<p>judging from your wife’s name, “意佳”; and the avoiding of “sha”</p>
<p>i suggest the name “<strong>衛雅懿</strong>”, that</p>
<h2>雅</h2>
<p>preserve the “a” in <strong>a</strong>lisha, it roughly means “elegant, graceful, refined, polite”</p>
<p><a href="https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk//Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E9%9B%85" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk//Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=雅</a></p>
<p><a href="https://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/dictView.jsp?ID=10742&amp;q=1&amp;word=%E9%9B%85#order1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/dictView.jsp?ID=10742&amp;q=1&amp;word=雅#order1</a></p>
<h2>懿</h2>
<p>preserve the “i” in al<strong>i</strong>sha, roughly means “fine, virtuous”</p>
<p><a href="https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk//Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E6%87%BF" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk//Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=懿</a></p>
<p><a href="https://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/dictView.jsp?ID=10712&amp;q=1&amp;word=%E6%87%BF" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/dictView.jsp?ID=10712&amp;q=1&amp;word=懿</a></p>
<p>have fun :)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-15T03:31:25.293Z
Thank you so much for your help! I really like the switching of phonemes from 'li' and 'sha' to 'a' and 'li'. 

I do have a quick follow-up. It looks like you used the traditional character '衛' in place of the simplified version that I used. Is that because you use traditional yourself, or because it would be a more appropriate choice overall? I will mostly be interacting with people from mainland China, rather than Tawain. I like the shape of the simplified character, but I would be OK going either way.
cevanwells
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-15T04:50:00.687Z
@cevanwells, i use traditional chinese for decades  in daily life, it’s up to you to use simplified or traditional. **but**, in case you need to craft a seal, or to write in calligraphy (by brush pen), the name must be in traditional chinese 
水巷孑蠻
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-14T03:01:37.100Z
2024-02-14T03:01:37.100Z
水巷孑蠻
<p>I took Mandarin for a couple semesters in college. It was a great experience, but I haven't looked at my coursework in 10yrs at least. One of the experiences that I remember fondly was that of my professor giving each of us a Chinese name that sounded phonetically similar to our Western names as well as being a reflection of our personality.</p>
<p>I am now picking my language studies back up and have started looking into putting together names for my wife and children. I know the process of forming good names can be difficult, but I have tried to match phonetics as well as drawing upon personality traits. The first name I have come up with is 意佳 for my wife. I didn't set out with this in mind, but apparently it translates to &quot;good intention&quot;. In English, this often has a negative connotation, but I'm not sure if that carries over to Chinese. Does 意佳 make sense as a female name? Does it carry any negative aspects I am not seeing?</p>
<p>Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks!</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-14T01:38:11.937Z
what’s your wife name, first of all 
水巷孑蠻
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-14T02:06:42.577Z
Her name is Alisha. I am trying to avoid it sounding like "can die", which I believe is close to the 'sha' sound in her name. Also, the last name I chose for our family is 卫, if that makes a difference.
cevanwells
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-14T02:20:24.783Z
https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/35856/23160 Perhaps this might help?
Wayne Cheah
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-14T02:39:31.713Z
@WayneCheah, that is a great post to reference. Thank you!
cevanwells
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-14T03:34:37.680Z
卫 is rare now as a family name or the population of this name is very small, but 韦 or 魏 has a much bigger population, especially like in Guangxi广西 that has 60 million people, 韦 is one of the top 5 family names. I know this well because currently I stay in Nanning, capital of Guangxi. In the 2024 Chinese new year gala of China Central Television, two famous performers were placed in the same singing, one is 魏大勋, the other 魏晨.
NanningYouth
<names>
Creating Chinese names for my family members
# Creating Chinese names for my family members

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-02-13)

I took Mandarin for a couple semesters in college. It was a great experience, but I haven't looked at my coursework in 10yrs at least. One of the experiences that I remember fondly was that of my professor giving each of us a Chinese name that sounded phonetically similar to our Western names as well as being a reflection of our personality.

I am now picking my language studies back up and have started looking into putting together names for my wife and children. I know the process of forming good names can be difficult, but I have tried to match phonetics as well as drawing upon personality traits. The first name I have come up with is 意佳 for my wife. I didn't set out with this in mind, but apparently it translates to "good intention". In English, this often has a negative connotation, but I'm not sure if that carries over to Chinese. Does 意佳 make sense as a female name? Does it carry any negative aspects I am not seeing?

Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks!

**Tags:** names

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: what’s your wife name, first of all   
> **username_0**: Her name is Alisha. I am trying to avoid it sounding like "can die", which I believe is close to the 'sha' sound in her name. Also, the last name I chose for our family is 卫, if that makes a difference.  
> **username_2**: https://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/35856/23160 Perhaps this might help?  
> **username_0**: @username_2, that is a great post to reference. Thank you!  
> **username_3**: 卫 is rare now as a family name or the population of this name is very small, but 韦 or 魏 has a much bigger population, especially like in Guangxi广西 that has 60 million people, 韦 is one of the top 5 family names. I know this well because currently I stay in Nanning, capital of Guangxi. In the 2024 Chinese new year gala of China Central Television, two famous performers were placed in the same singing, one is 魏大勋, the other 魏晨.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2024-02-14. Score: 0 | Accepted answer

judging from your wife’s name, “意佳”; and the avoiding of “sha”

i suggest the name “**衛雅懿**”, that

## 雅

preserve the “a” in **a**lisha, it roughly means “elegant, graceful, refined, polite”

[https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk//Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=雅](https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk//Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E9%9B%85)

[https://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/dictView.jsp?ID=10742&q=1&word=雅#order1](https://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/dictView.jsp?ID=10742&q=1&word=%E9%9B%85#order1)

## 懿

preserve the “i” in al**i**sha, roughly means “fine, virtuous”

[https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk//Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=懿](https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk//Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E6%87%BF)

[https://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/dictView.jsp?ID=10712&q=1&word=懿](https://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/dictView.jsp?ID=10712&q=1&word=%E6%87%BF)

have fun :)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thank you so much for your help! I really like the switching of phonemes from 'li' and 'sha' to 'a' and 'li'.   I do have a quick follow-up. It looks like you used the traditional character '衛' in place of the simplified version that I used. Is that because you use traditional yourself, or because it would be a more appropriate choice overall? I will mostly be interacting with people from mainland China, rather than Tawain. I like the shape of the simplified character, but I would be OK going either way.  
> **username_1**: @username_0, i use traditional chinese for decades  in daily life, it’s up to you to use simplified or traditional. **but**, in case you need to craft a seal, or to write in calligraphy (by brush pen), the name must be in traditional chinese   

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