Can you imagine sharing a name with 17 million other people? That’s the amount of people in China with the surname Ma. Combine that with the fact that most given names (our equivalent of first names) are usually short (a common surname is Chang), and you’ve got an nation-wide identity crisis. This is not the story of a woman named Ma Cheng, who believe it or not dons a rather unusual name.
Before I go on, I must explain that in China the surname is listed first, followed by the given name. So Ma is her family name and Cheng is the given name selected by her parents. It is customary for parents to seek guidance from the child’s grandparents when naming them and Miss Ma’s grandfather wanted to help give her some distinction by bestowing a more unique name. According to the article by Sharon LaFraniere in the NY Times, Ma’s grandfather, “combed through his library of Chinese dictionaries and lighted upon a character pronounced ‘cheng.’ Cheng, which means galloping steeds, looks just like the character for horse, except that it is condensed and written three times in a row.”
This name, Cheng, was very unusual and gave his granddaughter the distinction for which he was hoping. She commented that people have a tendency to remember her name more easily as a result. The problem is, the Chinese government wants her to change it.
The government is providing each citizen with a computer-generated citizen ID card. There are over 50,000 Chinese characters, but the government computers can recognize only about 32,000 of them and a significantly lower number of these are allotted for names. The name Cheng is not on the list. In fact, with a country of over roughly 1.3 billion citizens, there are 60 million that have names that do not appear on this approved name character list.
According to LaFraniere’s article, the Chinese government is also seeking to reign in the increasing trend of creative name giving. Government officials suggest that “names have gotten out of hand, with too many parents picking the most obscure characters they can find or even making up characters.” They should try living in the United States! In the US, we have over 70,000 surnames in use for roughly 350 million people. By contrast, in China there are only about 100 surnames for over a billion people.
For example, here are some common surnames in China, followed by the number of people who are counted as using them:
- Wang, 92 million
- Li, 91 million
- Zhang, 86 million
In fact, there are so many people in China with the name Zhang Wei they could fill up a large US city. To help with all of the confusion that ensues from having millions of people with the exact same name, there is a lot of nick naming that goes on in China. Parents will give their child a milk name which the child is referred to until they reach a certain age. Children are oftentimes given a name for use by the school and classmates. In addition, many Chinese will take on a more Western-style name when traveling abroad.
In the US, we may find today’s unique naming trends amusing and maybe even a tad bit annoying. But perspective is important. In China, your name must be on an approved list.
Hey Marly, I hope your’e having a nice Saturday night! I’m on the computer and Cauldron Boy is playing a overly violent video game-party over here, ya’ll! Yeah (sarcasm intended)…
I didn’t know this about the last names in China-this is such a strange concept to me. I can’t believe they’re trying to make people change names if they don’t have one that is common. It almost seems like a form of oppression to me. Not only in the sense of not allowing people to have the name they please, but also maybe a way of making sure people don’t feel ‘special’ or like an individual. Maybe?
June 5, 2010
8:14 pm
I do think it easy to take our freedoms for granted…down to what we can name our children!
June 7, 2010
4:13 pm
First the child limit (which, I suppose I can understand) but now this? Makes me happy to be American. That’s crazy though! And to think that they want to make it even fewer….. Crazy. Especially when you compare us to them like you did. Here, we just make up names!
Great post- I find things like this very interesting.
June 5, 2010
9:46 pm
Hi Alexa – glad you liked the post. I agree – it’s easy to be frustrated with people and the sometimes strange names they pick, but I guess it is a testament to the fact that they have the freedom to do that.
June 7, 2010
4:15 pm
Wow…this was so interesting to read! My husband has the same name of at least 10 other people in the United States, which is nothing compared to the number of name duplicates in China. Thankfully, my parents were “overly” creative and I don’t think there is another Monet Nicole Moutrie in the world! Speaking of which…we should set up a time to talk. I’ll send you an email this afternoon!
June 6, 2010
12:26 pm
That is so funny! When I’ve met people from other countries and I tell them that I grew up in a small town…and then I tell them there were a 1,000 people in that town, they are befuddled. They’re idea of small is usually a million or some crazy number like that. I was reminded of this when you were telling about your husband and his name. Your name is so unusual. The thing I love about it is that I didn’t even react to it the first time I saw it. It’s as if I had seen that name a thousand times. And I had, just not on people. It took me awhile to realize that you had such an unusual name. I’m looking forward to talking with you about it soon!
June 7, 2010
4:19 pm