Many Taiwanese parent will give children's date of birth to a fortune teller. My parents actually chose my name that way. They asked a fortune teller and he gave us some options. so my parent check the character meaning and see which one they like the most!
Nowadays young parents are often breaking traditions and getting more creative with naming their children. In many cases, names are simply chosen for their beauty in sound or meaning.
People change their name to have a good luck?
Whatever you choose, don’t worry if you change your mind down the road. In our culture, names are very important and many believe names can have an effect on your luck and destiny. I have many friends who have actually changed their name in order to change their luck. I also changed my name 1 time!
How could you choose a Chinese name for yourself?
To choose a Chinese name for yourself, first start with your surname. You will most likely want to choose from one of the 100 most common Chinese surnames, which actually make up 87% of the population. Usually you would want to choose a surname that sounds similar to your own last name. If your last name was Adams you could use the last name 艾 (Ài) or if your last name was Banks you could use 鲍 (Bāo). Choosing one of the common surnames will help people to recognize that your name is a name and not a name of a thing or place.
After you choose a surname, you’ll want to move on to the next two characters of your name. Here you can start to look for meaning that expresses what your hopes, your desires or just sounds cool to you. You can ask a native Chinese speakers to help you on it!
