarian. Since I'm not really sure what goes into selecting a Chinese name, I'm not sure what else to add...

@Jason, What's your last name?

Doss

I’d suggest德思愈 Désīyù. 德思 is a transliteration of your last name Doss. 愈means heal and comes from your first name Jason (a healer) and also refers to your profession as a veterinarian. In Chinese, 德 (virtue, morals) will become your family name, and your first name is 思愈 (thinking of healing).

Another variation is 德思治 Désīzhì.

@pts Thanks, I knew about the Bible stuff (not very appropriate in my case) but I didn't know about James Bond. The problem with using that name is that a substantial proportion of the time when I meet someone from another country they think it's funny to say "James Bond!" and I am thoroughly tired of that particular joke. Calling myself 占士 would just encourage them...

James

I still don't have one. I figured I'd want to choose it myself but get nervous I'll pick something bad so it never happens :)

@skritterjohan When I say "has" it means "culturally", of course you can pick any name and make it official if you like it but going to a FT usually allows you to get a really good and original name. Teachers are really not good to give name, in 90% of the time it's quite lousy (I lately realized how terrible was my first chinese name :D)

I used a transliteration for a while until my wife and sister-in-law ran into a fortune teller guy on the side of a hill outside of Beijing (we'd gone there for some hiking). He gave them a few options and they nixed a few and gave me one or two options and I settled on my current name (though a bunch of people still call me by my old, default transliterated name).