User:Douglas the Comeback Kid/Presenting Far Eastern Names in English

This article focuses on names in Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Khmer.

Names in these languages are presented in the order of 'surname + given name' in their native form. In English, these names are presented in exactly the same order. This may be inconvenient because people may not be able to figure which part of the name is the surname and which part is the given name correctly. Here, I would like to use a few examples to demonstrate the way of presenting these names in line with the naming convention of English.

1. Chinese name

(a) Example 1: 'Hu Jintao', name of the former President of China written in the native order

This is the simplest case in which a Chinese name has a one-word given name; by reverting the order of the surname and the given name, we can get the proper form which follows the naming convention of English: 'Jintao Hu'. 'Jintao' is the given name and 'Hu' is the surname.

(b) Example 2: 'Tam Yiu Chung', name of the chairman of the Hong Kong political party Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong in the native order

This is a more complicated case because the name has three parts. People who are unfamiliar with Chinese names may mistake the first word for the first name, the second word for the middle name and the third word for the surname.

This name consists of two parts only: a surname and a given name. 'Tam' is the surname and 'Yiu Chung' is the given name. There is no middle name in a purely Chinese name. 'Yiu Chung' is a double-word name like 'Mary Jane' in English: the two words form one single unit in a name and are two parts of one name. The Hong Kongers and Macaoese with a Chinese name tend to have double-word Chinese given names. To avoid confusion, 'Yiu Chung' is sometimes written as 'Yiu-Chung' or 'Yiu-chung'; the same applies to other double-word Chinese names.

By reverting the order, we get 'Yiu Chung Tam' which follows the naming convention of English.

In addition to Chinese, English is another official language of Hong Kong and Portuguese is another official language of Macao. Many Hong Kongers and Macaoese adopt English or Portuguese names, respectively, in addition to their Chinese name; the English or Portuguese name is usually the middle name (first name for some). English-language press, somehow, present such 'hybrid names' in a weird order: 'English/Portuguese name + Chinese surname + Chinese given name'. The then-Chief Executive of Hong Kong is known as 'Donald Tsang Yam-kuen' on newspapers and magazines. His surname is 'Tsang' (pronounced as 'sang', by the way) and given names 'Yam Kuen Donald' ('Yam Kuen' is the first name and 'Donald' is the middle name). Putting it in the proper order in English, it should be 'Yam Kuen Donald Tsang'. The convention in English is that only the given name and surname are mentioned in everyday situations, so Tsang's name should appear as 'Donald Tsang' in newspaper articles et c..

2. Korean name

When dealing with Korean names, we can do the same as dealing with Chinese names: e. g., 'Jong Un Kim' instead of 'Kim Jong Un'

3. Vietnamese name

Vietnamese names can be divided into given name, middle name and surname as in English.

Taking the name of the first South Vietnamese First Lady ('Madame Nhu') as an example: her full name in Vietnamese is 'Trần Lệ Xuân'; her full name should be should be 'Xuân Lệ Trần' – in which 'Xuân' is the given name, 'Lệ' is the middle name, and 'Trần' is the surname – and she should be known as 'Xuân Trần' in everyday situations as per English convention ('[given name] + [surname]'). Her husband's surname is 'Ngô Ðình', so she should have commonly been known as 'Madame Ngô Ðình' or 'Madame Nhu Ngô Ðình' instead of 'Madame Nhu'; 'Nhu' is her husband's given name. It is only a practice in Vietnamese, but not English, to refer to a person as '[title] [given name]' in all circumstances.

4. Khmer name

When dealing with Khmer names, we can do the same as dealing with Chinese names: e. g., 'Nol Lon' instead of 'Lon Nol'.

Japanese names are exceptional cases because they are always presented in the proper order of 'given name + surname' in English (e. g., 'Junichiro Koizumi', name of the former Japanese Prime Minister).

P. s.: feel free to message me if you have any questions or comments.