Hi, Dear Lacnetters:

Kathleen asked me to introduce our culture and the name system. I'll try in
short.

In Taiwan, people usually has name with three Chinese characters, e.g. mine
is Chen Chao-Huei. We put the family name first (Chen), and that is your
last name(family name). I also have the problem in figuring out which word
is your family name. Sometimes you will find some Taiwanese name with four
Chinese characters,e.g. Lai Shou Ming-I, the first two characters are the
family name. It may be a double characters family name. For a woman, the
first character may be the family name of her husband and the second
character is her origin family. In Taiwan, when a woman get married, she may
or may not change her family name, or she may add on her husband's family
name. For example, my name is Chen Chao-Huei, when I got married to Mr. Lai,
I could
choose to change my name to either Lai Chao-Huei or Lai Chen Chao-Huei. I
did not change my family name at that time, because by doing so, I might
have to change the name of all my certificates. Sometimes it's confusing for
a foreigner because I can be Miss(Dr.) Chen and Mrs.Lai in the same time.

There are many methods to choose the name. In my family, the 2nd
character(i.e. Chao)is the same among my siblings and cousins. Each
generation has its own specific character,it may be the 2nd or the 3rd
character. When we put all the characters from different generation
together, they may become a poem. So, if I meet my relatives far away, I can
know which generation he belongs from his name. Unfortunately, such naming
system isn't working now. But we still like to name our children with one
same character, e.g. Lai I-Wen,Lai I-Peng for my girls.
Some will choose the name after the suggestion of fortuneteller. e.g.
if the fortuneteller says that the baby lacks water during his life, then
the parents may choose the Chinese character with water in it. There are
many different naming books available in our bookstores, teaching young
parents how to choose a right name for their babies, so they can have a good
start.

But the characters of our name are hard to be pronounced by the foreigners,
so many of us, esp. our children have another English name which is much
easier for the English teachers to call. e.g. Jane is my English name, and
Wendy, Penny for my girls.

Hope I do not make you confused.






Chen Chao-Huei M.D
Department of Pediatrics,Taichung Veterans General Hospital
160, sec 3, Chung Kang Rd,Taichung 407,Taiwan
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