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When my father saw the photo of Xia Mei, the first thing he said was, “xiao pang pang”
which means little fatty. Later he called her, “xiao ber tou”
which means small forehead. These are pretty typical Chinese nicknames. If you watch kung fu or Hong Kong movies, often the fat character is called “pangzi”
which will be translated as fatty or fatso. You use pang pang for girls and pangzi for boys.
I typically call Hua Mei, “Hua er.”
where er is from the word “erzi”
meaning son but in this context is more like the diminutive form or a term of endearment. Interestingly, the Chinese word for daughter is “nu er”
where nu means woman so nu er literally means female son. It’s pretty obvious that the cultural preference for sons is manifested in the language.
I also call Hua Mei, “xiao houzi”
meaning little monkey.
When we get Xia Mei, I expect that I will probably call her “Xia er.”
Huaren is a term usually meant for a foreign citizen of Chinese descent. The term zhongguoren is used for someone who is Chinese but often is used for someone born in China, rather than a huaren who may not be a native. For instance my parents would probably be considered zhongguoren more than huaren. I’m not sure that there is a similar distinction for, say, Italian-Americans or Swedish-Americans.
Most often, someone like me is called an “ABC” or American-born Chinese. Other terms I’ve heard are “banana” and “twinkie,” as in yellow on the outside and white on the inside. This differentiation is a very charming feature of the Chinese culture.
Often when I meet native Chinese or Taiwanese here in the States, they are often surprised that I like Chinese food or even can understand some Chinese. In many ways we are looked down upon as being somewhat inferior. This is particularly interesting since we were raised by our parents to be proud of our Chinese heritage and our family history.
I really enjoyed visiting China. When I first got there, it was obvious to most that I was a foreigner. Most people thought that I was either part Chinese or that I was Japanese. No doubt my clothing and the way I carry myself made it clear that I was foreign to China. When I spoke some Chinese or when I told them that my parents were both from China, I was quickly accepted as a zhongguoren. I’m kind of surprised how important that level of acceptance is to me.
I think that this might be a big reason why I call Hua Mei by her Chinese name at home and try to speak as much Chinese as I can to her. I really want both her and Xia Mei to maintain their cultural identity. I hope that they will be fluent in Chinese. When I ask Hua Mei where she is from, she says, “I’m from China.” I’m glad for that. She is an American but she is also from China. I’ll let others decide if she is a huaren or a zhongguoren but she’ll enjoy the benefits of being a Chinese American.
We’ve had Hua Mei use Chinese names to call us at home. I’m “baba” and Karen is “mama” (okay, maybe I shouldn’t claim that mama is Chinese though the term is used in China too). When Xia Mei arrives, Hua Mei will be “jiejie,” older sister, while Xia Mei will be “meimei” or younger sister. An older brother would be called “gege” and a younger brother would be “didi.” For instance, I am Grace’s didi but Emily’s gege.
The word for paternal aunt is “guma” so the kids call my older sister “daguma,” big aunt and they call my mei mei “sanguma,” third aunt since she is the third sibling. “Da” means big and “san” means three. Here are other names for aunts:
bomu: father’s older brother’s wife
shenmu: father’s younger brother’s wife
yimu: mother’s sister
jiumu: sister’s brother’s wife
These are the names for uncles:
bofu: father’s older brother
shufu: father’s younger brother
gufu: father’s sister’s husband
jiufu: mother’s brother
jifu: mother’s sister’s husband
jiuma: mother’s brother’s wife
Obviously, extended families are a big part of the Chinese culture. When we were growing up, we called all adults either uncle or aunt. The Chinese words for an unrelated uncle is shushu and for an unrelated aunt, ayi.
Hua Mei calls my father yeye for grandfather. My mother would have been called nainai. The word for maternal grandfather is waigong and for maternal grandmother it’s waipo.
btw Hua Mei calls Karen’s mom “mormor” which is the Danish word for maternal grandmother (mother’s mother) while she calls Karen’s dad “Bumpa” which is how she used to pronounce grandpa.
The Chinese name for China is Zhongguo.
Zhong means “center, middle” and guo means “country.” Literally Zhongguo means “middle kingdom” or “central country.” No self-esteem problems there. But the real question is, why is the country called China by the rest of the world?
One explanation is that it comes from Jingdezhen, originally known as Changnan. Since Changnan was the source of the porcelain that was exported to Europe in the 16th century, the type of porcelain and hence the country of its origin came to be known by a mispronunciation of the name of the town Changnan or “China.”
It is a good story. However, more likely the name China comes from the word Qin from the Qin dynasty (221 BC – 206 BC). Then again, it is also posited that it comes from the Indian word “sina” which means silk. Or perhaps it is the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) which also coincides with the major porcelain trade with Europe. I’m glad that I was able to clarify that.
The Shen family originated from Hanshan County in Anhui Province. Shen means “state, express, explain.” It is also the ninth of the twelve Earthly Branches of the Chinese calendar. Shen is also a shortname for Shanghai. There was a well known Shanghi newspaper called Shenbao and the Shanghai soccer team is called Shanghai Shenhua. It comes from Lord Chun Shen, a famous high official who administered Shanghai and its surrounding areas during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). Chun Shen is the name of a river in the region, later known as the Huangpu River or Yellow River which flows through Shanghai.
My dad’s name is Guang Ting.
Guang means “wide, broad” and Ting means “thunderbolt.” Guang is his generation name. Traditionally, all the boys of his generation (siblings and cousins) in the Shen family have the generation name Guang. For instance, his two brothers’ names were Guang Zhong and Guang Pei. Each lineage such as the Shen lineage has a generation poem which can range from twelve to hundreds of characters. The generation name is taken from a character in the poem. The next generation then gets the next character in the poem. Once the end of the poem is reached, it cycles back to the beginning of the poem. Girls’ names don’t necessarily have the generation name.
My generation name is Sheng and my given name is Wei.
Sheng means “flourishing, abundant.” Wei means “great.” My younger sister Emily’s Chinese name also has the generation name and is Sheng Ming.
Ming means “bright, clear.” My older sister Grace’s Chinese name is Ji Mei.
Ji means “season” and Mei is the same character as with Hua Mei and Xia Mei, meaning “beautiful.” Our grandfather gave us our Chinese names. It was said that the meaning of Grace’s name was “the fourth of the generation and born in America” with Meiguo being the Chinese name for America.
It was kind of odd to hear her called Wan Jin Run. When we adopted Hua Mei in 2005, we had originally asked for twins (what in the world were we thinking?). We decided on two names: Natalie and Olivia. So, Hua Mei is Natalie and her little sister would be Olivia. We’ve been calling her Olivia for over three years now.
Natalie’s original name was Xue Fu Yan. She came from Wu Xue City in Hubei Province. Her surname of Xue comes from her city of origin. Others in her cohort from Wu Xue also had the name of Fu which is likely her generation name. Natalie’s given name from the orphanage is Yan. So, Olivia’s surname of Wan likely comes from her place of origin, Wanzai county. Similarly, her generation name is Jin and her given name is Run.
My sisters and I have Chinese names for our middle names. My generation name is Sheng and my given name is wei. We were named by our paternal grandfather. Karen and I asked my dad to give Chinese names to Natalie and Olivia. My dad named Natalie Hua Mei and named Olivia Xia Mei. He said that both names mean born in China and raised in America. The word huaxia is an archaic name for China. Meiguo is the Chinese word for America. So, Hua Mei and Xia Mei could also be translated as Chinese American. Hua also means splendid, illustrious; xia means great or grand; and mei can be translated as beautiful or good deed. So, that’s what’s in a name.
