Asian sounding name generator

[NiQuinn]

Hello guys! In case you haven't guessed it yet, I'm looking for a name generator for Asian sounding names. Mainly Korean, Chinese, or Japanese types. Being that my story is a fantasy, I don't really need to find Asian names with meanings. I saw this but I'm not really liking what's coming out.

If not a name generator, tips in making up Asian sounding names would be great. It would be a huge help.

Thanks in advance :)

 

[yansusustories]

I can't speak for Korean and Japanese names but here's a tumblr-post about Chinese names that might be helpful: diversireads.tumblr.com/post/155678716235
While I don't agree with everything the author says, it's a good starting point if you want to use Chinese names.

 

[Ai-chan]

Hello guys! In case you haven't guessed it yet, I'm looking for a name generator for Asian sounding names. Mainly Korean, Chinese, or Japanese types. Being that my story is a fantasy, I don't really need to find Asian names with meanings. I saw this but I'm not really liking what's coming out.

If not a name generator, tips in making up Asian sounding names would be great. It would be a huge help.

Thanks in advance :)

If you just want Japanese-sounding name, you can try Ai-chan's SNG here https://forum.scribblehub.com/threads/author-tools.22/ though that's not a meaningful name generator. It's just a unique name generator.

How soon do you need it? Ai-chan has been wanting to update it to make a meaningful Japanese name generator, but nobody showed any interest and Ai-chan ended up losing motivation.

Korean names are quite easy, but Chinese names are a pain in the ass. In the first place, you have to ask the following questions:
1) Naming scheme of which language?
- Each language (e.g. Mandarin and Cantonese) generally has different naming systems. Cantonese and Hokkien names are generally easier to understand, as they use 3 words in a name. Mandarin names (or at least in China) has so many varying systems that it's impossible to make a name generator without someone complaining that it isn't a Chinese name.
2) Naming scheme of which tribe?
- Some tribes use different naming scheme. China is basically hundreds of different tribes with different languages and different customs, except they used the Han borders to determine who were Chinese and who were not. Nowadays China calls the Uyghurs and Tibetans Chinese, but they weren't in the past.
3) Naming scheme of which country?
China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia all have a different naming system for Chinese ethnic groups.

 

[NiQuinn]

How soon do you need it?

~ Well, I'm not in a hurry since it's for the second book I'm outlining and I'm still ironing out book 1. However, even though I say that, I need names for my characters in Book 2 hence my need now for a source for names. Though I'm not worrying about it at the moment, I am actively looking for names now. No rush but if you do end up fixing/adding anything important that might help, that would be a huge burden off my shoulders.

1) Naming scheme of which language?

~ Basically Chinese, Korean and Japanese. For Chinese, the simplest the better.

2) Naming scheme of which tribe?

~ I honestly don't know what you mean.

3) Naming scheme of which country?

~ Naming scheme of China, I suppose. I'm very confused and actually didn't know about the differences :o bad

 

[Jeff]

I get all my Chinese names from here

https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/chinese_names.php

 

[Ai-chan]

~ Well, I'm not in a hurry since it's for the second book I'm outlining and I'm still ironing out book 1. However, even though I say that, I need names for my characters in Book 2 hence my need now for a source for names. Though I'm not worrying about it at the moment, I am actively looking for names now. No rush but if you do end up fixing/adding anything important that might help, that would be a huge burden off my shoulders.



~ Basically Chinese, Korean and Japanese. For Chinese, the simplest the better.



~ I honestly don't know what you mean.



~ Naming scheme of China, I suppose. I'm very confused and actually didn't know about the differences :eek: bad

Basically, there is no such thing as a 'Chinese language'. You have Mandarin (commonly spoken in China, Taiwan, Singapore and is taught in Malaysian schools), Cantonese (commonly spoken in Hong Kong, Macau and Malaysia), Hokkien (commonly spoken in Taiwan and Malaysia) and many smaller languages placed under 'China's spoken languages'. A combination of Cantonese, Hokkien and Malay is spoken in Malaysia.

As for tribes, generally, Chinese people claim to be from the Han tribe. The Manchu who ran the Manchu dynasty was of a Korean-ish tribe. There are various different tribes such as the Miao, the Xiao and others each with their own sense of naming system. Even for Han naming system, the names are hard to auto generate because each name are personally chosen. In Hakka tribe, they name their children using a family poem.

Anyway, Ai-chan will try to update the name generator by next week. Kind of busy with work right now.

 

[NiQuinn]

Bumping this up only because a character of mine is demanding a name. I'm still lost as to what to give her. I'm torn between Chinese and Korean sounding names. Maybe a mix of both? Is that possible?

 

[Moshi]

Bumping this up only because a character of mine is demanding a name. I'm still lost as to what to give her. I'm torn between Chinese and Korean sounding names. Maybe a mix of both? Is that possible?

Many Chinese and Korean names are similar, especially family names (Li/Lee comes to mind),

This was especially prominent before the usage of hangul (the Korean alphabet). In those times, Koreans used hanja, that is, Chinese characters to write, and names were often chosen with meanings attached. Even nowadays, most Korean names are created with some meaning behind them, whether using hanja or not.

However similar they are, they are still separate languages, the above is just for background. There are many Korean names that wouldn't sound good as a Chinese name, vice-versa.

Long story short, a mix of both is possible, but it's not really advisable. Given the differences in the language, finding a name that works in both (because going half-half probably isn't going to sound good) will be difficult.

It's better to choose one of them, then find a name with the meaning you want associated with your character.

(Disclaimer: I'm not an expert on East Asian names, I just got this from internet research for my own character names)