Professional players names

[Christina]

I'm kind of new to badminton since i've only been watching the professional games since the olympics in athens. One thing I find really confusing is the chinese names. Does anyone know why the chinese players seem to write their names backwards?
In the world rankings, some of the chinese players' names are written as Dan Lin, Hong Chen, Ling Gao etc. But whenever these names are mentioned in articles they are called Lin Dan, Chen Hong and Gao Ling. :confused: Which way is correct?
Maybe I've misunderstood something, and am being completely thick (I wouldn't be surprised :rolleyes: ) but this has really confused me. :confused:
Anyone have any answers?

[Phil McBride]

Just the way it is i'm afraid, the names are Chen Hong as in Jimmy Smith

If it is in the rankings then they are done by surname so it would be: Hong, Chen; Dan, Lin; Smith, Jimmy etc.

Just like the school register...............

[NateDogg]

Im not sure your correct phil-unless i have misread your post. Lin Dan's surname is actually Lin, as Chen Hong's surname is Chen. Why we say there names back to front i have no idea! Check out www.worldbadminton.net for the rankings-this should clear up which name is which.

[jamesd20]

Asian countries often use the format (family name, given name) when addressing each other. Malaysia, korea, HK, and china all use this method.

Kim Dong Moon if addressed as an englishman would be Dong Moon Kim, as Kim is his Family name.

INA players often do not have a family name, but use their fathers name and "son of" Hendrawan din't even have a surname. They used to pronounce him "Hendrawan Hendrawan" to stick with protocol!!

INA way not always used though. Similar to old english ways. Nathan was son of Robert-> Robertson

[Phil McBride]

Similar to old english ways. Nathan was son of Robert-> Robertson

Don't you mean Scandinavian?

Magnus Magnuson => Magnus son of Magnus :rolleyes:


Yup Nate you are correct............. was having this argument in my club about a month ago where one of the players names is Boo Seng Koo and everyone calls him Koo.

I asked him why he was OK with evryone calling him by his surname and he just said it was better than being called Boo since his name was Boo Seng not just Boo and he hated getting called Boo.

Or was it the other way about? now I'm confused!

[Christina]

Asian countries often use the format (family name, given name) when addressing each other. Malaysia, korea, HK, and china all use this method.

Kim Dong Moon if addressed as an englishman would be Dong Moon Kim, as Kim is his Family name.


That makes a lot more sense now! :) Thank you all

[Admiral]

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Good God!

[Phil McBride]

Good God!

Yes :rolleyes:

[AXC]

Icelandic children's sirnames are their father's first name with "son" or "dottir" tagged on the end (boy or girl). So Magnus Magnusson's father's first name was Magnus but who knows what his sirname was? Presumably it is difficult to tell who is related!

[opinion]

Nate Dogg, your mistaken, Chen Hong.

First name is Chen and his Surname is Hong. I am good friends with Rita Pickering who used to play with Chens wife and Chen aswell, and I've also met him and spoke to him, his name is Chen.

[NateDogg]

Well i stand corrected then opinion!Thanks for telling me about your solid relationship with chen and his family. i have to say that chen hong sounds alot better than hong chen!

[Lewisio]

Not trying to srgue...but....Isn't Chen Hong dating Gao Ling.....so isn't married yet?

[Phil McBride]

Engaged I believe

[PeteG]

I'm not sure whether this helps or just gets more confusing, but I currently work for a bank where we deal with about 9000 Chinese students and in most cases their names are the wrong way round in the context of surname and first name. I quite often find myself adressing them by what appears to be their surname, but is in fact their first name, that may not clear things up but would suggest that most Chinese names are the wrong way round.

Of course then you have Hafiz and Roslin Hashim who are rarely referred to by their first names, although thats a little more obvious!

[PeteG]

Don't you mean Scandinavian?

Magnus Magnuson => Magnus son of Magnus :rolleyes:


Yeah although that means that in theory you have one of the most confusing surnames ever Phil!! Son of Bride!!! :p

[Phil McBride]

Yeah although that means that in theory you have one of the most confusing surnames ever Phil!! Son of Bride!!! :p

Technically the son of a bride, that is correct Mr Glews :p

[redkingjoe]

I'm not sure whether this helps or just gets more confusing, but I currently work for a bank where we deal with about 9000 Chinese students and in most cases their names are the wrong way round in the context of surname and first name. I quite often find myself adressing them by what appears to be their surname, but is in fact their first name, that may not clear things up but would suggest that most Chinese names are the wrong way round.

Of course then you have Hafiz and Roslin Hashim who are rarely referred to by their first names, although thats a little more obvious!

hohoho,
i'm a chinese in the profession of cpa and come across with lots of "forms" in life.

it's very confusing indeed. there are first names, last names, given names, family names, middle names, surnames, middle initials, maiden names...when there's a form to fill out for the immigration(on an airplane) most local chinese are very confused...

as a chinese, i naturally would try to understand english from a chinese point of view: "first" means "no 1", so what is the name that i've got first...must have been the family name(when i was born, before i was call so and so, i follow my father's family name )...the logic with "last name" is similar...which name of the names that you get "last"...must have been the given name or the christian name?... i think that's the reason for the confusion when filling out forms.

i found that the least confusing way to create a form(for bank) is using Family Names, Given Names and than Christian/English/Middle names like:

Family Name: Chen (or Wong)
Given Name: Hong(or May-hai)
Christian/English/Middle Name: John(or Mary)

No chinese will mess up with the family name...still, it's a bit tricky for the Christian/English/Middle names. Unless the parent is westernized, normally a chinese is born without the english names...when we go to school to learn English, each of us will need to pick one from Peter Paul and Mary...

[Phil McBride]

normally a chinese is born without the english names...when we go to school to learn English, each of us will need to pick one from Peter Paul and Mary...

That's a hell of a lot of Peter, Paul and Mary's!

[PeteG]

That's a hell of a lot of Peter, Paul and Mary's!

Or Petersons and Paulsons in the long run!!! Err, anyway, Red King, thanks for clearnig that up, I think it should make it a lot easier to understand. I know what you mean about an English name, a friend of mine at university was known as Sammy, but dropped the Sammy when he went visiting relatives in Hong Kong and just used his Chinese name.

[redkingjoe]

Or Petersons and Paulsons in the long run!!! Err, anyway, Red King, thanks for clearnig that up, I think it should make it a lot easier to understand. I know what you mean about an English name, a friend of mine at university was known as Sammy, but dropped the Sammy when he went visiting relatives in Hong Kong and just used his Chinese name.

really LOL...the best "son" that i've ever heard is Dickson... the gals said "everytime i need to call me, i almost can't resist laughing"

btw, like many ppls in hk, this Sammy might have all diff names in the birth certificate, ID cards, passport, degree certificate and bank accounts...LOL

[danbelcher]

but why does Chen Hong have CHENG H on his back during the 2002 All England final?

[gregr999]

i found that the least confusing way to create a form(for bank) is using Family Names, Given Names and than Christian/English/Middle names like:

Family Name: Chen (or Wong)
Given Name: Hong(or May-hai)
Christian/English/Middle Name: John(or Mary)

No chinese will mess up with the family name...still, it's a bit tricky for the Christian/English/Middle names. Unless the parent is westernized, normally a chinese is born without the english names...when we go to school to learn English, each of us will need to pick one from Peter Paul and Mary...

In the US, it is often possible to tell which Chinese immigrants are from HK. When HK'ers take an English name it is quite often a very (proper) British name... Winston, Harold, Neville, Charles, Percy, Percival, Dudley, Stanley, Cornelius, Terrence, Marge, Margaret, Hermione, etc. When immigrants from Taiwan or other parts of China take an English name it is usually more American in nature or neutral, such as John or David (as well as Peter, Paul & Mary).

Chinese given names often, but certainly not always, contains 2 characters (or syllables) which often tranlates into hyphenated names (such as May-Hai or Ling-Chu). Only a very few family names contain more than one syllable (or character), such as Situ.

The Immigration Dept in the US has quite a history of messing up foreign names. The Chinese name order is one source of misnomers. My maternal grandfather was half-Chinese... my mother's maiden name is Aki. This name is not considered a Chinese family name at all. When we traced back his family history, we found that we had an ancestor, Chang Aki, who came into the Hawaiian Islands in the late 1800s. It would appear that my mom's family name should have been Chang (or Chan) rather than Aki.

[Christina]

a very (proper) British name... Winston, Harold, Neville, Charles, Percy, Percival, Dudley, Stanley, Cornelius, Terrence, Marge, Margaret, Hermione, etc.... more American in nature or neutral, such as John or David (as well as Peter, Paul & Mary).

lol at the British names. They are slightly more traditional/ old fashioned/ uncommon names, but I wouldn't call them just British names as opposed to any English names. I've lived here my whole life and have never personally met anyone with half of those names you mentioned. What I mean is, you're more likely to come across a Peter or David here rather than a Cornelius (similar in America I'm guessing). lol We're are not that old fashioned on this side of the pond you know ;) lol

[gregr999]

lol at the British names. They are slightly more traditional/ old fashioned/ uncommon names, but I wouldn't call them just British names as opposed to any English names. I've lived here my whole life and have never personally met anyone with half of those names you mentioned. What I mean is, you're more likely to come across a Peter or David here rather than a Cornelius (similar in America I'm guessing). lol We're are not that old fashioned on this side of the pond you know ;) lol

Those traditional Bristish names seem to be ones that have been picked by many HK'ers that I've met. I've actually met a lot more ppl from HK that I've met from the UK. When I've met Chinese ppl with names that are similar to the ones I've mentioned, they are almost always from HK... that's the point that I was trying to get across. Didn't mean to imply that Brits are still picking those names of yesteryear for their kids.

[redkingjoe]

but why does Chen Hong have CHENG H on his back during the 2002 All England final?

was it CHEN, H or CHEN H rather than CHENG H?

as gregr and peterg pointed out the chinese's names are screwed up very often....when using English to identify a chinese, both the foreigners and the chinese themselves screwed up the names together...the chinese's name system in foreign country is so messy that anything can happen on these names...lol