Hong Kong name

For geographical names, see Place names of Hong Kong.

Personal names in Hong Kong generally contain differences from those in mainland China due to the use of Hong Kong Cantonese language, ethnic diversity, and the presence of English as a second language.

An example of a Hong Kong name in English is Joshua Wong Chi-fung, which uses an "English name + Hong Kong Cantonese Surname + Personal Name" format. The surname is located in the middle of the name, which may be capitalised (WONG Chi-fung). The given name may also be rendered as two words (Wong Chi Fung). According to custom, the Western-style name is in "English name + Surname" format while the Chinese-style is in "Surname + Personal name".

Surname

Generally, the Cantonese majority employ one or another romanization of Cantonese.^[1] However, non-Cantonese immigrants may retain their hometown spelling in English. For example, use of Shanghainese romanization in names (e.g. Joseph Zen Ze-kiun) is more common in Hong Kong English than in official use in Shanghai where Mandarin-based pinyin has been in official use since the 1950s.^[2]

Given name

Chinese names and sometimes Chinese surnames in Hong Kong may be supplemented by or replaced by an English name when using English. The use of English names in Hong Kong is not well researched or documented.^[3] English names in Hong Kong can use various proper names and nouns that are not often found in the Western world, with some examples being Rimsky Yuen, York Chow, and Moses Chan. Inspiration for English names in Hong Kong can come from the names of months, sports brands, and luxury labels. More conventional English names can undergo distortion by the adding, substitution, or deletion of letters (e.g. Sonija, Garbie, Kith), as well using suffixes like -son (e.g. Rayson). Others adopt a Western name that sounds similar phonetically to their Chinese name, such as Hacken Lee from Lee Hak-kan (李克勤).^[4] These categories (addition, substitution, phonetic-based, etc.) are the fundamental ways of generating creative Hong Kong names.^[5]

Maiden name

In case a married person uses the spouse's surname, the maiden name is usually placed after that surname. For instance, the 4th Chief Executive of Hong Kong Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor^[6] has Carrie and Yuet-ngor as the English and Cantonese personal names respectively, Cheng as the maiden name, and Lam from the surname of her husband Lam Siu-por. In the Anglo-Saxon world, married women are sometimes referred by "first name + married name" style, which is Carrie Lam in the example above,^[7] while locally as "married name + maiden name + personal name" style.^[8]

See also

• Origins of names of cities and towns in Hong Kong
• Hongkongers
• Culture of Hong Kong
• Official Cantonese translations of English names for British officials

References

1. Caroline Courtauld, May Holdsworth, Simon Vickers The Hong Kong story -1997 Page xi "A Note on the Romanization of Chinese Names The majority of Chinese personal names in Hong Kong are romanized according to their Cantonese pronunciation; a small number are rendered differently. In all cases we have retained the ..."
2. Wong, Linda; White (III), Lynn T.; Gui, Shixun (2004). Social Policy Reform in Hong Kong and Shanghai: A Tale of Two Cities. M.E. Sharpe. p. xii. ISBN 978-0-7656-1311-0. Such well-known Hong Kong names as Shaw in the movie industry, Pao and Tung in shipping, Woo and Tang in textiles all demonstrate the leading roles played by Shanghai business emigres in the Hong Kong economic success story
3. Meeting Handbook - Page 75 Linguistic Society of America - 2000 "Bjorn H. Jernudd (Hong Kong Baptist University) (Session 34) 'English' personal names in Hong Kong Little if anything is systematically known about names other than Chinese-language names among Chinese-speaking populations."
4. Man, Joyce (2012-10-01). "Hong Kong Loves Weird English Names". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2013-05-23.
5. "NOTABLE NAMES (Brilliant Funny Weird Monikers)". hksarblog.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2018-11-07.
6. "Chief Executive Election result (with photos/video)". www.info.gov.hk. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
7. "Carrie Lam: The controversial leader of Hong Kong". BBC News. 2020-09-28. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
8. "香港特首林鄭月娥因美國制裁家藏現金 中資銀行為何「愛莫能助」" [Hong Kong CE Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor stored cash at home after American sanctions; and why Chinese banks couldn't help]. BBC News (in Traditional Chinese). Retrieved 2021-10-11.