One other important aspect of Taiwan was that because it was a migrant society in which disasters were common, family lineages in Taiwan have many more examples of adoption than in other Han Chinese societies.
As a result of the post-WW II Mandarin promotion policy and past government-imposed requirements, the vast majority of Taiwanese today romanize their names in
Mandarin pronunciation. In contrast,
Min Nan and
Hakka speakers in other ethnic-Chinese communities of Southeast Asia have tended to romanize their names via non-Mandarin pronunciations. Thus, a Taiwanese of
Hoklo descent who has the family name of 陳 will typically romanise it as "Chen" rather than "Tan", as is common in Southeast Asia. Taiwanese people who were migrated from other parts of China use Mandarin as well.
The romanization usually used by Taiwanese is based on
Wades-Giles , which can be easily distinguished from the
Hanyu Pinyin used for romanization in
Mainland China and
Singapore by the lack of the use of "q", "zh", and "x" and the inclusion of hyphens. Unlike
Mainland China , one can often find non-standard romanizations such as Lee or Soong, and other idiosyncratic variants.
Among the Taiwanese
Presbyterian Christians , the family name 偕 (Kai) is of particular interest as an example of a Chinese-like surname with a non-Chinese
Root . According to the clan's tradition, the name was adopted to honor the
Canadian Missionary George Leslie Mackay , also known as Má-kai (馬偕). This family name is actually rarely seen even among
Presbyterian Christians. Taiwanese Christians of other sects do not carry this tradition.
In Taiwan, the family name 潘 may also have a local derivation from 番, or "barbarian". It is said to be common among descendents of Plains Aborigines. However, 潘 is also a well-established family name in China. This indicator works only occasionally.
Hanzi |
POJ |
Popular spellings |
|---|
李 |
Lí |
Lee |
|
陳 |
Tân |
Chen |
|
林 |
Lîm |
Lin |
張 |
Tiuⁿ |
Chang |
趙 |
Tiō |
Chao |
鄭 |
Tēⁿ/Tīⁿ |
Cheng |
劉 |
Lâu |
Liu |
(See:
Top 10 Taiwanese family names and
Top family names in China (1988) ,
List_of_common_Chinese_surnames )
As with surnames, most of the conventions used among Han Chinese in Taiwan follow those of
Chinese Names . However, there are a number of areas where conventions in Taiwan differ from other Han Chinese societies.
Taiwanese (Han) given names are usually composed of two characters or syllables. Given names which consist of one character are much less common on Taiwan than in
Mainland China .
More common in the past when life was much more difficult, Taiwanese given names are sometimes unofficially re-assigned based on the recommendation of
Fortune-teller s, in order to ward off bad
Omen s and evil spirits. For example, a sick boy may be renamed "Ti-sái" (豬屎), or "
Hog Manure ", to indicate to the evil spirits that he is not worth their trouble. Similarly, a girl from a poor family may have the name "Bóng-chhī" (罔市), or translated loosely, "Keeping (her) Only Reluctantly".
Nickname s (also known as "child names", ''gín-á-miâ'', 囝仔名) derives from the practice common to Fujian of being constructed by attaching the prefix "A-" (阿) to the last syllable. Unlike the situation in Mainland China, this construction is used for Hakka names as well. Nicknames are often used by friends to refer to each other, but are rarely used in formal contexts. However, one major exception to this is President
Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁, Tân Chúi-píⁿ) who is often called A-píⁿ--a (阿扁); by his supporters and rivals alike. This construction has even shown up in Taiwanese Mandarin, as Chen Shui-bian is also often known as A-bian in Mandarin. The use of nicknames in public contexts is however unusual, and very few other public figures (such as the singer
A-mei ) are known by their nicknames.
Decades ago, it was not uncommon for Hakka women to have a personal name ending with the character 妹 (moi), meaning "female" in
Hakka . Since this practice is uncommon among the Hoklo, this serves as a semi-reliable identifier of Hakka ethnicity, typically among aged population.
Some Taiwanese aborigines also have Hakka-like family and personal names due to the geographical proximity of Hakka communities. For example, the aboriginal pop singer
A-mei (張惠).
This convention is much less used today, as a name ending with "妹" are considered old-fashioned.
Examples of names of prominent Taiwanese born in Taiwan, mostly after World War II. See
Chinese Name for details. Note that Taiwanese aborigines may have traditional names.
- One-character family name + two-character given name (mainstream)
- --- 王永慶＝王＋永慶(millionaire)
- --- 陳長文＝陳＋長文(lawyer)
- --- 張榮發＝張＋榮發(millionaire)
- --- 林懷民＝林＋懷民(dancer)
- --- 古金水＝古＋金水(aboriginal athlete who adopted Chinese name)
- One-character family name + one-character given name (few)
- --- 蔡琴＝蔡＋琴(folk singer)
- --- 蕭薔＝蕭＋薔(actress; Stage Name )
- Two-character family name + one-character given name (even fewer)
- --- 歐陽龍＝歐陽＋龍(actor, local politician)
- Compound family name + one- or two-character given name (rare)
- --- 鄭余鎮＝鄭‧余＋鎮(former politician involved in a sex scandal)
- --- 郭李建夫＝郭‧李＋建夫(retired professional baseball player)
- Husband's family name + one-character family name + two-character given name (some women)
- --- 錢林慧君＝錢＋林＋慧君 (former Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) legislator)
- Recent Aborigines' hybrid use of matrilineal name convention with Chinese names (with mother's family name going before father's)
- --- 高金素梅＝高＋金＋素梅(aboriginal actress and legislator who adopted Chinese name)
Prior to contact with Han Chinese, the
Taiwanese Aborigine s named themselves according to each tribe's tradition. The naming system varies greatly depending on the particular tribes. Some tribes does not have family names, at least as part of the personal name.
Under the strong influence of Chinese culture and forces of assimilation brought by Han Settlers in the
1600's , the aborigines have gradually adopted Han names. In the 17th century and 18th century, possession of a Han surname was considered to be a sign of being civilized, in part because adoption of a Han surname meant that that person was now entered into the population registration books and could be taxed. Upon possessing a Han surname, most of the lowland aboriginal tribes assimilated with the Han immigrants, and eventually no longer saw themselves or were seen as a distinct population.
The highland tribes generally kept separate names until after WW II when the Government systematically assigned Han names to indigenous Taiwanese. Aborigines settled near Hakka communities were sometimes assignd Hakka-like family names.
In the last two decades some aborigines have again taken up traditional names or chosen to emphasize them. However, few have abandoned their Han names, in part because the
Austronesian names are difficult for non-aboriginals to remember or pronounce. As a legacy of the anti-romanisation policy of the past, even these names are often written in Chinese characters to mimic their native sounds, even though
Formosan Languages are typically written in the Latin alphabet. One interesting quirk is that in looking at candidates for the aboriginal legislative seats,
Kuomintang candidates will invariably use a Han-derived name while candidates for the
Democratic Progressive Party will invariably use a traditional name.
- Aboriginal name transcribed into Han characters, romanization via piecewise character reading
- --- 瓦歷斯尤幹＝瓦歷斯＋尤幹, Wa-li-ssu Yu-kan
- Aboriginal with Romanized name, and transcribed into Han Characters
- --- Walis-Pelin, 瓦歷斯貝林
- Aboriginal who adopted Chinese name, romanization via uncertain method
- --- 高金素梅, Hsieh May Chin
In the early phases of Japanese rule over Taiwan after 1895, the Japanese government
did not make any strong effort to encourage Taiwanese to adopt Japanese names. This policy changed in the
1930s when the Japanese government adopted the 'kominka' policy, which encouraged Taiwanese to adopt Japanese cultural practices and Japanese names. These names were generally abandoned in Taiwan after 1945 when Japanese rule was replaced by that of the
Republic Of China .
- Romanization via Japanese On reading (Chinese name)
- --- Koh Se-kai (許世楷), Taiwan's top representative to Japan
These names are mostly male names and they belong to Taiwanese people of the past one to two hundred years. Most of the names are not particularly "Taiwanese" in a way Japanese names are different from Chinese names. Many names simply do not carry any information about their ethnic background.
