The Chinese language is rife with homonyms (words that are pronounced or spelled the same way but have different meanings.)
I got this list of names from The Chief Alchemist. It's good for a laugh. If you're having a baby, you might want to keep away from these names.
Mandarin
Paul Chan – Bankrupt
Anne Chang – Dirty
Faye Chen – Dusty
Anne Chin – Keep quiet
Henry Mah – Hate your mum
Jane Tan – Frying eggs
Nelson Tan – Bird laying eggs
Leslie Tong – Rubbish bin
Hokkien
Carl Cheng – Buttock
Monica Cheng – Touching your buttocks
Lucy Leow – You are dead
Suzie Leow – Lost till death
Lim Yew Lin – Drink urine
Lim Teh Peng – Drink iced tea
Danny See – Squeeze you to death
Corrine Tai – Poor fellow
Rosie Teng – Screws and nails
Carmen Tng – Leg hair long
Pete Tsai – Nose droppings
Cantonese
Connie Mah – Call your mother
Macy Koh – Never die before
Michael Loh – Sell Chicken man
Robert Tao – Radish head
Hockchiew
Tony Moh – Give you touch
Jenny Moh – Let you touch
You can have it, Lydia.
BTW, I’ve been seeing your book prominently displayed everywhere I go. I hope your sales is up.
This is so hilarious!!! I heard some of them before but some of them really had me rolling around on the floor! Esp Carl Cheng…who would’ve thought???
hehe, got this mail too. Good that u post it up cause i can have a constant reference.
I used to be amazed when I heard the end note of one of the TV2 news commentators denoted “Wu zhi Ewe Chin Lye.” It reckoned that he has swum to enter the studio!
Wait, I think my husband is doing business with a Paul Chan. No, hang on, Paul Chan would be my husband. (Heh heh!)
Hi Lydia,
That was so funny! Like Trulymarsha, I was laughing my head off, too! Oh, here in Sydney, I know a pair of twin girls whom their parents named Ice and Cream respectively.
Talk about weird and too lazy to think for names! And they are Chinese!
Chief Alchemist, Thanks. I think that was earlier when my book was released. Now they’re hiding out in the bookshelves already.
Marsha, Actually Carl Chirng would sound more like buttocks.
Blinka.li, feel free to pop by anytime.
KK, haha, that’s a good one.
Dizery, don’t let him hear that
Shi Jing, Ice Cream? No kidding! Good thing they didn’t name them Ice Kacang.
Good one lydia, esp about Paul Chan. He’s the owner of Help. But he’s doing well, nasib baik tak bankrupt.
BTW, did you happen to read about the WAY brothers, the father decided to make fun of his 3 sons so he named them Highway, Seeway and something else that ended with way. Needless to say, the were the centre of attention for the very wrong reasons.kesian..
p1p3, Landway? Loway? I empathise with them. My Chinese name is also good for a laugh.
I find Connie Mah very funny.
LOL this is so funny!
well.. my name was some thing like that and my close friend always use it to tease me. -sigh-
you see.. my name is Kam Leng and they call me Kambing ( goat ) -sob-