I'm GMing in Hong Kong and I'm not so good at coming up with names on the fly. So I'm looking for a pregenerated list to work off of. Like those large list of fantasy names, but centering on far east.
I've found "convert your name" and single random given name type sites. But I'm looking for something that'll give me a list of hundred or so. Chinese (both coastal and inland including Mongolia etc.) is main aim, but S. Korean, Phillipine, Polynesia, Vietnam, and even Japan is good.
Coverage of Indian penisula and central/eastern Russia considered a plus.
Full Version: In Hong Kong, looking for Far East/Asian names.
There are plenty of name generators on the web, here's a quick list i found using metacrawler search engine.
http://rumandmonkey.com/widgets/toys/namegen/
http://www.behindthename.com/random/ (this one is particularly interesting)
http://www.kleimo.com/random/name.cfm
http://rumandmonkey.com/widgets/toys/namegen/
http://www.behindthename.com/random/ (this one is particularly interesting)
http://www.kleimo.com/random/name.cfm
| QUOTE (Dentris) |
| http://www.behindthename.com/random/ (this one is particularly interesting) http://www.kleimo.com/random/name.cfm |
Thanks, but the first one only creates one at a time and no surname (I'd already found it, and the other parts of the site have some interesting info). The later is what I'm looking for, only it generates NA names. :/
P.S. Part of the problem is that where I'm GM I don't think has wireless internet (I'll check tonight), and even if it did I'd prefer a hard copy list so I can jot down notes next to the name as I use it.
Nooo! I was going to pimp Kate Monk's Onomastikon, but it appears to have vanished!
Woe is us
~J
Woe is us
~J
| QUOTE (Kagetenshi) |
| Nooo! I was going to pimp Kate Monk's Onomastikon, but it appears to have vanished! Woe is us ~J |
Archive.Org has one on backup.
As the other two before me have said, Kate Monk's Onomastikon is a great place to look if you're having trouble finding names.
The ultra Mary Sue NPC who punks all the PCs should be named "Wong Fei Hong", since 'Wong Fei Hong" is Chinese for "Paul Bunyan".
Just rip off names of famous Chinese martial artists since at least you'll know that those sound like real names and not really dry made up names that don't sound quite right. (For unnatural sounding names in English watch anime...I remember how back in the 80s there were too many blond guys named Lobert.) Since your players are unlikely to be familiar with said CMAists they probably won't realize what a laugh-fest your name lineup is.
So, call the first guy Wong Fei Hong. The second guy is Yip Man. The third guy is Lee Jun Fan. If someone is female they're Ng Mui. Just keep rattlin' 'em off.
Just rip off names of famous Chinese martial artists since at least you'll know that those sound like real names and not really dry made up names that don't sound quite right. (For unnatural sounding names in English watch anime...I remember how back in the 80s there were too many blond guys named Lobert.) Since your players are unlikely to be familiar with said CMAists they probably won't realize what a laugh-fest your name lineup is.
So, call the first guy Wong Fei Hong. The second guy is Yip Man. The third guy is Lee Jun Fan. If someone is female they're Ng Mui. Just keep rattlin' 'em off.
He's in Hong Kong, so they may just know those martial artists.
In fact, I'd venture to say that at least one in his group will.
In fact, I'd venture to say that at least one in his group will.
| QUOTE (Tanka) |
| He's in Hong Kong, so they may just know those martial artists. In fact, I'd venture to say that at least one in his group will. |
Set in Hong Kong. RL in Canada.
But I'll bet the one guy at the table will know more names than me. 
Also Hong Kong in 6th World has had more than a few generations of massive influx going on. So I've got lots of different element to draw from....
Mary Sue don't live at this table.....unless they decide to travel to Seattle. Then the names are already picked out there. ;P I'm not going to push that because I've been dieing to run/play in SR HK for like ever.
But I might just work Paul in there somewhere anyway. *adds to list*
Thanks for that other link guys. That should do the trick.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_surnames
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_commo...hinese_surnames
For Hong Kong, look at the Cantonese list. If you're wondering, my parents are from Hong Kong and I've seen several of the surnames that I know from family friends so at least the list is not too shabby.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_commo...hinese_surnames
For Hong Kong, look at the Cantonese list. If you're wondering, my parents are from Hong Kong and I've seen several of the surnames that I know from family friends so at least the list is not too shabby.
| QUOTE (blakkie) |
| Set in Hong Kong. RL in Canada. But I'll bet the one guy at the table will know more names than me. |
Close enough, and there you go.
Another thing worth getting is probably a Hong Kong map book. Being able to spit out streets and regions (and commenting on when you need to cross the harbor to get somewhere) are all probably worth wile.
here is a list of Filipino last names. Of course, it dosen't list popular first names.
Heh handy wikipedia article about names.
or how about
here is a list of Filipino last names. Of course, it dosen't list popular first names.
Heh handy wikipedia article about names.
or how about
| QUOTE |
TAGALOG MILA: Ba baba, ba? CORA: Ba baba. Let's play this scene back in English. ENGLISH TRANSLATION MILA: Is this elevator going down? CORA: Yes, it is. |
I'd say look in the phone book. Phone books are good for names.
Not in HK? Mix and match celeb names are fun too- Jacky Li, Donny Hung, Sandy Mui, Anita Lam, Amitahb Khan, etc.
Not in HK? Mix and match celeb names are fun too- Jacky Li, Donny Hung, Sandy Mui, Anita Lam, Amitahb Khan, etc.
The comment on movies gave me an idea. Check the credits and rip off the names of the gaffers and costumers and stuff. IMDb should help.
Great idea for IMDb, just takes some searching....
Phone book? Hrm, well I'll have to find international phone books online. I'm going down to the CAA (Canadian version of the AAA) to see if they've got a road map of Hong Kong.
I've done up a rough Google Earth screen capture map, but it isn't so hot. Lot of dead space in the outlying Islands, so I'll need a second scale printout I think. Need to zoom in more for Kowloon City/Victoria Harbour/container docks area and then do some touchups to bring in the Walled City and such. But that's another thread that I'll likely put over in the SR4 forum because Kowloon Walled City and HK is detailed in Runners Havens.
Phone book? Hrm, well I'll have to find international phone books online. I'm going down to the CAA (Canadian version of the AAA) to see if they've got a road map of Hong Kong.
I've done up a rough Google Earth screen capture map, but it isn't so hot. Lot of dead space in the outlying Islands, so I'll need a second scale printout I think. Need to zoom in more for Kowloon City/Victoria Harbour/container docks area and then do some touchups to bring in the Walled City and such. But that's another thread that I'll likely put over in the SR4 forum because Kowloon Walled City and HK is detailed in Runners Havens.
I hear hong kong phone books are notorious for their number of chins...
And US phone books are notorious for Smiths.
Go to international sporting events. Like the Olympics or owrld cup that will give long lists of names of people from countries with authentic names.
The Feng Shui name generator:
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~pound/fsnames.html
250 names, updated every 15 minutes.
Don't leave Hong Kong without it.
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~pound/fsnames.html
250 names, updated every 15 minutes.
Don't leave Hong Kong without it.
I just came back from Hong Kong today.
I got a few maps, I can scan them if you want to and send them to you.
I didn't understand why Hong Kong would be a Runner Haven. Now, I know.
I went to Kowloon, I was there yesterday afternoon.
The main street is called "Nathan Road". It's the touristy street.
The back alleys of Nathan road is where everything is "happening" so to speak. Drugs, prostitution (saw a guy leaving with two malaysian girls), you name it.
Other main street names:
Canton road
Kowloon Park Drive
Salisbury Road
As for the names:
Chinese use their last name first and their given name second.
Popular family name:
Li
Zhang
Zhuang
Zheng
Wang
Tang
He
Given names:
Lin (girl)
Hui (girl, boy) depending on how it's pronounced, Hui can be name either for male or a female
Ai (love)
Dan (girl)
Ke Han (girl)
Gang (Boy)
I got a few maps, I can scan them if you want to and send them to you.
I didn't understand why Hong Kong would be a Runner Haven. Now, I know.
I went to Kowloon, I was there yesterday afternoon.
The main street is called "Nathan Road". It's the touristy street.
The back alleys of Nathan road is where everything is "happening" so to speak. Drugs, prostitution (saw a guy leaving with two malaysian girls), you name it.
Other main street names:
Canton road
Kowloon Park Drive
Salisbury Road
As for the names:
Chinese use their last name first and their given name second.
Popular family name:
Li
Zhang
Zhuang
Zheng
Wang
Tang
He
Given names:
Lin (girl)
Hui (girl, boy) depending on how it's pronounced, Hui can be name either for male or a female
Ai (love)
Dan (girl)
Ke Han (girl)
Gang (Boy)
| QUOTE (SeekerOfPeace) |
| The main street is called "Nathan Road". It's the touristy street. The back alleys of Nathan road is where everything is "happening" so to speak. Drugs, prostitution (saw a guy leaving with two malaysian girls), you name it. |
Nathan Road can really run the spectrum. I put it in Runner Havens for that reason, on page 22.
Also, I think if you could put some maps online, that would be great!
Some more nice suggestions, thanks.
| QUOTE (SeekerOfPeace) |
| I got a few maps, I can scan them if you want to and send them to you. |
I checked with CAA (local wing of the AAA) and they didn't have any Hong Kong roadmaps, however get them to me and I'll find some way to share the love (I assume you setting up a site of your own from China might be tricky). I'll keep looking, but haven't found anything nice yet.
I'm still working on putting together something decent from Google Earth. Their satelite pics for that part of the world aren't that good, and GE has got this weird focus issue where stuff away from the center of your view can go fuzzy.
Ok. I'll see what I can do.
Family names aren't popular - you are stuck with what you've got. There are common family names and uncommon ones.
| QUOTE (SeekerOfPeace @ Oct 29 2006, 06:08 AM) |
| As for the names: Chinese use their last name first and their given name second. Popular family name: Li Zhang Zhuang Zheng Wang Tang He Given names: Lin (girl) Hui (girl, boy) depending on how it's pronounced, Hui can be name either for male or a female Ai (love) Dan (girl) Ke Han (girl) Gang (Boy) |
An interesting thing is the ones with the 'z' spellings can easily denote if one is from the mainland and you can figure out between those who have been living in HK for generations. It's the whole Wades-Giles or another romanization versus the Pinyin romanization that the chinese goverment adopted. There's a difference also since in HK, any romanization would have been using the cantonese language. So last names would sound different than the mandarin romanization. It's something I'm pointing out because you can figure out where someone is from the area or not at least at this point in time since HK has only been recently (less than 10 years) in reuniting with China.
And as toturi said, it's not popular, it's common or not. Families have to breed to get more of those with the last names...
| QUOTE |
| Hong Kong, looking for Far East/Asian names. |
Just look in skype for people from Hong Kong
.Works with japanese names.
| QUOTE (PBTHHHHT) |
| An interesting thing is the ones with the 'z' spellings can easily denote if one is from the mainland and you can figure out between those who have been living in HK for generations. It's the whole Wades-Giles or another romanization versus the Pinyin romanization that the chinese goverment adopted. There's a difference also since in HK, any romanization would have been using the cantonese language. So last names would sound different than the mandarin romanization. It's something I'm pointing out because you can figure out where someone is from the area or not at least at this point in time since HK has only been recently (less than 10 years) in reuniting with China. And as toturi said, it's not popular, it's common or not. Families have to breed to get more of those with the last names... |
Exactly.
My family name is different from most Hong Kong chinese of the same exact family name. Why? Because when it was anglicised it was done on the Shanghainese pronunciation, which made it sound a little enough different it got spelled differently.
Though it wouldn't surprise me if grandfather was also snobbish enough to want the name spelled differently anyway.
Much like a lot of Ellis Island immigrants got there name severely changed when coming to america.
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