Writing Advice for naming characters

[Chronokeeper2020]

I am planning to write a cultivation world novel and i have plot, characters and everything else in mind but i am not able to figure out how to write up characters name.
As a plan with no knowledge in Chinese culture or language, I am unable to figure of names for my novel.
I tried web translate but find it not fully trustable.

I do not want to write random name with either no meaning, weird meaning or an offensive meaning.

If anyone can suggest me some names with meaning to setup for families or characters or tell me a better way to write it myself i would be grateful.
for example: main character is a young man and i want to write his name with something that symbolise "Leaf" but i cannot find anything satisfying.

Thank you for the efforts

 

[Deleted member 45782]

Then look up baby naming sites? You can never go wrong with baby naming sites y'know? After all, who wants to name their kid MudHorse? Baby naming sites you probably have names with decent good meaning on there for parents. You can use it for your characters as well. Just keep in mind, it may not be as accurate, but assuming if you don't know how to read the language and have a barrier like me, its something at least.

That said some that were good names/titles may have fallen on different meanings late. I once found someone asking if Yinglong was a good name on quora; althu it originally was probably a good name and dragon means long, some say they instantly think of hemorrhoid's cream brand, Ma Ying Long.

Check Behind the Name

Chinese Names - Behind the Name

A glossary entry on the topic "Chinese Names".

www.behindthename.com

Chinese Names - Behind the Name

A list of names in which the usage is Chinese.

www.behindthename.com

and Behind the Surname.

Chinese Surnames - Behind the Name

A list of surnames in which the usage is Chinese.

surnames.behindthename.com

Other Chinese names naming sources:

Chinese Name Generators (with guides and other resources)

Dunno if anyone needs this but here: (Note that the sites below are entirely in Chinese, so you'll have to translate back into English for pinyin and meaning. Also, I'm not a native Chinese speaker. So, if anyone is and finds these sources crap, please comment so I can edit it out lol. Sorry in...

forum.scribblehub.com

 

[killwrites]

Chinese names are usually made up of one to two characters with their own separate meanings. My advice would be to find the chinese word for whatever english name you have in mind, then using its pinyin as the name of your MC. Although the same pinyin can mean a variety of characters, I'm sure anyone who knows chinese can tell which character you are specifically referring to.

For example, leaf in Chinese is Yè. Since your MC is a young man, you might also want to put a character signifying this, such as Jùn or Wēi. It's just a matter of mixing and matching to make your MC's name sound natural from there on

 

[Anon_Y_Mousse]

Writer's Guide to making Chinese names

 

[DarkeReises]

I am planning to write a cultivation world novel and i have plot, characters and everything else in mind but i am not able to figure out how to write up characters name.
As a plan with no knowledge in Chinese culture or language, I am unable to figure of names for my novel.
I tried web translate but find it not fully trustable.

I do not want to write random name with either no meaning, weird meaning or an offensive meaning.

If anyone can suggest me some names with meaning to setup for families or characters or tell me a better way to write it myself i would be grateful.
for example: main character is a young man and i want to write his name with something that symbolise "Leaf" but i cannot find anything satisfying.

Thank you for the efforts

throw some pots and pans down stairs

 

[ElijahRyne]

I am planning to write a cultivation world novel and i have plot, characters and everything else in mind but i am not able to figure out how to write up characters name.
As a plan with no knowledge in Chinese culture or language, I am unable to figure of names for my novel.
I tried web translate but find it not fully trustable.

I do not want to write random name with either no meaning, weird meaning or an offensive meaning.

If anyone can suggest me some names with meaning to setup for families or characters or tell me a better way to write it myself i would be grateful.
for example: main character is a young man and i want to write his name with something that symbolise "Leaf" but i cannot find anything satisfying.

Thank you for the efforts

You could also try writing word using Chinese characters, then using the Pinyin version of that. I.E. Elijah becomes 来佳 which becomes LáiJiā, removing the tune markers leaves you with LaiJia! Downside is looking through and for characters…

 

[greatATTACKshark]

Just name things off of objects. Thats what I usually do at least. Ex: Leaf, Fox, Daisy, ect.

 

[_oinkchan]

I am planning to write a cultivation world novel and i have plot, characters and everything else in mind but i am not able to figure out how to write up characters name.
As a plan with no knowledge in Chinese culture or language, I am unable to figure of names for my novel.
I tried web translate but find it not fully trustable.

I do not want to write random name with either no meaning, weird meaning or an offensive meaning.

If anyone can suggest me some names with meaning to setup for families or characters or tell me a better way to write it myself i would be grateful.
for example: main character is a young man and i want to write his name with something that symbolise "Leaf" but i cannot find anything satisfying.

Thank you for the efforts

I recommend you read some cn novels before writing a cultivation novel. Most used and common Chinese family names are Lin, Han, Zi, Meng, Chen, Ye, Li, Feng, Shen, Mei, Cao, Ao, Qin, Zhou.

As for a person's name. Yuan, Tian, Qiye, Hao, Ren.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

As a plan with no knowledge in Chinese culture

None? Zilch?
The way I see it, you should either
A) Write about a culture you are already familiar with
B) Spend a month watching documentaries about China on Youtube