Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2024 June 16

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June 16

Is Huangci a legitimate Han Chinese two-syllable surname or is it something else?

The pianist Claire Huangci has an intriguing surname. "Huangci" 黃慈 is not among the common Han Chinese two-syllable surnames as far as I could ascertain. Is it a rare but nevertheless legitimate (i.e. traditional) one? Or is it a non-Han minority surname? Or is it something she made up from say the surnames of both her parents or in some other way? 178.51.88.232 (talk) 09:18, 16 June 2024 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure it's a variation on what many Chinese people do with their Western name—e.g. incorporating their full Chinese name into it. Most that I've seen adapt their Chinese given name (名) to be the "middle" name, or they initialize it as a middle name or something. Here, I think she's just adapted her full Chinese name to be her Western surname. I've never seen that before, but it makes sense. Remsense诉 11:38, 16 June 2024 (UTC)

Huang 黃 'd be her Chinese surname, Ci 慈 her Chinese given name? We'd know for sure if we only knew her parents surname. 178.51.88.232 (talk) 12:48, 16 June 2024 (UTC)

I mean, her article says her name is 黃慈. It would be weird if they were flipped for this specific usage. Remsense诉 12:53, 16 June 2024 (UTC)

Pages in Chinese use the characters in the Huang–Ci order.^[1][2]  --Lambiam 13:55, 16 June 2024 (UTC)

In Singapore, it is (or was) normal for people of Chinese ethnicity to be given at birth a name incorporating a English forename, their Chinese family name, and a Chinese personal name, as for example Harry Lee Kuan Yew, and to use the first two elements amongst Westeners and the latter two amongst Easterners and in formal situations. (My father met the aforementioned statesman twice, in social circumstances where he was addressed as Harry Lee, sadly, I was too young to attend.) {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 188.220.136.217 (talk) 18:59, 16 June 2024 (UTC)