Need help translate mandarin name to Hokkien romanized

[lyen12]

Hi,

Can someone please help translate this to romanized Hokkien? I need it to register for birth cert

慈恩

Thanks...

[niuc]

Congrats, Lyen12! I would suggest to romanized 慈恩 as Tzu Oen/Oon/Un. IMHO to spell it as "Tzu" looks nicer than Cu/Chu/Cy/Chy; and to "tag along" the popularity of Tzu Chi (I admire this Buddhist organization's charity works although I am an Orthodox Christian).

Alternatively, http://solution.cs.ucla.edu/~jinbo/dzl/lookup.php romanized 慈 as Zy... looks cool too.

[lyen12]

Hi NIUC,

Thanks a lot...U've been very helpful. Both my hubby and I are also Christians.

BTW, do you think 慈恩 is suitable for girl?

[niuc]

Hi Lyen12

I heard of 恩 used as name for both boys & girls. I am not an expert about names, but 慈恩 (would her English name be "Grace"?) sounds very good and beautiful to me. Again, congratulations for your newborn daughter! Christ bless you all!

[xng]

Hi NIUC,

Thanks a lot...U've been very helpful. Both my hubby and I are also Christians.

BTW, do you think 慈恩 is suitable for girl?

Sorry, I don't quite agree with niuc. As a chinese living in the western world or mixed world, it is best to choose a romanisation that people don't have to learn the romanisation because most people DON'T.

I have heard of people atrociously pronouncing 'guangzhou' and other chinese names from the asian games commentators. Who the hell except for linguist know how to pronounce 'tz' and 'zh'.

I suggest Joo/Ju Oon which is easier for westerners or non chinese to pronounce.

Yes, it is suitable for girl because of the feminine attributes of gratitute and kindness.

[aokh1979]

Why do we name our children the way easier for non-Chinese or westerners to pronounce ? I thought we should be proud of who we actually are. Japanese never care how you mispronounce their names. Neither Koreans or Vietnamese, even Czechs or Russians. Some of my friends dunno how to read my name properly, I guide them, because that's who I am. Tzu sounds similar to Tsu in Tsunami, which is a word understood in the western or mixed world. Let the little girl be outstanding by her unique and beautiful name.

Yes, I think "Grace" is a nice Christian name. ^_^

[xng]

Why do we name our children the way easier for non-Chinese or westerners to pronounce ? I

Because most chinese don't need to look at the romanisation to pronounce, they can look at the chinese characters for the proper pronounciation.

Romanisation is more for foreigners or bananas who don't know tz from ts. Just listen to the horrible pronounciation of china chinese names in the asian games commentators if you get the chance to visit Malaysia again or have your relatives record for you. That is the result of ignoring the non chinese and non linguist.

PS: I thought tsunami is pronounced as sunami and not zunami. That's the trouble of people who don't want non japanese like me to pronounce it the proper way.

[niuc]

I suggest Joo/Ju Oon which is easier for westerners or non chinese to pronounce.

May be it is easier for westerners to pronounce "Joo/Ju Oon", however personally I wouldn't use it because it is similar to horror movie "Ju-on".

Tzu sounds similar to Tsu in Tsunami, which is a word understood in the western or mixed world. Let the little girl be outstanding by her unique and beautiful name.

I agree with Aokh.

Tsunami is pronounced as [tsɯnami] in Japanese, and /(t)suːˈnɑːmi/ in English. Even if many pronounce it as "sunami", for "Tzu" there are "Lao Tzu" and "Sun Tzu", quite well known names in English.

[niuc]

At the end, it's up to the parents to choose how to spell their child's name.

[lyen12]

hi everybody,

thanks so much for all your input. I'm glad that at least I've picked a suitable name. Still haven't decide on which romanization to use, but will certainly not want my daughter to be ridiculed as "Ju-on" when she is older.

Yen.